Rustin 10-2; The Golden Knights registered their sixth title in the last seven years, grinding out a 71-13 won-loss in their Wing-T with nine playoff appearances since the school was formed in 2006. They began life as a AAA their first four years with a 4-3 postseason record before becoming a AAAA in 2010, where their playoff won-loss dipped to 3-5. In fact, last year ended a three year cycle of “one-and-done” in Districts when they pounded Conestoga (7-4) 47-13 before Upper Dublin (11-2) handled them 41-23….at Rustin! Their all-time leading rusher Terry Loper with 4758 career rush yards had his usual outing getting 182 yards on 23 carries for a 7.9 yards per carry average. But Cardinal back John Lee showed his stuff as well, running for 99 yards on only nine carries for an 11.0 ypc average. Quarterback Ryan Stover exposed them too, completing 22 of 31 passes for 293 yards, having one of his best performances of the year at a 71 % completion clip.Since becoming a AAAA, they are 0-4 against the SOL in the postseason, losing to Neshaminy, North Penn, Pennsbury and Upper Dublin by an average score of 36-16.. Curious why they play in the American Conference when everyone knows the power teams in the Ches Mont are in the National Conference; Coatesville, Downingtown East and Downingtown West and Henderson. The only team from the American Conference close to them is Unionville, sometimes. But they haven’t been any more competitive outside the conference than Rustin, missing the playoffs entirely in 2014, 2010 and 2008 and going 2-4 when they did get there, losing to Neshaminy in 2013, 41-7, Coatesville 38-21 the year before and Neshaminy again in 2011, 28-0. In 2009 they pulled the major upset beating Pennsbury 12-7 and in 2007, they beat Phoenixville 27-7 before getting blanked by Garnet Valley 13-0. An American Conference schedule showing Octorara, Sun Valley, Oxford and Kennett who have four winning seasons between them over the last six years doesn’t prepare you for Neshaminy, North Penn and others any more than Great Valley does with four winning seasons in the last nine years. Perhaps they’ll “move up”, transferring to the National Conference with AAA Bishop Shanahan supplanting them. They’ve shown they can play at that level with a 15-9 record since 2006 against Henderson 6-3, big rival West Chester East 7-1, Downingtown East 1-2, Bishop Shanahan 1-2, and Avon Grove 0-1. They have never played Coatesville or Downingtown West. Since the inception of Rustin, those are two of the winningest teams in the National in conference action; Coatesville is first at 29-7, Downingtown West third at 24-12. Downingtown East is second in National Conference wins at 26-10. Excepting the limitations of the grounded Wing-T, there’s no evident reason why they can’t consistently compete in the National given the talent that comes through the school. In 2008 with Rondell White rushing for 2113 yards behind a substantial line, they went 12-2 and were eliminated by Archbishop Wood (11-3) 37-7. In 2009 (11-1), White was again tearing things up with 1935 yards rushing behind a line most teams would die for; Enrique Josephs 6-4, 275, Chase Hoyt 6-4, 260, Will Ridgeway 6-1, 235, Sean O’Hara 6-4, 245, Derrick Miles 5-10, 235 and TE Nick Simmler 6-0, 215. They lost to Pottsgrove (14-1) 21-14 in the district final. White went on to become the all-time leading rusher at West Chester University.
This year’s team returns three seniors to the OL, Ray Bordley (6-7, 315), Sean Weaver (6-1, 235) and Pat Durant (6-2, 236). Quarterback Evan Wlock (27/56/533/48%, sr), is back with running back Mike McKnight (6-0, 180, sr) who is one of the best athletes on the team according to Coach Mike St. Clair. Great Valley lost a ton of players and Unionville’s talented young group from last year are a year older, primed for improvement on last year’s 6-4 mark. But Rustin will likely be favored for another title.
Unionville 6-4; What a great start for Unionville in their opener last season beating bitter rival and Central League kingpin Garnet Valley (9-3) 8-6. It didn’t get any easier the following week venturing to Reading to play a decent 8-3 Exeter Township team. The Eagles play in District 3’s Berks County-Division 1 with power house Governor Mifflin (11-2) and others including Reading (6-5) and Triple-A’s Boone (8-5), Conrad Weiser (7-5), Muhlenberg (2-8) and Pottsville (0-10). Pottsville’s Crimson Tide will move to the Anthracite FB League for the 2016 season. Except for a 22-pt second quarter explosion at Exeter, Unionville was right in that one but fell 38-35. Weird game with Exeter’s quarterback Chase Yocum getting thrown out at the very end of the half when a small one-on-one fight broke out. Come on, boys will be boys, let em play. So they threw a few? Valuable kid holding many of Exeter’s passing records (1272py, 1196ry, 33 Tds last year) who will play at Shippensburg. Where was I? The year played out with Unionville winning five of their final eight but missing the playoffs. So it was a so-so year but their tenth consecutive winning season. And it was a young team with only eleven seniors returning, meaning they have huge numbers with lots of experience for this season. Coach said they developed great depth last year. All of this was accomplished without Defensive Coordinator Harry O’Neill who moved over to the top spot at Avon Grove for the 2014 campaign.
The biggest task this year will be replacing quarterback/punter/place kicker Alex Pechin (6-1, 185), who starred not only in football but also baseball and basketball. He threw a 5 hitter (7 k’s) in 1st round knocking out PIAA defending state champ North Penn 8-1. In 2013 (8-3) he threw and ran for just over 2000 yards. Last year’s stats showed a 51% completion rate (69 of 135) for 1206 yards. He also rushed for 392 yards on 72 carries. But he’ll likely be most remembered for his booming +40 yard punts and kick-offs to the end zone as well as the ability to make long field goals under pressure. In the opener against Garnet Valley, he kicked two field goals, one of them a 50-yarder that helped win the 8-6 slugfest. He’ll be kicking for Bucknell this season. Last year’s junior back up Jason Hagan (6-0, 175, sr) got some time and will probably get the nod this year. The team has some players with real talent and speed in running back Brandon Boon (5-9, 155, sr) and wide out Elan Nash (5-11, 185, sr) who has explosive speed. They are high on Mark Knightly (5-10, 160, sr) who will join Boon in the backfield along with Bryce McManue (6-0, 210, jr) as it looks now. The O-line returns Sean Green (6-6, 240, sr), Mike Cresta (6-0, 235, jr), TE Pat Clark (6-3, 220, sr, coach’s son) juniors Matt Dauphin and Asger Hansen and Sam Gangel, a senior. Jack Bacciellieri is also in the mix. But they’ll miss four year starting center Andrew Jones, 6-0, 280 and OG Paul Steffy (Dickinson), a three year starter at 6-1, 250. Jones will play at Bryant College (8-3) whose 14-7 loss to Sacred Heart denied them the auto berth in the FCS.
The D lost Jones and Seffi on the line plus two good linebackers in Michael Weber (6-1, 210) and Quinn Cheyney (6-1, 225). Experienced LBs return in Dylan Rappucci (6-0, 210, sr), Trevor Gardinier (6-0, 190, jr), Shane Jones (5-11, 210, jr) and Laz Kirfidies (5-9, 165, sr). The secondary is loaded with a possible D1 prospect in Elan Nash (5-11, 185, sr), Tyler Marmo (5-10, 165, sr), Drew Stradling (5-10, 160, sr) and Max Camateros-Man (5-11, 165, sr). Juniors Matt Dauphin and Mike Cresta will fill in the DL positions along with seniors Sam Gangel and Thomas Mallon.
The schedule this year reads nearly the same as last year’s showing Garnet Valley as the opener followed by Exeter Twp and Avon Grove, all at home. Last year’s game with G-Val was at home (Kennett Sq) so that could be a misprint. The Jags and Indians are often a well contested game and should be again this year. Exeter lost QB Chase Yocum but return the big freshman who spelled him in last year’s game, Brandon Unterkoefler (6-1, 195, so), plus most of their receivers, backs and at least three lineman including Penn State recruit Micah Menet (6-5, 280, sr), the #6 OT in the country and top player in the state. Other return starters include Nathaniel Weber (6-3, 250, sr), Brett Moyer (6-2, 230, sr) and likely Tyler Holley (6-3, 275, jr). With anything reasonable under center Exeter will field another dangerous team. Also, Downingtown East replaces Henderson in Downingtown. That will be a difficult one with U-ville coming in off a road game at Rustin. Garnet Valley and Exeter will give us a clue about Unionville while Rustin and Downingtown will likely confirm.
This year’s team returns three seniors to the OL, Ray Bordley (6-7, 315), Sean Weaver (6-1, 235) and Pat Durant (6-2, 236). Quarterback Evan Wlock (27/56/533/48%, sr), is back with running back Mike McKnight (6-0, 180, sr) who is one of the best athletes on the team according to Coach Mike St. Clair. Great Valley lost a ton of players and Unionville’s talented young group from last year are a year older, primed for improvement on last year’s 6-4 mark. But Rustin will likely be favored for another title.
Unionville 6-4; What a great start for Unionville in their opener last season beating bitter rival and Central League kingpin Garnet Valley (9-3) 8-6. It didn’t get any easier the following week venturing to Reading to play a decent 8-3 Exeter Township team. The Eagles play in District 3’s Berks County-Division 1 with power house Governor Mifflin (11-2) and others including Reading (6-5) and Triple-A’s Boone (8-5), Conrad Weiser (7-5), Muhlenberg (2-8) and Pottsville (0-10). Pottsville’s Crimson Tide will move to the Anthracite FB League for the 2016 season. Except for a 22-pt second quarter explosion at Exeter, Unionville was right in that one but fell 38-35. Weird game with Exeter’s quarterback Chase Yocum getting thrown out at the very end of the half when a small one-on-one fight broke out. Come on, boys will be boys, let em play. So they threw a few? Valuable kid holding many of Exeter’s passing records (1272py, 1196ry, 33 Tds last year) who will play at Shippensburg. Where was I? The year played out with Unionville winning five of their final eight but missing the playoffs. So it was a so-so year but their tenth consecutive winning season. And it was a young team with only eleven seniors returning, meaning they have huge numbers with lots of experience for this season. Coach said they developed great depth last year. All of this was accomplished without Defensive Coordinator Harry O’Neill who moved over to the top spot at Avon Grove for the 2014 campaign.
The biggest task this year will be replacing quarterback/punter/place kicker Alex Pechin (6-1, 185), who starred not only in football but also baseball and basketball. He threw a 5 hitter (7 k’s) in 1st round knocking out PIAA defending state champ North Penn 8-1. In 2013 (8-3) he threw and ran for just over 2000 yards. Last year’s stats showed a 51% completion rate (69 of 135) for 1206 yards. He also rushed for 392 yards on 72 carries. But he’ll likely be most remembered for his booming +40 yard punts and kick-offs to the end zone as well as the ability to make long field goals under pressure. In the opener against Garnet Valley, he kicked two field goals, one of them a 50-yarder that helped win the 8-6 slugfest. He’ll be kicking for Bucknell this season. Last year’s junior back up Jason Hagan (6-0, 175, sr) got some time and will probably get the nod this year. The team has some players with real talent and speed in running back Brandon Boon (5-9, 155, sr) and wide out Elan Nash (5-11, 185, sr) who has explosive speed. They are high on Mark Knightly (5-10, 160, sr) who will join Boon in the backfield along with Bryce McManue (6-0, 210, jr) as it looks now. The O-line returns Sean Green (6-6, 240, sr), Mike Cresta (6-0, 235, jr), TE Pat Clark (6-3, 220, sr, coach’s son) juniors Matt Dauphin and Asger Hansen and Sam Gangel, a senior. Jack Bacciellieri is also in the mix. But they’ll miss four year starting center Andrew Jones, 6-0, 280 and OG Paul Steffy (Dickinson), a three year starter at 6-1, 250. Jones will play at Bryant College (8-3) whose 14-7 loss to Sacred Heart denied them the auto berth in the FCS.
The D lost Jones and Seffi on the line plus two good linebackers in Michael Weber (6-1, 210) and Quinn Cheyney (6-1, 225). Experienced LBs return in Dylan Rappucci (6-0, 210, sr), Trevor Gardinier (6-0, 190, jr), Shane Jones (5-11, 210, jr) and Laz Kirfidies (5-9, 165, sr). The secondary is loaded with a possible D1 prospect in Elan Nash (5-11, 185, sr), Tyler Marmo (5-10, 165, sr), Drew Stradling (5-10, 160, sr) and Max Camateros-Man (5-11, 165, sr). Juniors Matt Dauphin and Mike Cresta will fill in the DL positions along with seniors Sam Gangel and Thomas Mallon.
The schedule this year reads nearly the same as last year’s showing Garnet Valley as the opener followed by Exeter Twp and Avon Grove, all at home. Last year’s game with G-Val was at home (Kennett Sq) so that could be a misprint. The Jags and Indians are often a well contested game and should be again this year. Exeter lost QB Chase Yocum but return the big freshman who spelled him in last year’s game, Brandon Unterkoefler (6-1, 195, so), plus most of their receivers, backs and at least three lineman including Penn State recruit Micah Menet (6-5, 280, sr), the #6 OT in the country and top player in the state. Other return starters include Nathaniel Weber (6-3, 250, sr), Brett Moyer (6-2, 230, sr) and likely Tyler Holley (6-3, 275, jr). With anything reasonable under center Exeter will field another dangerous team. Also, Downingtown East replaces Henderson in Downingtown. That will be a difficult one with U-ville coming in off a road game at Rustin. Garnet Valley and Exeter will give us a clue about Unionville while Rustin and Downingtown will likely confirm.