Downingtown West and Downingtown East are arch-rivals during the scholastic football season. Nonetheless, even though they go to different schools, some of the players are best friends.
Like Josh Coulter and Mike Tucker.
Coulter and Tucker, two of the best defensive linemen in District 1, teamed up to wreak havoc on the West All-Stars Friday night as the East romped to a 33-7 victory in the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association's 10th annual Pennsylvania Bowl at Mansion Park.
The East's defense dominated and held the West to only 64 total yards on 53 plays. The West managed just 17 rushing yards on 38 carries, and the tandem of Coulter and Tucker were two of the big reasons.
"We played our game," said Coulter of Downingtown West, who is headed to West Chester University. "We pretty much knew what we were going to do the whole time, and we kept steady pressure on them.
"We're from opposite schools, but we're good friends," Coulter said about Tucker. "We both play with our hearts."
Tucker, who will play at Holy Cross, said it was a fun night, especially for the defense.
"[West] talked all week about how much bigger and faster they were," Tucker said. "But, Eastern Pa. and District 1 football, there's nothing like it.
"It's crazy. We used our speed and got right around them all night."
Tucker enjoyed having Coulter as a teammate.
"We come from rival schools so it was nice to team up tonight," Tucker said.
Downingtown West coach Mike Milano was head coach of the East All-Stars last night and Tucker said "it was nice working with the rival's coach."
Milano was happy as the East upped its record to 7-3 in the Pennsylvania Bowl.
"The whole group threw a shutout," Milano said. "We knew the game was a speed game and we won the one-on-one matchups up front."
West quarterbacks Cory Briggs of Selinsgrove and Matt Bliss of Bethel Park were forced to scramble much of the night and neither had much success. Each completed only one pass and both finished with negative rushing yards.
"[East] came out and played hard," said Briggs, who is headed to Harvard. "They did a lot of things we couldn't counter.
"They played a great game and we made way too many mistakes."
The first big miscue came in the first quarter when Coulter sacked Briggs and the ball rolled into the end zone where Bishop McDevitt's Ryan Kuntz pounced on it for an early 7-0 East lead.
The West answered with its only score - a defensive gem by Jesse Della Valle of Shaler. Della Valle, a Penn State recruit, intercepted a pass, rambled 75 yards to paydirt and Matt MacZura's PAT tied it a 7-all.
The rest of the night belonged to the East, which scored three times in the second quarter and once in the third.
Dan Cason of East Stroudsburg South caught a pair to TD passes in the second - a 59-yarder from Bret Gillespie of Downingtown West and an 8-yarder from Kyle Smith of Lancaster Catholic.
Freedom's Darrius Webb tallied on a 19-yard run in the second and capped the scoring with a 25-yard dash in the third.
Webb, a smallish running back at 5-8, 170, hopes to play at Oregon State after prepping at a junior college in northern California.
"I really thought we could dominate," said Webb, who had a contingent of 76 family and friends from the Allentown area cheering him on. "We wanted to come out and show that Eastern Pa. football is no joke.
"I think we showed that tonight."
SCORE BY QUARTERS
West7 0 0 0 - 7
East7 20 6 0 - 33
First quarter
E-Kuntz recovered fumble in end zone (Webster kick), 7:39.
W-Della Valle 75 interception return (MacZura kick), 2:53.
Second quarter
E-Cason 59 pass from Gillespie (Webster kick), 11:05.
E-Cason 8 pass from Smith (kick failed), 7:02.
E-Webb 19 run (Webster kick), 3:08.
Third quarter
E-Webb 25 run (kick failed), :55.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: West-Howard 8-30, Lewis 1-17, Bey 6-14, Hagan 2-4, Ifill 2-(-10), Bliss 6-(-15), Briggs 13-(-23). East-R. White 7-82, Webb 5-70, DeFebo 10-44, Gruber 1-2, Brewer 1-2, K. White 1-2, Gillespie 1-(-2), Smith 5-(-8).
PASSING: West-Briggs 1-10-0-11, Bliss 1-5-0-36. East-Gillespie 2-9-2-56, Smith 5-10-1-85, Brewer 1-1-0-3.
RECEIVING: West-Bey 1-36, Simmen 1-11. East-Gruber 3-45, Cason 2-61, Brewer 1-39, Smith 1-3, Webb 1-(-3).
INTERCEPTIONS: West-Della Valle 2-75, Bey 1-0.
TEAM STATISTICSWE
First downs514
Yards rushing38-1731-190
Passing (comp.-att.-int.)2-15-08-20-3
Yards passing47164
Total yards64354
Fumbles lost6-30-0
Penalties-yards5-416-75
Punts-avg.10-406-40
From The Altoona Mirror
On this page I will have all information on sports events from Nazareth High School and all other sports events in the country. I will also have news about myself and other people.
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