2 weeks Ago By Matthew DeGeorge
SPRINGFIELD — One trip to the red zone in which it came up empty of points might have been enough for Springfield to overcome Friday night. But two in the first half? Even with a jolt from its special teams unit, two was too much against a team of the caliber of West Chester Rustin. Rustin’s defense pitched a shutout, three times turning Springfield away in the red zone for a 34-2 victory Friday in the District 1 Class 5A championshiip game.
The second-seeded Golden Knights (13-1) move on to face the winner of District 12 champ Roman Catholic and District 6 winner Hollidaysburg in a PIAA semifinal. Rustin led 14-0 in the blink of an eye. Quarterback David McClain hit Jojo Magolon for a 56-yard sideline route on third-and-10 on its opening series.
Then six snaps later, Nate Pechin jumped a Jackson Kennedy crossing route, picked it and dashed 34 yards to paydirt. The game wasn’t seven minutes old, yet Springfield was in a 14-point hole. The top-seeded Cougars (12-2) didn’t stay down long.
Kennedy orchestrated a 64-yard drive that reached the 11 before stalling, his fourth-and-7 pass tipped at the line by Luke Spitzer and fluttering to the 1 for David Jacobs to pick it off. The field position benefitted Springfield when Evan DiBlasi pressured a punt, blocking it through the back of the end zone with 10:30 left in the half for a safety. But Springfield couldn’t capitalize on the field position off the free kick.
A 27-yard connection between Kennedy and Brian Delaney put them in business. Again, they reached the red zone, hitting the 9. But again, Kennedy was unsuccessful in finding Delaney on either third or fourth down, the latter with Josh Colonia draped all over him and barely getting the ball out of his hand.
Two chances spurned, Rustin punished them. A 14-play drive gobbled up all nearly six minutes, leaving just 19 seconds left before halftime. Chase Hatton’s methodical ground gains and a 17-yard linkup between McClain and Magolon set up McClain to summon the magic that was missing for Springfield.
With two hands from Jahmeer Harlem having spun the QB 270 degrees, he tried to throw the ball away as he was falling but found Hatton at the 11 to catch it and run for what went down as a four-yard TD and a 21-2 lead at the break. Kennedy was picked off three times, Pechin getting his second in the second half. A pressure from Colonia also led to a fourth-down incompletion from the 10 in the fourth quarter, though a score there would’ve been merely cosmetic.
Kennedy finished 9-for-21 for 105 yards. But he also put two home-run shots on the hands of wide receivers on the first series of the second half only to see them dropped. It mainly came down to execution Friday, and the clear edge there was in Rustin’s favor.
Whenever the Golden Knights needed five on third down, they got seven. When they needed stops, they got them. They rushed for 239 yards, with Hatton supplying 148 on 25 carries.
Magolon iced the game with a 36-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. McClain was 5-for-6 through the air for 116 yards. Up 19 and forcing Springfield to punt on its first series of the third, Rustin milked clock.
An 11-play drive ended with Freddie Adler’s 22-yard field goal. Adler finished the next series, a nine-play march, with a 27-yard kick. Rustin’s defense got upfield all game on Springfield’s pre-snap motion.
They were limited to 132 yards on 28 carries. Tanner Coll carried seven times for 59 yards, Brad Barber 16 for 58. Delany had four catches for 60 yards.
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