Stocker throws for five TD as Raiders advance to battle with Pennsbury
By Dave Conard, Staff Writer, CoatesvilleTimes.com
ROYERSFORD — The intense week of practice that head coach Matt Ortega and his staff put his squad through, paid huge dividends on Friday night when the Red Raiders took the turf at coach McNelly Stadium, as Coatesville handed the host Rams a 60-28 drubbing in the opening round of the PIAA District One playoff.
Led by a seven touchdown (five passing, one rushing) performance from Manny Stocker, the only thing that slowed down the Red Raiders offense all evening was the traffic leaving the Spring-Ford High School parking lot after the game.
Coatesville (9-2), which will now advance to the quarter finals and host #15 Pennsbury who upset #2 Abington, had nine possession in the tilt, scoring on all nine, as it claimed it’s first post-season win since the 2004 season.
It took the Red Raiders less than three minutes to get on the board, as Stocker found 5’11” junior wide out Chris Jones, who racked up 173 yards on six receptions including four touchdowns, wide open in the slot for an 18 yard scoring strike giving the visitors a 6-0 edge.
Spring-Ford (9-2) answered right back in their fist possession, marching the length of the field in eight plays culminating with a one yard plunge by Hank Coyne and following the Jamie O’Hara kick the Rams had what would turn out to be their only lead of the night at 7-6.
“It was huge for us to get out of the gate early,” said head coach Matt Ortega. “That first drive got our confidence going and the boys executed on every level tonight. We talked all week about winning the game from Monday to Thursday and that’s what we did tonight, I am very proud of them.”
Coatesville posted 35 unanswered points in building a 40-7 lead as the intermission approached, before Spring-Ford running back Jared Jones, who was clearly tackled in bounds following a 40yard jaunt down the sideline, was ruled to be down at the one-yard line and two seconds were put back on the clock.
Ryan Conway ran the wildcat formation and plunged into the end zone giving the Rams seven bonus points as they headed to the break.
“We worked hard all week,” said Chris Jones. “Tonight we knew we were playing a good team, but we wanted to make sure we took care of our end by executing on offense which would limit what they could do since we had the lead. Our coaches did a great job getting us ready for tonight, now we get to play at home next with our crowd which has been awesome all year.”
Rams head coach Chad Brubaker, is not known for being one to go down without a fight, and following a double reverse flea flicker which picked up Spring-Ford 55 yards on the first play of the second half, Brubaker’s squad cut the lead to 40-21 two plays later as J.J Paige scurried into the end zone from seven yards out, but that is a close as it would get.
With a heavy dose of Dae Hon Chung, who carried five times for 56 yards on the ensuing drive, the Red Raiders regained the momentum as Chung broke through three tackles en route to a 24 yard touchdown run, his second of the night with 8:07 left in the third.
“We haven’t really hit all cylinders yet this year,” added Ortega. “Tonight we finally got it going in the passing game as well as on the ground, it’s a credit to the league we play in to have our guys come here and play so well.”
Coatesville left no question about the out come as Stocker hit Jones for a 25 –yard touchdown pass as the third quarter came to a close. Coatesville closed out the scoring when Emmett Hunt — giving Stocker a break with the big lead at QB — connected with Jones on a harmless enough screen pass which the back then busted open for a 71-yard scoring strike, boosting the advantage to 60-21.
“It was a hard week of practice,” said Kyle Kerrick. “Coming out of our league with the competition we see every week, we expected to come in here and play well. Our league has five teams that made the playoffs, which says a lot about our league, we will do it all again this getting ready for Pennsbury.”
Next up for Coatesville will be a match up with Pennsbury, which at one point in the season was ranked eighth in the state at Coatesville presumably at 7 pm next Friday.
First quarter
9:24 CT Jones 18 yd pass from Stocker (kick blocked)
6:07 SF Coyne 1 yd run (O’Hara kick)
3:01 CT Chung 13 yd run (run failed)
Second quarter
10:32 CT Boggs 18 yd pass from Stocker (Hall kick)
5:41 CT Jones 15 yd pass from Stocker (Hall kick)
2:14 CT Stocker 17 yd run (Hall kick)
1:11 CT Kerrick 42 yd pass from Stocker (Hall kick)
:00 SF Conway 1 yd run (O’Hara kick)
Third quarter
10:52 SF Paige 7yd run (O’Hara kick)
8:07 CT Chung 24 yd run (Hall kick)
:51 CT Jones 25 yd pass from Stocker (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
10:13 CT Jones 71 yd pass from Hunt (Hall kick)
5:57 SF Paige 4 yd run (O’Hara kick)
Coatesville 12 28 13 7 –60
Spring-Ford 7 7 7 7 –28