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DOWNINGTOWN>> After completing arguably his biggest pass of the night, Downingtown West’s Quinn Henicle spotted a rare sight on the Whippets’ sideline.
Beaming like a proud father, West coach Mike Milano waited for his senior slinger, unable to hide a smile with still a couple minutes on the clock in a one-score game.
“Only a few times,” Henicle said in regards to how many times he’s seen his coach smile. “That’s what you play for. I love that.”
Henicle had a second half of his career, throwing for the game-tying pass and running in the game-winner in a comeback win against Coatesville, 21-14.
On a third-and-11 from the West two, Henicle hit Dean Hangey on a fade down the sideline for a 33-yard gain to all but eliminate Coatesville’s chances.
“That’s just me and him,” Milano said. “That’s me trusting him to not take a sack. It was a shot play and he made it on time and let Dean go get it. It was well-executed.”
Henicle lost his second fumble of the night in the middle of the third quarter, giving Coatesville the ball at the West 32. It was one of four times the Red Raiders (1-1 division, 5-2 overall) had the ball in West territory in the second half and they were unable to add to their 14-7 halftime lead.
“We had our chances in the second half,” Coatesville coach Matt Ortega said. “We didn’t capitalize. We had good field position in the third quarter and didn’t take advantage.”
The Whippets (2-0, 7-0) jumped out to a 7-0 lead in a first quarter that was delayed by 15 minutes due to lightning in the area. With a brief rain shower dumping, Kam Alex found pay dirt from nine yards out.
But Coatesville dominated the rest of the half, taking the lead thanks to a touchdown run by Damon Watons and a 29-yard TD reception from Matt Ortega Jr. to Qwan James.
West held Coatesville to just 189 total yards on the night.
“We didn’t change much,” Milano said. “We made some plays. The kids made some plays and we executed a little better. Quinn was under duress all night, but in the end we made one more play.”
Late in the third, Henicle found Jordan Barry behind the defense for a 60-yard touchdown on second-and-16.
Coatesville opened its next drive with a 26-yard run by Watson, but stalled out and was forced to punt back to West.
Starting at the 24, Henicle took over, completing two passes to Hangey and running the ball four times for 39 yards, the last nine getting him into the end zone.
“It’s awesome.” Henicle said. “I’ve been waiting my whole career to play this team. I was JV as a sophomore and we didn’t get to play them last year, so it’s amazing to get a win like that.”
After Henicle’s go-ahead score, the Whippets were penalized twice, giving Coatesville the ball at the West 34. On third-and-10, Ortega Jr. tried to spin to his left but was met by Ryan Campbell for an 11-yard loss.
The Red Raiders got the ball back with 58 yards to go in 55 seconds, but were penalized three times and couldn’t pull out the miracle.
Hangey, who missed two games with an injury this season, had six catches for 86 yards. Henicle was 7-for-8 for 144 yards in the second half, finishing with 208 through the air and 40 on the ground.
“I couldn’t dwell on my mistakes,” Henicle said. “I have a lot of trust in my coaching staff, my offensive line, my team and it was great to be able to bounce back when we needed to.”
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