Garnet Valley out-physicals big Downingtown West squad

DOWNINGTOWN >> Downingtown West boasts one of its biggest offensive lines in its history, but Friday, in the season opener, Garnet Valley dwarfed the Whippets in physicality.

From the fourth play of the game — when Shane Reynolds broke free for a 61-yard touchdown, to the final drive — when the backups milked away the final nine minutes, 35 seconds, the Jaguars delivered quite the resounding message at Kottmeyer Stadium.

Garnet Valley dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and cruised to a 41-7 win.

“We had a great offseason in the weight room, and we have goals we want to accomplish,” Garnet senior offensive and defensive lineman, Nolan Brennan, said. “We wanted to come out and show District 1 who we are and what we want to be, and I think we accomplished that.”

The Whippets have four linemen listed at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds and up, including Penn St. recruit Drew Shelton, but Garnet set the tone early with eight in the box, and pressured Whippet quarterback, Evan Wickersham, all night.

“They out-played us and out-physical’d us,” West coach Mike Milano said. “They’re good at what they do and executed double dive. We stepped in the wrong window and all of a sudden the band is playing … To me, it came down to five plays, but they out-played us all night and we made no plays, none.”

The Jags (1-0) have now won 15 straight regular season games, dating back to a 42-19 loss to West to start the 2019 season. The Whippets won the district that year, so Garnet is hoping its dominating revenge ends in similar fashion.

The season couldn’t have started worse for the Whippets, who, after giving up that long score on the opening drive, had their first offensive play tipped and intercepted by Drew Van Horn, who ran it in for a TD from 11 yards out.

Down 14-0 after 97 seconds of game time, West put together a drive that reached Garnet territory, only to have a personal foul penalty thwart any momentum.

The next two Whippet drives started at the Garnet 38 and 39, but the Jaguars stymied them each time, and responded with a 76-yard score from Max Busenkell to Sean Gallagher, midway through the second.

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