Unionville posts big win for Homecoming
10/09/2013 03:22PM ● By AclBy Steven Hoffman
Staff Writer
Quarterback Alex Pechin threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns to lead Unionville (5-1) to a 45-7 win over Kennett (2-4) as the Indians celebrated Homecoming on Oct. 3. It was the Indians’ fifth straight win as they head into Week Seven action against Octorara, a team still looking for its first win.
Pechin led Unionville’s high-powered offense that scored on all but one possession during the game. Unionville’s defense matched the offense, forcing three fumbles and limiting Kennett to just one score as the Blue Demons ran into a disciplined, fast, aggressive buzz saw. There was only one word to describe Unionville’s performance—awesome.
“We played an awesome game all around,” Pechin said after the game. “We had confidence that we were going to score. The receivers were getting open. All I had to do was get the ball to them.”
An indication of the kind of game that Unionville’s offense was going to have came on its first series when the Indians mixed good running by Garrett Scargill and Dom DiBiaggio with Pechin’s accurate passes to march down the field. David Daly capped the drive by racing around the left side for an 18-yard touchdown.
Kennett kick returner Sean Middleton took the ensuing kickoff to the 31. Kennett quarterback
Nick Dunlevy, starting in place of regular starting QB Jordan Jones, showed his running skills by finding a seam in Unionville’s defense and breaking loose for a 69-yard touchdown. But there were multiple flags on the play—Unionville got called for holding while a Kennett player was charged with a personal foul. The off-setting penalties took the points off the board and the down was replayed.
Kennett head coach Scott Green said that having the game-tying touchdown called back was an important swing in momentum, even if it was early in a game.
“The most important thing, I think, was when we got the touchdown called back ,” he said.
Kennett continued its drive with Middleton making a nice juggling catch for a 20-yard gain and Dunlevy running for 20 more. But the drive came to an abrupt end when Unionville cornerback Elan Nash intercepted a pass. The Indians capitalized with a nine-play, 67-yard scoring drive, making it 14-0.
The Indians’ attacking defense produced another turnover early in the second quarter when linebacker Quinn Cheyney picked off a pass. Pechin found Daly open on the left side and the wide receiver raced in to the end zone, giving the Indians a 21-0 lead.
The Blue Demons showed their competitiveness by putting together their best drive of the game in the waning minutes of the second quarter. After marching into Unionville territory, Dunlevy showed his remarkable elusiveness, spinning, ducking, and diving away from defenders as he raced 17 yards to the 3-yard line. Liam Clarke finished the drive by racing into the end zone, making it 21-7.
There was only 1:05 left in the first half, but that was plenty of time for the Indians to put together another drive. The big play was a 32-yard pass from Pechin to Scargill. Pechin later kicked a field goal, making it 24-7.
Unionville built on the momentum in the third quarter. Pechin threw a 24-yarder to Scargill to move the Indians deep into Kennett territory and Austin Hoffman-Reardon capped the drive with an eight-yard run right up the middle, making it 31-7.
Following a Kennett fumble, Unionville’s offense struck again when Pechin threw a 23-yard touchdown to Dan McClaskey over the middle, making it 38-7.
Unionville tacked on another touchdown to make it 45-7.
To Kennett’s credit, the Blue Demons kept battling.
In the closing moments of the game, Dunlevy continued to twist, turn, duck, and dive past defenders. Watching this effort, one of his teammates commented that the quarterback was his favorite player on the team.
Green said that he wasn’t surprised that one of the players would say that after Dunlevy admirably filled in. The quarterback was 5-9 for 67 yards passing, and led the Blue Demons with 87 yards rushing.
“I think Nick earned the respect of the players with the way that he played,” Green said. “He’s a student of the game. He’s a great athlete.”
Kennett, now 2-4, will look to rebound next week against Coatesville in an away game.
“We have Coatesville coming up and obviously they are a very good team,” Green said.
Unionville is traveling to Octorara next Friday. While the Indians aren’t looking past the Braves, Pechin said that team is looking forward to showdowns with two of the Ches-Mont League’s top teams, West Chester Rustin and Great Valley in the coming weeks before closing out the season against a very good Oxford team.