WESTTOWN – Downingtown West entered Thursday’s first-place boys’ lacrosse showdown at West Chester Rustin as the more untested side. But after the Whippets carved up the Golden Knights’ zone defense, on the way to an impressive 15-9 triumph, West now sits in the Ches-Mont driver’s seat as the lone unbeaten squad in league play with four regular season contests to go.
“This is a huge win,” said Whippets’ sophomore midfielder Ryan O’Donnell. “We knew (Rustin) was one of the better teams in the Ches-Mont, but we came into this game with so much energy, and it paid off.
“We probably played our best game of the season.”
With its eighth straight win, West improves to 8-0 in the Ches-Mont (12-1 overall) and will likely leapfrog the Knights (8-1, 10-3) in the District 1 3A power rankings. The Whippets were fifth heading in, one slot behind the Knights.
“This is what we’ve been pointing towards for the last few weeks,” said senior midfielder Dylan Cicero. “The offense and defense played great for us today. It feels great to get this win.
“Our energy was there and that’s been missing at times this season. We went into this game wanting it more than (Rustin). A game like this will light a fire under us.”
West’s lone defeat this spring was a 9-8 decision against Owen J. Roberts. The Whippets league schedule, however, is back-loaded, with archrivals Downingtown East and Bishop Shanahan still to come. Rustin previously beat both.
“(West) played the faster game today, which is usually kind of our thing,” said Knights’ head coach Kevin Philibin. “They beat us at our own game.
“But the season is not over. There are still plenty of games left. We’ve already gone through the majority of the top end of the Ches-Mont already. We don’t want to backdoor into a championship, but we will come out and compete in every game we play from here on out.”
The outcome turned early as the quick-strike Whippets raced to a 3-1 lead after one period thanks to two goals from Chase Teti, and another from Aiden Benner. Rustin pulled to within one early in the second, but that was as close as it would get, as Benner notched an assist (to senior Ty Raines) and scored another to make it 5-2.
“We were just flying around. That set the tone,” O’Donnell said.
“(West) has a lot of kids that can play and they’ve been battling some injuries,” Philibin added. “This past week, after Spring Break, is when they’ve had their full offense on the field. But that’s what we want to do, play teams at their best.”
West then broke it open by scoring four more times before the intermission. Teti, Benner and O’Donnell – sophomore’s all – continued the onslaught. Knights’ senior standout Nate Pechin scored three times in the first half, but Rustin trailed 9-5.
“At the half, we said, ‘all gas, no brake,’” Cicero reported. “We knew we had to do that to earn this W.”
In the third, every time the Knights’ scored, the Whippets quickly responded. When O’Donnell scored in the final minute of the quarter, it was 13-8, and then he added two more the rest of the way.
“We have a lot of guys that can score and we work well together,” O’Donnell said.
“We feel good after this win but we have some big games coming up.”
Benner and O’Donnell led the way for West with four goals apiece, and O’Donnell added two assists. Teti chipped in with three goals, Cicero dished out three assists and goaltender Landon Guarneri – yet another sophomore –registered 14 saves.
“A lot of us have played club lacrosse together so we have really good chemistry. I think we will be good for years to come,” O’Donnell said.
“Those guys have great stick skills, great lacrosse IQ and great athleticism,” Cicero added. “These sophomores are the future of this program.”
Junior Ethan Krausse went 18-8 on faceoffs and that helped the Whippets finish with a 31-23 edge in shots on goal.
“Efficiency-wise, I don’t think our defense was that bad,” Philibin said. “(West) was just getting a ton of looks after all of the faceoff wins. Once we were able to negate the faceoffs a little bit, it started to even out. But we just spotted them too many early with the faceoffs and the groundball difference in the middle of the field.”
Downingtown West 15, West Chester Rustin 9
Downingtown West 3 6 4 2 – 15
W.C. Rustin 1 4 3 1 – 9
Downingtown West goals: O’Donnell 4, Benner 4, Teti 3, Raines 2, Cetera, Ratcliffe.
W.C. Rustin goals: Pechin 3, Lamb 2, Britton 2, Santangelo, Scheivert.
Goalie saves: Guarneri (DW) 14; Brockett (R) 16.
