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| Dawuan Genies ran for a touchdown and scored a second on a 65-yard kickoff return that all but sealed the game. | |||||
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By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
Before this season started, Quince Orchard was on a pedestal. The defending 4A state champions had the Division I talent and the state’s No. 1-ranking.
But it didn’t take long for that pedestal to be kicked out and for the Cougars to lose that air of invincibility, as Wootton nearly pulled off an upset of the Cougars in Week 1.
On Friday night, more than 10 weeks later, Quince Orchard regained much of that respect. The Cougars cruised past Wootton with a 36-0 victory in the 4A West semifinals at Quince Orchard and they did it by winning every facet of the football game.
Quince Orchard (10-1) will now play undefeated Sherwood, the only team to beat the Cougars this season, next Friday in the region finals.
“Our kids were really jacked-up to play tonight,” Quince Orchard Coach Dave Mencarini said. “Our kids just came out tonight really to show that we’re still a force to be reckoned with in the race to win a state title.”
Dawuan Genies led the Cougars’ effective offense with two touchdowns, one on an 8-yard run and another on a 65-yard kickoff return, while Nick Goss notched a 62-yard reception for a touchdown and a safety when he blocked a punt out the back of the end zone.
Perhaps even more impressive was Quince Orchard’s defense, which held the Patriots scoreless for the first time all season. Wootton averaged more than 30 points per game during the regular season.
The Cougars, and perhaps somewhat the rain, held Wootton quarterback Mike Mooney, the area’s leading passer in terms of yardage, to 102 yards passing on 20 completions, just one more yard than Travis Hawkins threw for on two completions.
“Any time you shut out an offense that has the area’s leading passer and they have great receivers, any time you do that it says a lot about how your kids prepared and how they played,” Mencarini said.
Last time the two teams played, Mooney passed for 240 yards and Wootton had a lead late in the fourth quarter. A game-winning touchdown drive buoyed by Genies and capped off by now injured quarterback Kevin Adams is all that kept Quince Orchard from suffering its first loss since 2006.
Quince Orchard players said that they came out lackadaisical in that game partly because it was the first week of the season, partly because the game had been rescheduled from a Saturday afternoon to Monday night and party because it was on Richard Montgomery’s turf field, which neither team could really call home.
But this time, as Genies said, there were no excuses.
“We wanted to prove that it wasn’t luck,” Genies added. “Their excuse last game was, ‘if we had a couple more minutes we would have got them.’ No excuse now. The scoreboard tells it all.”
Quince Orchard lit the scoreboard early, scoring touchdowns on its first three offensive possessions and taking a 27-0 lead into halftime.
Junior Ben Sasu capped a 13-play drive on the Cougars’ first possession with a 4-yard touchdown run. Cody Schecter spun his way into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to end the Cougars’ second drive with a touchdown and Genies ran seven yards for another touchdown on the Cougars’ third offensive possession.
Wootton (7-4), who was making its first playoffs appearance since 1991, threatened to score twice near the end of the first half. The Patriots blocked a Quince Orchard punt that set them up on the Cougars’ 29-yard line but were unable to connect on any long passes, including a fourth-and-19 heave into the end zone.
Quince Orchard answered with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Hawkins to Goss on their first play after taking over possession.
“The line must have given him a lot of time because I was running for a while,” Goss said. “Travis put the ball in the perfect spot, right in the middle and no one was there.”
The Patriots threatened one more time at the end of the first half but junior Cougars linebacker Danny Tonelson intercepted a pass in the end zone that left Quince Orchard gleefully gallivanting into the locker room.
“I just worked on getting under it and that’s what happened and I was able to get the ball,” Tonelson said. “They’ve got a real good passing attack. I honestly didn’t expect a shutout but the defense played real great today.”
