Lethargic offense hurts Blue Demons in senior-night finale.
By Emily Adelman, Staff Writer, The Times
Kennett’s Brett Rose battles for yardage against Great Valley, Friday night. It was a tough night all around for the Blue Demons, as they fell to visiting Great Valley, 33-7, in the final game of the season.
KENNETT SQUARE — The Kennett Blue Demons (3-7) offense struggled mightily on Friday night, as they dropped their seventh game of the season with a loss to the Great Valley Patriots (7-3).
Sluggish offense and a largely ineffective defense was the losing combination for Kennett, as the Patriots beat Kennett by 26 points in hopes of keeping their playoff dreams alive. Great Valley came into Friday night’s contest 20th in the District 1 Class AAAA power rankings. The top 16 teams advance to playoffs.
Kennett started the game with decent field position, having received the ball on their own 49-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Kennett sophomore quarterback Nick Dunlevy threw an interception intended for wide receiver Brett Rose to Great Valley junior defensive back River Johnson. Johnson would end the game with an impressive three interceptions.
Dunlevy’s struggles on the field would end on Kennett’s next possession when he went down with an ankle injury. Dunlevy would be stuck on the sidelines for the remainder of the game. Senior Jordan Jones, who began the season as Kennett’s quarterback but had recently been starting as wide receiver, took over for Dunlevy.
In a play eerily reminiscent of Kennett’s first possession, Jones tossed an interception on his first pass attempt of the game. It was Kennett’s second interception thrown in the first quarter.
The first score of the game came off of a 31-yard run by Great Valley quarterback Sean Fitzpatrick. Kennett junior Thomas Wessells blocked the Patriot’s point after attempt and Great Valley took the lead 6-0.
Early in the second quarter, Fitzpatrick led his team to another score with an impressive 73-yard touchdown run to make it 13-0. Fitzpatrick ended the night with 90 yards on six carries and two rushing touchdowns.
Kennett was unable to get any offense going and with 4:26 remaining in the second quarter, Great Valley senior running back Cryee Ames broke out for a 60-yard touchdown run to make the score 19-0 going into the half.
Coming out of halftime, Great Valley would continue their scoring attack, quickly marching down the field and putting up another 6 points on a seven-yard touchdown run by senior running back Chris Temple putting the Patriots up 26-0.
Kennett offense would remain stagnant throughout the contest, racking up only 200 yards of total offense.
A good portion of Kennett’s yards came from a brilliant 82-yard touchdown run by senior wide receiver Brett Rose in the middle of the third quarter. After a completed point after attempt, Kennett was down 26-7. That would be Kennett’s only score of the night.
Kennett quarterback Jordan Jones ended the night 3 for 11 in the air with 31 yards and three interceptions. He also finished with 43 yards on the ground on 17 carries.
Great Valley would seal the victory with a late fourth-quarter 14-yard touchdown run by Jerome Nelson for a final score of 33-7.
On a night honoring Kennett’s senior players, there is a recognition that Kennett will have a tough time filling the holes that the senior class will leave.
