Blue Demons fall to Braves for seventh consecutive loss
By Emily Adelman, Correspondent, The Times
Kennett’s Frankie Perigo fights for yardage against Octorara, Friday night. The Blue Demons fell 39-27.
ATGLEN – The Friday night crowd, donning pink for breast cancer awareness, saw the home team Octorara defeat the already downtrodden Kennett High school football squad by a score of 39 to 27.
And while the frustrations mounts after seven straight losses, there were many positive signs for the young Kennett team — including overcoming a 20-point deficit to come back and tie the game.
Kennett (1-7) started the game strong on both sides of the ball. The Blue Demon defense was on point during the first series as they forced Octorara star running back, senior Corey Cooper, to fumble the ball at his own 40-yard line. After a big 20 yard gain by Kennett junior Matt Boessman, quarterback Nick Dunlevy scrambled for the 20-yard touchdown to put the Demons up 7-0 just four and a half minutes into the game.
That lead did not hold for long, however, as Octorara stormed back. Starting from their own 29-yard line, the Braves went 71 yards for the touchdown in just under three minutes, highlighted by Corey Cooper’s 50-yard run to get the Braves to the Kennett seven yard line. The next play, Octorara senior quarterback Alex Gooden ran in the seven yard touchdown to tie the game at seven.
Kennett went four and out on their next series, and just as the second quarter commenced, the Braves scored another touchdown with Gooden’s 38-yard run to give Octorara the lead 14-7.
Kennett’s defense did not look comfortable in the first half, letting the Braves into the end zone four out of their first five possessions. Octorara’s defense, however, seemed quite comfortable all game, putting constant pressure on Dunlevy as he was sacked three times in the first half.
Kennett went three and out again on their next possession. Just forty five seconds later, Octorara penetrated the end zone again. Corey Cooper took the ball 83 yards to the house on the first play of the series to make the score 20-7 after a missed extra point.
Cooper tallied over 200 yards rushing, two touchdowns and one fumble. Gooden ended the game passing for 82 yards and one touchdown, while running for 110 yards and three touchdowns.
The pressure on Dunlevy did not stop, as he threw an interception into the hands of Braves’ senior defenseman Dann Ruger. After a fifteen-yard run by Gooden, a big gain by Cooper, and a facemask penalty on Kennett, Gooden hit his wide-out for a nine-yard touchdown, putting the Braves up by 20 points.
Things looked bleak, but Kennett was not done yet. Dunlevy hit sophomore wideout Luke Beeson for a big 45 yards to get the Demons at first and goal from the seven. Two plays later, Dunlevy charged into the end zone for one of his four rushing touchdowns on the night.
Kennett Sophomore wide receiver Luke Beeson ended the night with three catches for 67 yards.
After forcing the Braves to punt for the first time, the Demons found themselves on the Braves 42 yard line after a big return by sophomore Myles Robinson. Dunlevy hit Junior running back Frankie Perigo for a 19-yard gain, and after big gains by Perigo and Boessman, Dunlevy took the ball in himself for the two yard touchdown run. Kennett was down just seven heading into halftime, 27-20.
Kennett took the momentum from the first half over to the second half, scoring a touchdown while burning six minutes off of the clock to start the third quarter. Dunlevy’s three- yard touchdown run tied the game 27-27
The Demon’s offense performed well, but missed big opportunities to keep the ball and turn it into a score.
“We had a game plan and stuck to it,” Kennett Head Coach Scott Green said. “During halftime we talked about adjustments and we executed them well, we just missed big plays and big opportunities, which turned out to be the difference in the game.”
Unfortunately, 27 points was all the scoring Kennett did for the rest of the game, as Octorara scored 12 more points to put the game away 39-27.
The Blue Demons play their last home game of the season as they take on West Chester Rustin High School, next Friday night at 7pm at Kennett Stadium.
