Council Rock South defeated sixth-seeded Downingtown West 28-7 in Saturday’s opening round game of the District 1 6A Tournament.
District 1 6A opening round
#11 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 28, #6 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 7
Upsets have typically been rare in the opening round of the16-team District 1 6A Tournament, supporting the argument that 16 is too large a field. That argument went out the window this year with the lower seed winning four of eight opening round games.
On Saturday night, Council Rock South added its name to the list of teams pulling off opening round upsets, showing absolutely no effects from the long trek to Downingtown and sending the Whippets home for the season with a decisive win.
“We played really good defense again tonight and got some big runs from Jerry Rogers,” Rock South coach CJ Szydlik said. “(Quarterback) Cannon Benzio was fantastic both running and throwing, helping us stay balanced.”
Rogers set the tone for a big night with a touchdown run that gave the visiting Golden Hawks a 7-0 first-quarter lead. His second touchdown run – this one in the second quarter – gave the Hawks a two-score lead, but West answered with a TD run to make it a 14-7 game at halftime.
In the third quarter, Benzio – committed to the U.S. Naval Academy – scored on a touchdown run to give the Golden Hawks a 21-7 advantage.
The Golden Hawks scored an unorthodox TD in the fourth quarter when Joey Saraino connected with Nate Keyak for a touchdown, turning a bad snap on a field goal attempt into a touchdown instead that gave the Hawks their final margin of victory, 28-7.
Up next: Council Rock South will host #14 North Penn Friday in a battle of teams pulling off major upsets.
Council Rock South 7-7-7-7 28
Downingtown West 0-7-0-0 7
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