Warrington, PA - On a foggy night in Bucks County, the Coatesville Red Raiders and Central Bucks South Titans went to battle. Both of these teams have had incredible success over the last decade in the District 1 bracket, with Coatesville making 4 title game appearances and bringing the championship home twice (2017 & 2018), while CB South took their own district title home in 2023. That 2023 South run is especially notable for this matchup, as it began with an overtime win over Coatesville, a defeat that the Red Raiders had not forgotten.
Coach Matt Ortega and lineman Maxwell Hiller would mention the loss when discussing how they prepared after the game. Well after that reflection, how did Coatesville perform on the field?
CB South started off with the ball, but other than Trent Haviland’s 3rd & 5 conversion, their ground attack didn’t take them anywhere, and the Titans were forced to punt. The Red Raider offense took the field and got going immediately.
RB Andre Watson Jr. took Coatesville across the field on his first few carries. However, Mikal Shank Jr. would be the one to put them on the board, hitting Sage Bradshaw in stride for a beautiful touchdown pass to give Coatesville a 7-0 lead.
As the South offense took the field, a thick fog began to roll in, which would have a major impact on the remainder of the half. Just like their first drive, however, South would get one spark of energy on the ground (this time from Colin White) and be promptly forced off the field. The Raider offense started off around their 40, and pushed down to the 1-yard line, where star tackle Max Hiller made his way into the endzone to expand the lead to 14-0.
Now in the second quarter, South started to feel the pressure, and the run game began to get going. White, Haviland, and Gavin Graham would take the Titans into Coatesville territory, and a reverse caught the defense off guard for a 27 yard Juju Hardy touchdown to put South on the board. Coatesville continued to thrive offensively though, and South was in desperate need of a stop. A big sack on 3rd and 9 for Jacob Friedman seemingly halted their progress, but Shank Jr came up big again and gave the Red Raider special teams a chance for three. A false start would doom those hopes though, and we entered halftime at 14-7.
If you thought the fog was bad in the first half, it only got worse in the third quarter. The haze began to block the South student section’s view and severely obscure the left side of the field, which had a real impact on this game. Coatesville started off with the rock, and Andre Watson Jr brought them across the 50 on a breakaway run while also recovering a fumble that would’ve stopped the Raiders progress in its tracks. Now, most quarterbacks would avoid the fog covered side of the field and target the more visible side.
CB South’s defense probably expected a normal quarterback to target the unobscured side of the field. Unfortunately for them Mikal Shank Jr isn’t a normal quarterback. He found Nico Christino through the fog to put the Red Raiders up two scores and stun the South crowd. The result of the play was a mystery for us on the Coatesville sideline until the officials made the signal, as the fog was so thick Christino’s catch was nearly completely obscured.
The Titans now had some serious pressure on them to strike back, and that’s exactly what Dylan Varanavage did, going 63 yards on the ground and bringing life back to Titan Stadium and cutting the lead to 7. Now it was Coatesville’s turn to respond, and after putting the rest of the team in scoring position all night, it was Andre Watson Jr’s turn to get in the endzone. Watson’s touchdown was a 47 yarder that brought the score to 28-14 and continued his season long touchdown streak. South wouldn’t be able to respond as they had last time, with a King Anderson sack pinning the Titan offense back on a 3rd and 24 and ultimately forcing a punt.
The Coatesville offense used this momentum to expand their lead even further, with Watson making his way into the endzone on another long run to bring the lead to three scores for the first time on the night. After the game, Max Hiller credited the success of the ground game to a full week of practice and preperation. Just 10 minutes remained on the clock, so South had to move fast if they wanted to stage a comeback, and they would do exactly that.
Trent Haviland found tight end Santino Wade across the middle of the field, who evaded the Red Raider defense and gave the Titans signs of life. Coatesville then halted the South celebration by blocking the extra point. Despite that positive for the Red Raiders, South was beginning to make a comeback. The defense came up with a big stop and gave Haviland and the offense the ball back. South made their way down the field, finding their way into the endzone off of Juju Hardy’s second touchdown of the game. However, the special teams came back to bite the Titans yet again after the extra point was no good, moving the deficit to two scores.
With four minutes left, CB South would need to force a turnover for the first time on the night to have a chance at victory. And shockingly they would do just that. CB South got the ball back within the 40 after the fumble with the opportunity to make the odds of a comeback even higher.
All the pressure in the world was on the shoulders of the Coatesville defense. A touchdown followed by an onside kick recovery or another turnover could very well give South a shocking comeback win, so they were in desperate need of a stop.
The Titans began to move, but a fumbled snap that led to a sack slowed them down. If you weren’t sure if that sack won them back the momentum, the very next play proved it. Under heavy pressure, Haviland was forced to try and make something happen on the run. He was hit by DT Clarence Stewart as he threw, knocking the ball out for Landan Querey to recover, sealing the game for Coatesville.
Although Central Bucks South’s season has come to an end, there are plenty for the Titans to hang their hats on. After starting 0-3, they went 6-1 in conference play in the nightmarish SOL National, claiming a share of the division title after spoiling Pennridge’s undefeated season.
Meanwhile, the Red Raiders will move on to play #1 seed Downingtown East in the final four next week. When I asked him what they could build off of from this game, QB Mikal Shank Jr mentioned their success on all three sides of the ball and the need to “keep playing together as a team”. When I spoke with OT Maxwell Hiller, he called back to their close loss to East two weeks ago, which the Raiders seek to avenge.