Henderson Takes Charge of Ches-Mont National

As the Henderson High School football team has navigated through this promising and challenging campaign these past eight weeks, two things have always been of paramount importance:

The Ches-Mont National Division.

Defense.

The Warriors’ collective intensity of focus on those two priorities paved the way for a season-defining, 21-13 road victory over Coatesville Friday night as they came up big once again in a pressure-packed environment at Coatesville Memorial Stadium.

Coming off a disappointing loss to Rustin and faced with a 6-1 powerhouse boasting two high-major Division I recruits, Henderson rode the big-play heroics of linebackers Adam Weaver and T.J. White to a convincing victory that leaves them undefeated (4-0) and firmly in command of the Chest-Mont National Division.  The Warriors travel to Avon Grove Friday night (7 p.m.) and host Downingtown East Nov. 4 (7:15 p.m.) in their bid to wrap up the National Division title unscathed.

“We handled a little adversity this past week,” Henderson coach Joe Walsh offered in reference to the Rustin loss.  “But that wasn’t a Division game.  This was.  We got a few things done on offense but tonight was about the defense.”

The Warriors took an early lead on the first possession of the game and never trailed, but there were plenty of anxious moments throughout the evening as both teams were forced out of their preferred running games because of tough, fast and smart defensive schemes.  After its first two possessions, Coatesville had minus four total yards and at various times during the game Henderson’s defense put the Red Raiders into a second and 19, a third and 22 and a fourth and 34.

That was mostly due to four sacks from Weaver, the junior linebacker who took full advantage of the opportunity to blitz standout Coatesville quarterback Manny Stocker, who accepted a football scholarship to North Carolina State this past summer.

“I just told myself that this was the game to do it,” gushed Weaver, who twice trapped Stocker for 10-yard losses.  “Last week was not a good week for the linebackers.  We needed to step it up and we did.”

The biggest play from a Henderson linebacker came from senior T.J. White, also a Division I football recruit who has interest from several schools.  With Henderson holding a 14-7 lead at the start of the third quarter, Coatesville took the second half kickoff and started to move the ball with a no-huddle offense.  On a first down play from his own 47, Stocker’s pass into the right flat was picked off by White at midfield and he won a footrace with Stocker to the end zone, giving Henderson a two-touchdown lead and the psychological advantage for the rest of the game.

“That area (of the field) was my responsibility and I was able to make a play on the ball,” White stated.   Was he confident that he could make it to the end zone?  “I really worked on my speed this summer,” he smiled.

The other key for the Henderson defense was its prodigious work against Coatesville’s Dae-Hon Cheung, one of the top running backs in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  The Warriors set the tone in the first half, holding Cheung to nine yards on six carries and the star back never got untracked with the Red Raiders forced to go to a passing game through most of the second half.

One of those anxious moments for Henderson came early in the fourth quarter, when Stocker connected with Michigan State recruit Kyle Kerrick, a 6-4, 200-pound speedster who gathered in a perfect pass and cruised into the end zone on a 52-yard play that brought the score to 21-13 – a one possession game – with 8:28 still to play.

The Henderson offense did its part through the middle of the fourth quarter,though, burning six of the final eight minutes with a couple of key first downs behind the standout offensive line and the quarterback play of Strafford Foster and Jake Richard. 

The high-powered Coatesville offense – the area’s top-scoring unit at over 31 points per game – kept it interesting until the final seconds, when Henderson’s Chris Mitten knocked away a final pass in the end zone with no time left on the clock.

Foster played his best game of the year at quarterback, connecting with Joe Dingfelder on a 44-yard touchdown pass and run to open the scoring in the first quarter.  The junior executed Henderson’s option offense almost flawlessly throughout, running for key yardage all night long to help keep Coatesville’s offense off the field.

Richard took a Foster pitch in from two yards out to cap an eight-play, 52-yard drive late in the second period to give Henderson the 14-7 halftime lead.  Coatesville’s first touchdown came in the second quarter, when Stocker hit junior Chris Jones on a 32-yard scoring pass to tie the game at 7-7.

 The win brought Henderson to 6-2 on the season with the two league games left plus a regular season homefield finale against Penncrest on Nov. 11.  Coatesville dropped to 3-1 in the Ches-Mont National Division and 6-2 overall  with Downingtown West next up in Coatesville Friday night.