LAULETTA MAKES HIS OWN NAME IN OPENING WIN

Bryce Lauletta has been roaming the Downingtown East sidelines at Kottmeyer Stadium since he was 6 years old.
Lauletta remembers watching his older brothers Trey and Kyle throw for a combined 9,513 yards in their careers and leading the Cougars to many double-digit win seasons.

Friday night’s 23-6 season-opening win over Delaware Valley was the younger Lauletta’s first chance to join the fraternity of great Lauletta quarterbacks that suited up for East.

“I’ve been waiting, what, since I was a little kid for this,” said Lauletta with a smile. “Since I was a waterboy, I’ve been waiting a long time to play quarterback here. It’s a relief.”

The younger Lauletta was able to create those magic moments of his own as he completed 14-of-22 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns in leading Downingtown East to the win.

The junior threw for 167 of those yards and all three touchdowns in the first half as the Cougars gained 270 of their 298 total yards in the first half to build a 23-0 lead at halftime.

Ethan Harris was the recipient of all three Lauletta touchdown tosses, including a 41-yard reception that put the Cougars up 14-0 with 6:03 left in the second quarter.
Lauletta faced pressure from two Delaware Valley defenders on a rollout. He escaped one defender and was able to elude the second on a juke, finding Harris wide open down the right side for the score.

“We did drills on that all the time in the pocket,” Lauletta said. “Coach (Tom) Wolf said in practice if those guys come wide to step up in the pocket, so I had to do that. He really helped me on that one.”
“When Bryce made that play, I had to turn my hips around and get downfield. We’ve been working on that stuff in practice and it’s a great feeling when you can execute it in the game.”

Harris finished with five catches for 71 yards with the three touchdowns, all of which came in the first half. He caught a five-yard fade from Lauletta on East’s first drive of the game to put the Cougars up 7-0 early in the first quarter. His final grab was a six-yard touchdown on fourth and goal to put East up 21-0 with 1:55 left in the second quarter.

“It’s pretty nice Bryce can trust me with the ball, being my senior year and all,” Harris said. “I know I can make plays.”
“Ethan’s a great athlete,” Lauletta said. “He can create separation when he needs it and I’ll find him.”

The Cougars sat back and controlled the clock in the second half, leaving the game in the hands of their defense. East’s defense finished with six sacks on the night led by two each from Will Kiely and Danny Zahniser.

The biggest play the Cougars made came on a goal to go stand with 2:42 in the first quarter. East denied Del Val quarterback Matt Cavalaro twice from a yard out to take over on downs and maintain a 7-0 lead, once they would never relinquish on a hot and humid night.

“We had a game plan all week to wear them out with tempo,” Harris said. “It felt great to come out and know what their doing. We gave 100 percent and wore them down like we planned.”