Blair Paces Downingtown West Past Coatesville

Dylan Blair (above, in January) led Downingtown West past Coatesville on Thursday night

Championship caliber teams are often driven by great guard play. For Downingtown West, junior point guard Dylan Blair is the engine for a team that is ambitious in not only the chase for the Ches-Mont title but district one as well. On the road in one of the toughest environments in the state, Blair's 27 points and six assists propelled the Whippets past Coatesville 75-56. In the win, Blair showed high-level scoring ability from all three levels. facilitating the offense and creating great opportunities for his teammates, and provided scrappiness in what was a total team effort on the defensive end. Now in his junior season, Blair and the Whippets are beginning to see that the fruits of his development have paid off.

"I think the experience that he gained the first two years starting varsity paid off in this environment." Said Whippets head coach Stuart Ross.

"As a playmaker, I know that when the ball is in my hands, it draws four to five guys in the paint, so it makes my job easy for me to find open guys, dump the ball off to our bigs, and find open shooters as well." Said Blair.

After the first quarter in which the Whippets turned over the ball six times and trailed 19-14, Blair settled down and got the game to his pace, leading the Whippets on a 24-7 run in the second quarter, where he was responsible for 16 of the Whippets 24 points, able to get paint touches at will, showing excellent use of the floater, drawing contact to get to the charity stripe, displaying his range from beyond the arc, and creating for his teammates.

"I think he realized that he just needed to settle down and just play his game. When the moment presented itself, he took advantage of it." Said Ross.

Currently, Blair is receiving interest from the likes of high academic programs such as Holy Cross, Drexel, Binghamton, and Lafayette. His feel for the game and patience, paid dividends as the defense began to key in on him. When he began to draw more help in the lane, he did not hesitate, kicking out to open teammates, including fellow junior big man Jake Warren, who finished with 10, and whose chemistry with Blair had been forged well before their days at Downingtown West.

"Jake and I go way back. We have played AAU with each other since fifth grade, and obviously, we were on the circuit together last summer. We hang out with each other a lot, we're literally like brothers." Blair said.

While Warren was off to a slow start early on, the Whippets were able to impose their will on the glass, scoring eight of their first ten points in the second quarter from second chances off of offensive rebounds. Senior Drew Shelton, who is Penn State-bound for football, and junior wing Kelly Bell, imposed their will on the glass. Bell's motor was evident to the Whippets' effort, scoring eight of his ten points off of put-backs, setting the tone for the Whippets' run through the rest of the game, in which their defensive intensity also helped throttle momentum even further their way.

"We wanted to make sure we were playing hard." Said Ross. "We wanted to be first on the floor to 50/50 balls and defend well."

The Whippets defense stepped up from the second quarter on, showing multiple zone looks against the Red Raider offense, where they often ended possessions with contested shots, throwing their guard-heavy attack of sophomore Dior Kennedy and senior Jaedan Brickus out of rhythm.

" We want to hang our hat on defense and rebounding the ball. Jaedan Brickus is an outstanding player and Dior Kennedy is an outstanding player, so we had to come in and focus on defending those guys." Said Ross.

They accomplished their game plan defensively, out-rebounding the Red Raiders on both ends. The Whippets also limited the Red Raiders' 1-2 punch, holding Kennedy to just five points and containing Brickus to 15 points. In Coatesville's win over Chichester, Brickus and Kennedy combined for nearly 40 points. On Thursday night, that number was cut in half.

The win over Coatesville was not only the first league win for the Whippets but also a great early test for a team that will see the likes of defending Philadelphia Catholic League champion Archbishop Wood and fellow PCL power Neumann Goretti, as well as defending district one 5A champion Chester and fellow 6A contender Conestoga in the coming weeks.

"Definitely a great test, especially in their house. I feel like we're going to see more of this type of atmosphere as the season goes on." Blair said.

"It's nice to be able to go into the next couple of games with a win. Ross said. "Those games present different challenges, so we have to come out ready to do our work, and continue to develop our identity."