Where Elijah Wilkinson sets up on the Downingtown West offensive line, there's a good chance the ball is going in that direction. And if not, there's a good chance Wilkinson is pulling from that presnap spot to the point of attack.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out running behind the 6-foot-4, 305-pound junior tackle is a good idea. Friday night at Kottmeyer Stadium, the Whippet backfield had lanes galore against West Chester East and ran through them for a 52-30 Ches-Mont National victory.

Fullback Zach Barr rushed for 269 rushing yards and three touchdowns and halfback Donte Harrell added another 133 and two scores on the ground as Wilkinson and his linemates -- Dante DiSantis, Shawn Fahey, Zach Mullineaux, Dan Dougherty and Luke Bolembach -- plowed the Vikings for 433 rushing yards.

Only Wilkinson's shadow could cover the performance turned in by East's Jake Sheller, who threw for 399 yards and five TDs, and Mike Brown, who caught 11 passes for 279 yards and three scores.

"We only have one big guy, and he's awesome," West coach Mike Milano said. "To me, (Wilkinson's) the best offensive lineman around. He's grown leaps and bounds since he started for us as a sophomore. We have one big kid and a bunch of little tough kids who do a great job."

Barr scored two of his TDs in the first half. The first was a 60-yard jaunt on a toss to the right. East (0-2 league, 0-5 overall) retaliated, scoring on a seven-yard pass from Sheller to Pat Whalen, but the Vikings missed the first of five point-after-attempts.

Barr and Harrell each scored in the second, and Pat Cutillo added a 35-yard dash on a counter in the third quarter for West (1-0, 5-0). It didn't really matter who took the handoffs behind the Whippet line as the three running backs averaged 8.9 yards a pop.

Wilkinson was fine with being the center of attention.

"I enjoy it," he said. "We gotta find ways to make plays with me there and we have fast backs. We just find ways to do it. ... It's great to spring a great block and have Zach Barr run 80 yards or whoever. It's great. I love it."

The Vikings didn't share the same enthusiasm about the Whippets ground game, but were every bit as deadly through the air. Sheller's first three completions to Brown in the second half went for scores of 34, 75 and 53 yards, respectively. East traded touchdowns in the second half but could never get that key stop to rally.

Sheller passed for 247 yards and four TDs in the final 24 minutes, but was hamstrung by dropped passes -- including a touchdown on the last play of first half.

"It wasn't just Jake and Mike making plays," East coach Dan Ellis said. "The offense did a really, really good job of taking advantage of what (West) was giving us. Jake did a great job passing the ball and Mike did a great job catching and running with it, but that doesn't happen without if Jake doesn't get protected and we got great protection."

Barr's 829 yards through five games are already more than any Whippet runner amassed last season.

"Zach Barr has been great since the first game," Milano said. "Donte Harrell, I think has the talent, and we've still been waiting for him because he has a lot of untapped potential. Hopefully tonight was a breakout game for him."

With Coatesville's loss to Unionville, West is the last undefeated team in Chester County. And you can be sure Milano has relished the underdog role his team has embraced in the first half of this season.

"The kids have felt disrespected," Milano said. "But when I talk to them about reality, we were not a good football team last year and had a lot of guys coming back from a bad team. All that matters is going out and playing and to their credit, they've gone out and played."

Downingtown West 52, West Chester East 30

West Chester East 6 0 18 6 - 30

Downingtown West 7 17 14 14 - 52

Scoring

DW- Barr 60 run (Caruso kick)

WE- Whalen 7 pass from Sheller (kick failed)

DW- Caruso 30 field goal

DW- Barr 2 run (Caruso kick)

DW- Harrell 4 run (Caruso kick)

WE- Brown 34 pass from Sheller (pass failed)

DW- Harrell 11 run (Caruso kick)

WE- Brown 75 pass from Sheller (kick blocked)

DW- Cutillo 35 run (Caruso kick)

WE- Brown 53 pass from Sheller (pass failed)

DW- Barr 13 run (Caruso kick)

WE- Whalen 13 pass from Sheller (pass failed)

DW- Harrell 77 kick return (Caruso kick)

Team Totals

WE DW

First downs 14 18

Yards rushing 43 433

Yards passing 399 45

Total yards 442 478

Passing 25-48-1 6-11-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 5-2

Penalties 5-36 6-63

Punts-Avg. 3-24.7 2-32

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - WE: Coffey 18-39; Whalen 1-3; Sheller 6-1. DW: Barr 23-269, 3 TDs; Harrell 23-133, 2 TDs; Cutillo 3-35, TD; Fuhrman 3-18; team 1-(-29).

PASSING - WE: Sheller 25-48-399, 5 TDs, INT. DW: Fuhrman 6-11-45.

RECEIVING - WE: Brown 11-279, 3 TDs; Whalen 7-39, 2 TDs; Anderson 4-38; Ritrovato 1-22; McKenna 1-4; Coffey 1-17. DW: Calamaro 4-44; Harrell 2-1.

INTERCEPTIONS - DW: Barr

To contact correspondent Nate Heckenberger, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .