By Brad Spahr

One week after destroying visiting Bishop Shanahan by a score of 52-0 in its homecoming game, the Avon Grove High football team is bracing for arguably its biggest game in school history.

The undefeated Red Devils, who now stand at 4-0 overall this season, welcome to town Downingtown East this Friday, Oct. 2 in a pivotal Ches-Mont League game scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m. inside Avon Grove High School's stadium.

Avon Grove has been dominant so far this season. They have three of their wins over Kennett, Oxford and Shanahan by a combined margin of victory of 149-35. The Devils also have an impressive 20-14 Week 3 victory over Unionville to its credit.

Downingtown East, meanwhile, enters as the defending Ches-Mont National champion with a 3-1 overall record. Downingtown East, like Avon Grove, is already 1-0 in the Ches-Mont League after they hammered Coatesville 42-21 last week. The Cougars also have victories over Lansdale Catholic (35-20) and Souderton (29-7). Their lone loss came in Week 3 to Wilson West Lawn (40-35).

Avon Grove's football program, now in its seventh year of existence, is well on its way to its first-ever winning season this fall.

"I haven't been here the whole time," said third-year Avon Grove head coach Marvin Dooley, "but talking to people this will be the biggest game in the history of our program up to this point.

"I think as a team you judge yourself on programs like Downingtown. Mike Matta does a great job up there and they are always in the thick of things. For us to at least be mentioned on the same page as them is a compliment. I think we can play with them. I think we have the talent. Mistakes kill in football games like these, and I'm just hoping we go out there on Friday night and play a solid, clean football game."

Downingtown East also won the Ches-Mont title in 2005 when they had star quarterback Pat Devlin, who set the state record for passing yards during his career and led East to the state semifinals as a senior. Devlin went on to play for Penn State before transferring to Delaware this season, where he is currently the starting quarterback.

The Cougars this year are led by quarterback Trey Lauletta (12-of-18 for 193 yards and two touchdowns in last week's win over Coatesville) and running back Drew Harris (29 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns last week).

Avon Grove is led by quarterback Kyle Kush (6-of-8 for 92 yards and two touchdowns last week), running back Brandon Monk (six carries for 107 yards and one touchdown last week), running back Jordan Harris (five carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns) and running back Brendan McLaughlin (four carries for 54 yards and a touchdown).

"The key for us is we have to slow down their offense," said Dooley. "Their quarterback is one of the best in the Ches-Mont. Their offense has been putting up a lot of points. As a defense we have to be able to stop them on third down and make them punt the football because the team that is going to win is the team that controls the clock and the ball."

Dooley is thrilled with his team's start so far, but knows they are going to have to shift into a higher gear from this point forward.

"I saw a special group of young men this offseason working their tails off and I'm real excited where we are at right now at 4-0," said Dooley. "I don't think we've played our best football yet. We have a lot of room for improvement. We've had great practices this week leading up to the Downingtown game and the kids are very excited."