This week's winner of the NBC10 "Game of the Week" is Downingtown East High School versus Downingtown West High School.
Downingtown East has home field advantage in the school district rivalry. The game starts at 7:00 p.m. tonight.
A total of 41,292 votes were cast in this week’s poll.
The Downingtown East versus West game won with 55-percent of the votes. The Neshaminy-Abington game finished second with 21-percent of the votes, and the Haddonfield-West Deptford game came in third with 4-percent.
Both teams are revved up for the matchup under the lights. A crowd of about 8,000 is expected.
The Downingtown School District is in a unique athletic sitution because both schools have the same athletic director.
"Everybody is in a great mood," said athletic director Jack Helm. "It will be electric by the time the game is here."
Tonight's game will be the 10th time Downingtown East and West have met for a matchup. The game has playoff implications for both teams.
"One year we didn’t play because one of the student athletes tragically passed away, but every other game has been very close and competitive. We’ve won 5, they’ve won 4," said Downingtown East football coach Michael Matta.
"More importantly, with the rivalry – and with any good rivalry – it’s really nice that the kids compete but play in a way that they have very few penalties for calls like trash-talking. They all have respect for one another.”
And both teams have their own unique style.
West has speed and is a passing team and East has more size and strength, according to Helm.
Sports
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East comes into tonight's game with four losses and West has two.
The "Game of the Week" is chosen exclusively by viewers through online voting. The winning game is announced on the news every Wednesday and the matchup will receive extended post-game coverage on NBC10 News Fridays at 11 p.m. as well as on our brand-new show "NBC10 High School Blitz" which airs on Saturdays at 7 p.m.
Tweet us your photos, comments, and more while you watch the "Game of the Week" by using the hashtag #NBC10blitz. Vote for your favorite team, watch High school football highlights and more by checking out our High School Blitz page.
