Downingtown

Devin DiFranks was awarded a pair of free throws, but she needed only one of them to give visiting Downingtown West a 27-26 win over Bishop Shanahan in a Ches-Mont League girls' basketball game Tuesday night. DiFranks was fouled at the buzzer with the score tied at 26 and ended the game by hitting her first from the line. Diana Cusick had tied the game for Shanahan with less than a minute left. In other Ches-Mont League action, Noelle Alicea scored 14 of her 19 points in the first half as Downingtown East cruised past visiting West Chester Henderson, 69-37.

Downingtown's 28-year-old mayor was accepted Tuesday into a prison-alternative program for a drunken-driving offense. Chester County First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carmody said Joshua A. Maxwell, a first-time, nonviolent offender, easily qualified for the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program. Under ARD, a state program whose guidelines vary from county to county, participants are promised a clean slate if they complete requirements such as community service and treatment programs.

Downingtown East and Council Rock South will meet for the first time in a PIAA District 1 Class AAAA football quarterfinal Friday night at Walt Snyder Stadium in Newtown. Here is a closer look at the 7 p.m. matchup: Seeding. East, coming off a 28-17 victory over Ches-Mont League rival and No. 8 seed West Chester Henderson, is No. 9; top seed C.R. South advanced with a 34-7 win over No. 16 Upper Dublin. Ranking. The Cougars (9-2) are ranked No. 7 in Southeastern Pennsylvania by The Inquirer; Council Rock South (10-1)

Two straight weeks of practicing what Downingtown East coach Mike Matta calls "assignment football" paid off. One week after getting torched by the West Chester Henderson option offense, allowing 35 second-half points in a 42-20 beating, the Cougars topped Henderson, 28-17, on the road Friday night in the first round of the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs. "It was an unbelievable win, especially after ending the regular season on such a sour note," said Matta, whose team was a ninth seed, one slot below Henderson.

Two straight weeks of practicing what Downingtown East coach Mike Matta calls "assignment football" paid off. One week after getting torched by the West Chester Henderson option offense, allowing 35 second-half points in a 42-20 beating, the Cougars topped Henderson, 28-17, on the road Friday night in the first round of the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs. "It was an unbelievable win especially after ending the regular season on such a sour note," said Matta, whose team was a ninth seed, one slot below Henderson.

Elizabeth Smith Webster, 84, a Chester County elementary schoolteacher who was president of the Woman's Club of Downingtown from 2008 to '09, died of pulmonary fibrosis Monday, Oct. 10, at Simpson Meadows, the Downingtown retirement community where she had lived since 2000. Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Webster in 1946 attended Banks College, a former business school in Philadelphia, and worked briefly as a secretary at Drexel University and the Curtis Publishing Co. Her husband, Jack, said she began her teaching career in the 1950s at the former Bonnie Nursery School in Drexel Hill before becoming director of the preschool program at Llanerch Presbyterian Church in Havertown.

There were offensive fireworks in last year's Battle of the Brandywine, with Downingtown East defeating neighboring Downingtown West, 42-28. The eighth meeting between the Ches-Mont League National Conference rivals is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Kottmeyer Stadium. West leads the series, 4-3. The intense rivalry began when the Downingtown Area School District split in 2003. Here is a closer look at the matchup: Records. Both Mike Milano's Whippets and Mike Matta's Cougars are 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the National Conference.

There were offensive fireworks in last year's Battle of the Brandywine, with Downingtown East defeating neighboring Downingtown West, 42-28. The eighth meeting between the Ches-Mont League National Conference rivals is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Kottmeyer Stadium. West leads the series, 4-3. The intense rivalry began when the Downingtown Area School District split in 2003. Here is a closer look at the matchup: Records. Both Mike Milano's Whippets and Mike Matta's Cougars are 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the National Conference.