Council Rock South turned a 14-7 halftime lead into a 34-14 win over Upper Dublin in Friday night’s District One AAA opener against. Stats in the following article were provided courtesy of PhillyBurbs.com. To read the complete game story, please click on the following link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/cr-south-runs-over-upper-dublin/article_9c2f4cc9-ce02-575d-90bc-598081e21eb3.html
NEWTOWN - ‘Business as usual.’
That’s how Council Rock South offensive coordinator John Donohoe described his team’s stellar offensive performance in Friday night’s District One opener against Upper Dublin, and that only meant bad news for the Flying Cardinals.
The Golden Hawks accumulated 513 yards of total offense – 496 on the ground, turning a 14-7 halftime lead into a 34-7 win over the 16th-seeded Flying Cardinals.
“Our defense played awesome in the first half,” Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover said. “We were in the ball game, and then we got manhandled a little more in the second half. Offensively, we had trouble moving the ball.
“You have to get your defense off the field against a team like this. They wore us down. They’re a very well coached team. Vince does a great job. Those kids play hard. There’s no bull crap. They just play football, and I have total respect for Vince’s program.”
There’s nothing especially fancy about the way the Golden Hawks play football. They run the ball almost exclusively, but their triple option offense can be as explosive as any passing attack.
Consider only that the Golden Hawks scored five touchdowns – all five on runs of 29 yards or more, and it’s clear this is a big-play offense. Three Rock South players – Brian Donnelly, Anthony Alimenti and Ryan Whiteley – finished the game with 100-plus yards rushing.
“We know what we have to do,” Donnelly said. “We stopped ourselves a bunch of times in the first half with penalties, turning the ball over, but we really found our stride in the second half.
“We hit our stride nicely in the third quarter, and we took that momentum the rest of the game.”
Donnelly led the Golden Hawks with 178 yards on 20 carries. He had touchdown runs of 32 and 80 yards. Alimenti accumulated 138 yards on 14 carries and had TD runs of 30 and 29 yards. His 29-yard touchdown run on the Golden Hawks’ opening drive of the second half put Rock South – after a Ben Solis extra point – on top 21-7.
“That was a great call by John Donohoe,” coach Vince Bedesem said. “We’re pounding the ball inside, pounding the ball inside, and they’re starting to commit more linebackers inside, so we tossed the ball outside.
“Anthony did a great job – broke a tackle and bang, he’s going the distance.” Whiteley added 128 yards on 13 carries while PJ Steinmetz had the team’s fifth touchdown on a 31-yard run.
While Rock South’s backfield stole the spotlight, they were quick to credit their offensive line.
“I feel confident in my line,” Whiteley said. “Even when we were down on our own one-half yard line – we thought we were going to get a safety, but they just got a couple of cut blocks and made people miss, and it gave us breathing room.”
With the Golden Hawks on their own one-half yard line early in the fourth quarter, Whiteley burst through the line and rumbled 55 yards to take his team out of harm’s way.
“They’re really athletic by themselves,” senior center Justin Flor said of his team’s backfield. “And we’re athletic too on the O-line. It’s a good combo. We get up on our blocks, and it’s easy from there – just let them do their jobs.”
The Golden Hawks’ displayed their resiliency on offense in the second half after they turned the ball over on Upper Dublin’s 20-yard line. Rock South’s defense came up with the big stop, forcing the Flying Cardinals to punt from their own 21.
Not even a 54-yard punt by Upper Dublin’s Eric Boyer or a five-yard false start penalty could slow the Golden Hawks down. On the first play of the drive, Donnelly turned the corner and raced 80 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown that – after the extra point – put the Golden Hawks on top 28-7. They never looked back.
“Coach preaches to us all the time – we’re the only ones that can stop ourselves,” said senior Tom Trampe, a key member of Rock South’s offensive line. “When we have those drives where we go three-and-out and have to punt the ball, it’s usually our own fault – a bonehead penalty or something like that, but we don’t get down on each other. We pick each other up. For the next drive, and we come out and give it our all.”
Rock South was one of three SOL National Conference squads to advance out of Friday’s opening round, joining Pennsbury and Neshaminy in next week’s district quarterfinals. Abington was the lone National Conference squad to see its season end, and the Ghosts lost in an all-SOL contest with Pennsbury.
“We have been tested by the toughest teams in our league,” Whiteley said. “I feel like we have the best division in the league, and every game is a challenge. You have to go out and play your best every time.”
“It does a great job preparing us for the playoffs having that great competition,” Trampe added. “It’s a playoff atmosphere in some of those games – our Neshaminy, Abington, Pennsbury and Council Rock North games. It gets everybody ready for the playoffs.”
Rock South’s defense also proved it was battle tested, forcing four turnovers and coming up with every big stop.
“It’s a total team thing,” Bedesem said. “Defensively, we give (the offense) the ball back.
“The things we need to do moving forward is stop the turnovers, stop fumbling the ball and stop the penalties. I’m not happy with the penalties, and I know our coaches aren’t happy with the penalties. That’s something that will be addressed in the coming week.
“Outside of that, we’re very happy with the way the team got after it. We challenged them in the locker room (at halftime) and said, ‘They’re playing with a chip on their shoulders, and we have to get it back,’ and they did so. We’re real happy with their response in the second half.”
The Golden Hawks will host ninth-seeded Downingtown East – a 28-17 winner over West Chester Henderson – in next Friday’s District One AAAA quarterfinal round.
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Endings are never easy, and saying good-bye to a special group of seniors was especially hard for Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover. After accepting tearful farewells from one player after another, the Flying Cardinal coach said his good-byes to senior quarterback Andrew Derr.
“Nobody ever played this position better, and I would know,” said Stover, himself an Upper Dublin alum.
The Flying Cardinals’ quarterback – a three-year starter at QB – connected on 15-of-36 passes for 195 yards in his final high school game. He also had five carries for 26 yards.
“He’s like another son to me,” Stover said. “I have three of my own, and over the last four years, he and I have grown very close.
“One of my assistants said that he was finishing play calls before I even got them out of my mouth. That’s how in sync the two of us are, and it’s been my privilege to coach him.”
Derr and the Flying Cardinals kept things interesting in the first half, and after falling behind 14-0 after a Donnelly 32-yard TD run with 4:07 remaining in the first half, they went to work.
Derr found Chris Naughton for an 11-yard pick-up on first down and then Luke Felix for 17 yards. Jino Park carried for nine yards, and then Derr found Jake Gibbons for an 18-yard gain to the Golden Hawks’ three-yard line. On the next play, Park punched it in for a touchdown that – after Boyer’s extra point – make it a 14-7 game.
“In the first quarter, I was kind of out of it – I couldn’t find my footing, I couldn’t find the right grip on the ball, and I wasn’t in my natural groove,” Derr said. “We settled down at the end of the first quarter. I just went out and played football the rest of the game.”
On the Golden Hawks’ first play of their ensuing drive, they fumbled the football, and Upper Dublin’s Derek Jones recovered the ball on Rock South’s 38-yard line. They took it as far as the 19 but a bad center snap took the ball back to the 37, and the Flying Cardinals came up empty.
The rest of the game belonged to the Golden Hawks, who dominated both sides of the football.
“They use their size, their speed and their athleticism, and they just rush and rush and rush,” Derr said. “They don’t give up, and they just keep pounding and pounding the ball. We held them, but we couldn’t hold them long enough.
“It’s tough to see it end, especially with all my friends I’ve grown up with. It’s our final game.”
The Flying Cardinals closed out their season with a 7-3 record.
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