Upper Dublin defeated Rustin 35-28 in Friday’s District One 5A title game, clinching the program’s second district crown in four years. Photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. CLICK HERE for a gallery of photos.
#1-2 UPPER DUBLIN 35, #1-5 WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 28
“Captains, let’s go get the hardware.”
Coach Bret Stover didn’t have to ask his captains twice. Selvin Haynes, Lucas, Quinton Derr and Mike Slivka joined their coach at midfield to accept the coveted District One 5A trophy, and the postgame celebration began in earnest. The Cardinals – thanks to their scintillating 35-28 win over the Golden Knights – had captured the program’s second district title in the past four years.
Emotions ran high for players and coaches alike.
“I can’t explain it, I really can’t,” Derr said. “When I found out they were out of timeouts and we were in victory formation, I started getting emotional in the huddle.”
“It feels awesome,” Roselli said. “I knew we were going to be good this year. No one really gave us a chance. We weren’t even picked to win the league, and now we’re the district champs.”
“It feels great,” Haynes said. “I was a freshman when they won it the first time (the District One 4A title in 2015), so I didn’t really get to be a part of it that much, but being a senior and going out my last year, it feels amazing to be able to win it.”
“This has been my goal the whole year,” Slivka said. “I’ve been out here with these guys since the springtime and summertime. We got up at 5:30 sometimes to come here. We put in a lot of work. That was the goal, and now we’ve just got to keep going.”
Slivka had himself quite a night, throwing for 233 yards.
“I just kind of settled in – big crowd, big stage,” Slivka said. “My line was giving me time back there. I just settled down and made the throws.”
Slivka’s final pass of the night sealed the win for the Cardinals, who faced a third-and-eight from their own two-yard line. The junior quarterback found teammate Dylan Zlotnikoff at the 12-yard line, and the only thing that remained was lining up in the victory formation as time expired on the district thriller.
“It was great actually because when they were warming up they were practicing the victory formation like they were just going to hand it to us and get a win,” Slivka said. “That kind of ticked us off. It was just a sweet feeling being able to kneel on the ball there.”
The UD junior quarter ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw for another.
“Mike was unbelievable,” Stover said. “He made some throws out there. He made a mistake, and the thing about Mike – Mike puts mistakes aside. It’s kind of our mentality. If you make a mistake, you owe. It’s not like anybody is going to call you out. You know you owe, and let’s see what you do to make it up.”
There were big plays galore in a game that kept fans on the edge of their seats until the final whistle. The Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the closing minute of the first quarter when Slivka bulled his way in from a yard out. The Golden Knights answered with a 62-yard, 11-play drive that was capped when quarterback Will Pileggi scored from a yard out with seven minutes remaining in the opening half.
Not to be outdone, the Cardinals responded with an 82-yard touchdown drive. They opened the drive with three consecutive big plays: a 20-yard run by Slivka, a 14-yard Roselli run and a 22-yard Slivka pass to Zlotnikoff.
The big play of the drive came later on fourth-and-10 at Rustin’s 28. Slivka found Haynes, who appeared to be caught well behind the first down marker, but the senior captain refused to go down, fighting his way to the 18 for a key first down.
“It’s the district championship game – you have to give it your all,” Haynes said. “You have to dig deep, and you have to bring out the best in yourself. Big-time players make big-time plays in big situations. It was fourth down, and we had to get the sticks moving. That’s all.”
That play loomed large when – three plays later – Roselli raced home from 11 yards to put the Cardinals on top 14-7 with 3:25 remaining in a quarter that was far from over.
“That was a game-changer,” Stover said of the Haynes play that set up the TD. “Fourth down, and if we don’t get in the end zone, the whole game could flip on that.
“That was a senior captain wanting it a little more than their kids. That was huge.”
After a three-and-out for the Knights, the Cardinals needed just two plays to cover 45 yards with Slivka finding Zlotnikoff for a 39-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead with 1:14 remaining. Pileggi did one better after the Knights took over on their own 24, connecting with Sean Hopkins on a pass the senior wide receiver turned into a 76-yard touchdown that made it a 21-14 game at the intermission.
A fumble recovery by Jason Scott early in the second half gave the Cardinals possession at Rustin’s 14. Slivka’s three-yard touchdown run put the Cardinals on top 28-14.
Again, Rustin responded. This time it was a dazzling kickoff return to the Cardinals’ six. Michael Covert scored a touchdown that made it a 28-21 game, and the Golden Knights appeared to be in business when they recovered a fumble at the Cardinals 20 and scored the equalizer four plays later, knotting the score 28-28 with 46.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“Our coaches tell us, when something goes bad, you have to turn to your seniors and your leaders, and everything will be fine because we just have to keep playing,” Roselli said. “No one was worried. They got the ball inside (the red zone), so obviously, they’re going to get some kind of points. We knew every time we were getting the ball we could score because we have one of the best offenses, so I wasn’t really worried.”
On their ensuing possession, the Cardinals scored for the fourth time in as many possessions, this time marching 80 yards. Mason Novak was the workhorse on the drive, carrying the ball five times – which included a 12-yard run and a seven-yard run that saw him drag would-be tacklers for several yards. He capped the drive by scoring from two yards out to put the Cardinals on top 35-28 with 8:34 remaining.
“He was a bull,” Stover said of Novak. “He’s been a bull all year for us. It was great to have him back.
“He took last year off to concentrate on wrestling, and we were fortunate to get him back because he’s an important piece of this run we put together this year.”
The Golden Knights had time for one last drive and found themselves with first-and-goal at the UD six. It turns out the Cardinals had one last goal line stand in them, refusing to let the Knights into the end zone, stuffing them on three straight run attempts and then – thanks to a ferocious pass rush – blowing apart any thoughts Rustin had of executing the Philly Special.
“There were some good plays there,” Stover said. “We didn’t see them run Philly-Philly, I’m not going to lie, but our kids had it boxed in.”
With just over two minutes remaining, the Cardinals took over at their own one. It looked as though they might be forced to punt, but Slivka had other ideas, connecting for the clutch third-down pass to ice the win for the Cardinals.
“There were so many ups and downs, ebbs and flows – I know it’s cliché, but they held onto the rope out there because we gave a couple of short fields to our defense, which was frustrating on our part,” Stover said. “But at the end, we made them drive the length of the field, and our kids held up, which we knew they would.
“We challenged them at halftime to shut them out. They’re a good football team. I have a lot of respect for (head coach) Mike (St. Clair) and the rest of their squad. That was a heck of a football game. I had a lot of fun calling that game and being in a front row seat to watch it.”
As a result of the win, another banner will be hanging in Upper Dublin’s gymnasium.
“Coming into the year, you don’t know, but I could tell we were special early on,” Haynes said. “We just kept getting better every week, and that’s really what got us to where we are now. We just kept getting better throughout the year.”
“We’re also so close as a team,” Derr said. “We’re all friends, we joke around in the locker room, karaoke in the locker room. It’s laidback, we have a good time and we work hard at practice.”
Derr pointed to the Cardinals’ only loss – a 42-17 defeat to Penn Charter in week four – as the turning point in the season.
“When we got back to the locker room, we stayed and had a team meeting, and we haven’t lost since,” Derr said.
Making the title even sweeter was the fact that the Cardinals – on a bitterly cold November night – did it on their home field in front of a large and spirited home crowd.
“It’s real emotional for me playing my last game in this stadium and having it be for a district championship,” Derr said.
“It was great,” Slivka said. “I’m pretty sure it’s the first time ever a district championship’s been here, so everyone came out. We got a lot of support. Everyone was doing their job, and we came out on top.”
Upper Dublin (12-1, 6-0 SOL) will face District 3 champion Manheim Central in a PIAA 5A semifinal contest at a site and time to be determined. Manheim Central defeated Cocalico 48-14 in Friday’s title game.
West Chester Rustin 0-14-14-0 28
Upper Dublin 7-14-7-7 35
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