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FORT WASHINGTON – Emotions were running high on both sidelines even before the first snap of Friday night’s American Conference showdown pitting Upper Moreland against Upper Dublin.And things only escalated after the game began.
With 9:29 remaining in the fourth quarter – after the Golden Bears came up with a big sack on fourth down, the officials called a timeout and asked the coaches from both sides to bring their teams together to diffuse some of that emotion.
“It was an emotional game,” Upper Moreland senior Jordan Spector said. “Both of us wanted it, and we knew we had to come out and play as hard as we could. It was an emotional battle and a physical battle as well.”
“That’s how we always play,” teammate Dave Driscoll added. “We don’t like to lose.”
The Golden Bears withstood a late Flying Cardinal rally to escape with a 14-13 win, a win that puts Upper Moreland firmly back in the hunt for a conference crown. Upper Moreland, Upper Dublin and Cheltenham all have one loss with a showdown between Upper Moreland and Cheltenham set for next Friday night.
For the Golden Bears, wins don’t get much sweeter than this one.
“It’s a huge victory,” said Driscoll, a senior captain who anchors both lines. “We have a chance to win the title. We have to get Cheltenham next week. That’s all that’s important right now.”
“We have lost to (Upper Dublin) every year I’ve played here,” Spector said. “It’s been 12 years since we beat them here. It was a big game. We made history.”
As expected, this one came down to the wire.
The Flying Cardinals – who trailed 14-7 since late in the second quarter – took possession of the ball on their own 34 with 3:06 remaining in regulation. On first down, Derr found Ken Piccari wide open for a 27-yard gain to the Golden Bears’ 39-yard line.
One play later, Derr – who finished with 193 yards passing in yet another standout effort – hit Jeff Buchanan in stride streaking down the sideline for a 34-yard pickup, and two plays later, the Flying Cardinals’ junior QB found Piccari in the end zone for a touchdown that made it a 14-13 game with 1:13 remaining.“With Rich (Orth) being out, I came up in the slot,” said Piccari, who had a game-high five catches for 57 yards. “As soon as the play started out, I saw the outside linebacker blitzing, so I started calling Drew, and he turned around and luckily, he found me.
“As soon as I caught that, you definitely have the thought process – we’re in, we’re in, but stuff just happens sometimes.”
Stuff did happen, and an overtime that appeared imminent went out the window when the Flying Cardinals’ saw their extra point attempt sail wide left.
“That point should have been a meaningless point,” Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover said.
And it might have been if the Flying Cardinals – on their preceding series –hadn’t been whistled for a 15-yard personal foul penalty with the ball on the Golden Bears’ seven-yard-line and Upper Dublin facing a second-and-goal.
“We were undisciplined tonight, which is something we have not done all year,” Stover said. “I don’t have a reason why, and I don’t have an answer why, but that’s disappointing to me that we lost our composure.”Piccari admits he’s not sure why that happened.
“I could never point out exactly what it was,” he said. “In weeks past, if we got down, we pulled together as a family and came back.
“This week we broke a little away from coming together as a family, and it ended up costing us. We did what we could, but sometimes you have to work a little harder.
“Coach kept telling us – ‘Don’t panic. We’ve never panicked before – why should we panic now.’ I guess we panicked a little bit. That’s something we weren’t accustomed to. We haven’t done it all season.”
With the Cardinals facing second-and-goal from the 22, the Golden Bears forced an incompletion and then delivered back-to-back sacks, setting the stage for the officials’ timeout.
“We just tried to get (Derr) out of his element,” said Spector, who rushed for 85 yards and was also a force on defense.
The Golden Bears responded by taking six minutes off the clock, but their drive stalled on the Cardinals’ 31-yard line when Zach Borgman threw quarterback Matt Sawick for a three-yard loss on a huge fourth down play.
The Cardinals answered with a 66-yard TD drive that made it a one-point game, but when Driscoll fell on the Cardinals’ on-sides kick attempt, a Golden Bear win was all but assured.
“The one thing we told our kids – stick to the plan, stick to the plan,” Upper Moreland coach Adam Beach said. “You can’t worry about outside forces – just stick to the plan.
“It seems like every time we play this team, there’s a crazy call, or something crazy happens. Two years ago, our kid gets called for hurdling, and we don’t win the game. We can’t control that, but we can’t let it get the best of us. Our kids – for the most part – held their emotions in check in critical moments.”
Early on, it looked like the Flying Cardinals might have the upper hand when – thanks to 25-yard punt return – they took over on the Golden Bears’ 35-yard line and needed just six plays to find the end zone.
Two big pass plays highlighted the drive – the first a 25-yard Derr strike to Buchanan and the second a 16-yard TD toss to Orth. Eric Boyer’s extra point put the Cardinals on top 7-0 at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter.Two series later, the Golden Bears marched 61 yards in nine plays with Greg Adamson – who had 76 of his game-high 125 yards in the first half – raced in untouched from 32 yards out on a fourth-and-short play. An extra point by Dan Cripps knotted the score 7-7.
An Upper Dublin fumble on their first play from scrimmage after the TD was recovered by Sean Haley. The Golden Bears came up empty when a 30-yard field goal attempt by Cripps ricocheted off the right post.
The Cardinals took over on their own 20 with 2:06 remaining in the half but – after two incomplete passes and a three-yard run – wound up punting the ball away. The Golden Bears had 60 seconds and 56 yards to cover.
They did just that, thanks to two quick plays. First Sawick found Robert Knox for 26 yards, and one play later, the senior QB hit James Norton with an 18-yard scoring strike that – after Cripps’ extra point – sent Upper Moreland into halftime with a 14-7 lead.
“We had one play in the second quarter, and we fumbled it,” said Stover, whose team had -4 yards of total offense in the quarter and just 18 rushing yards in the game. “We didn’t have the ball the whole second quarter, and we never got back in our rhythm.
“I probably made a coaching error at the end of the first half. We probably should have run the clock out and gone into halftime 7-7, but I have so much confidence in my offense that I thought we could put three or six on the board before halftime.”
That 14-7 lead held up until the Cardinals’ late drive.
The Golden Bears, who upped their record to 7-1, have been playing with renewed resolve since falling to PW 27-7 in their league opener.
“We came out twice as hard every game after that loss,” Driscoll said. “We don’t like to lose.”
“We can’t deal with that feeling,” Spector said.
“It’s the worst feeling in the world,” Driscoll added. “Getting a win is the best feeling in the world.
“We’re a 7-1 football team right now.”
While the Golden Bears have a date with Cheltenham next Friday, the Flying Cardinals will travel to Wissahickon.
“I just told them – we have a lot of work to do,” Stover said. “We have to come back on Monday because our rival (Wissahickon) is waiting around the corner.
“I know Wissahickon will be ready for us. They always are.”
“We’ll come out next week and do everything we can to get a win,” Piccari added. “We’ll take conference co-champions. We’ll work hard and hopefully go as far as we can in the playoffs.”
UPPER MORELAND 14, UPPER DUBLIN 13
Upper Moreland 0 14 0 0-14
Upper Dublin 7 0 0 6-13
UD-Rich Orth 16 pass from Andrew Derr (Eric Boyer kick)
UM-Greg Adamson 32 run (Dan Cripps kick)
UM-James Norton 18 pass from Matt Sawick (Dan Cripps kick)
UD-Ken Piccari 4 pass from Andrew Derr (Kick failed)
UM UD
First Downs 13 10
Rushing Yards 236 18
Passing Yards 52 193
Total Yards 288 211
Passing (A-C-I) 4-7-0 12-22-0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yds. 8-55 5-45
RUSHING:
Upper Moreland: Greg Adamson, 21-125, 1 TD; Jordan Spector, 19-85; Terrell Watson, 1-19; Matt Sawick, 7-7.
Upper Dublin: Anthony Williams, 9-26; Khalid Weems, 1-3; Andrew Derr, 8-(-11).
PASSING:
Upper Moreland: Matt Sawick, 4-7-52, 1 TD.
Upper Dublin: Andrew Derr, 12-22-193, 1TD.
RECEIVING:
Upper Moreland: Robert Knox 1-26; James Norton, 1-18, 1 TD; Kyle Lockard, 2-8.
Upper Dublin: Ken Piccari, 5-57, 1 TD; Jeff Buchanan, 2-49; Sean McAneney, 3-47; Rich Orth, 2-40.
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