Hatboro-Horsham used a second-half rally to defeat Upper Moreland in Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game. Photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 20, UPPER MORELAND 19
(Statistics from Andrew Robinson/PA Prep Live: https://papreplive.com/2019/11/28/collazo-logan-lead-way-as-hatboro-horsham-rallies-past-upper-moreland-on-thanksgiving/)
Hatter senior running back Jordan Collazo admitted he couldn’t quite explain his feelings after the Hatters’ dramatic come-from-behind win, but the trophy in his hands helped say a lot.
For the second straight year, the bruising runner had been named the Hatters’ Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the annual Thanksgiving Day 
football game against Upper Moreland. On a morning where Hatboro-Horsham’s offense struggled, Collazo was the constant, carrying the ball 25 times for 166 yards and two scores.
“Our team just came together in the end,” Collazo said. “It was just us sticking to what we’ve been practicing the last five weeks, mastering the craft, the O-line blocking where they’re supposed to, the running backs getting the ball and hitting the holes and scoring touchdowns.”
The Hatters – who rallied from a 13-0 deficit to take a 20-13 advantage with 48 seconds remaining – needed a heroic defensive stop to win this one as the Golden Bears answered with an eight-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Byron Hopkins to a diving Jahaire Johnson, pulling the Golden Bears to within 20-19 with 14 seconds remaining.
“There were three seniors on the field for that play, I think every play on that drive was made by juniors or younger,” said UM senior Dai-Jahn Dukes, who ran for 93 yards. “This team is going to be set. They have a bright future, I don’t care what the score was, lose by one, win by 20, they pushed their hardest.
“Listen, there’s no ties in this game. We go for the win at Upper Moreland.”
UM sent out its kicking team, but took a timeout and sent the offense back to chase two points and a win. Hatboro-Horsham responded with its own timeout to get its defense set.
Nahji Logan, the team’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player, found himself one-on-one with Hopkins on the left side a yard away from the end zone.
“He scrambled out and it was just me and him,” Logan said. “I wasn’t going to let him run me over to win the game so I made the goal-line stop. It’s my senior year, I had to give my all and leave it all out on the field.”
Logan made the tackle, the Hatters recovered the onside kick and went on to celebrate their sixth straight win in the series.
Making the win especially sweet for the Hatters was the fact that it avenged a 38-26 regular season loss to Upper Moreland.
“Upper Moreland had pretty much everybody back – those guys were healthy and playing well,” HH coach Mark Schmidt said. “I’ve had 14 guys lost for the year to injuries, but we were as healthy as that group could have been.
“We sure let them back in the door at the end. They went for two, and the defense made a great play. I’m really happy. It was fun.”
Aside from Collazo, the Hatters offense couldn’t get much going in the first half and never got closer than the Golden Bears’ 33-yard line.
Upper Moreland sccored on its first drive, with Hopkins finding Johnson for 35 yards before taking off on a 33-yard run that set up senior Dukes’ three-yard run with 6:28 left in the opening quarter.
Dukes, who won the Golden Bears’ Most Outstanding Defensive Player award, added a second score in the opening frame, going in from two yards out with just 2.3 left in the period to make it 13-0 at the intermission. Johnson, the team’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player, had another key catch on the drive with a 30-yard snag to reach the red zone.
“Honestly, the message at halftime was just to settle down,” Schmidt said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times. All we said was – keep battling.”
A strong wind played a factor all game and made throwing the ball difficult. Neither team made much progress in the second or third quarter until the Hatters took over with about 2:45 left in the third quarter.
Collazo ran on six straight plays, accounting for all 42 yards the Hatters needed to get their first score with 12.5 left in the quarter. The senior ended the drive with a seven-yard run, but a bad snap on the extra point led to a failed two-point try.
“This was the first game Collazo was really healthy,” Schmidt said. “We let him play offense as much as he could. This was his last game, he just battled and did great. He made some good plays for us. I’m just proud of the way he played.”
Hatboro-Horsham’s defense was able to stuff Dukes on a fourth-and-one run to end Upper Moreland’s ensuing drive to start off a chaotic sequence of turnovers. The Hatters gave the ball right back on a fumbled handoff with UM’s Jon Knight recovering.
Three plays later, Chrison Avery picked off a pass and added a nice return before a flag brought the ball back to the Hatters’ 41. Collazo carried twice, the second a 34-yard gain, before N’Gianni Cerisier ran for five then 15 yards to get into the end zone.
The wind had a say on the extra point, with a strong gust stalling the extra point just short of the uprights and leaving the Hatters down 13-12 with 6:07 left.
Again, the Hatters defense held strong, forcing a three-and-out before a wind-aided punt gave them the ball after a touchback.
Collazo got the drive going, but freshman quarterback Colin O’Sullivan would keep it rolling. O’Sullivan, who had just two completions all game to that point, converted three passes on the drive, with consecutive 14 and 28-yard throws to Avery bringing up a first-and-goal.
“Colin O’Sullivan really struggled with the wind and was trying to force things a little bit,” Schmidt said. “In the second half – that last drive in the fourth quarter into the wind, he made really good throws, and it was Chrison Avery making a lot of those catches, so it was really cool. At the end of the game, a couple of guys really stepped up and did some good things for us.”
Two runs later, Collazo was in the end zone and the Hatters led. Hatboro-Horsham opted not to kick and used a two-point play with O’Sullivan faking a throw and handing off to Nahji Logan behind his back for the conversion with 48 seconds left to give the Hatters a 20-13 lead.
Upper Moreland came back strong. Hopkins made an option pitch to Dukes for an eight-yard gain before going deep and connecting with Anthony Broderick for 48 yards to the Hatters’ eight. After a spike, Hopkins rolled to his right and made a perfect pass to Johnson for a touchdown.
Johnson, the Bears’ Most Outstanding Offensive Player, caught four passes for 87 yards and put the Bears within a point.
Schmidt credited the play of his line on both sides of the ball in the win.
“The linemen really played hard – Trey Williams, Dan Simpson, Dominic Zangari, Kyree Butler and Reda Oueldaissa,” the Hatters’ coach said. “Zehier Cheeze played tight end and D-end and didn’t come off the field basically at all. Reda didn’t come off the field – he played D-end and quick guard.
“We had two or three guys not play in this game for one reason or another, and we were pretty much down to six-and-a-half linemen, so for them to gut it out in the second half down 13-0 – I was just really proud of them. We kind of took it to (the Golden Bears) a little bit at the end. It was fun.”
The Hatters coach also credited the strong play of Logan and Cerisier.
“They both played very well,” said Schmidt.
Hatboro-Horsham (1-5 SOL) closed out its season with a 2-8 record, and Upper Moreland (2-4) finished its season 6-7.
EXTRA POINTS: Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game was the very first in Schmidt’s storied coaching career. “I practiced on Thanksgiving a whole lot because I usually played the next night,” the Hatters’ coach said. “The cool part was when I was at (Imhotep) these last four years we used to have practice at 8:30 in the morning Thanksgiving, and we’d be done at 10 and I’d shoot up and watch the second half of the Hatboro-Horsham/Upper Moreland game and then I’d go home. I thought it was really cool, and little do you know – here I am.”…the Hatters started four freshmen, including O’Sullivan at quarterback. “Kyree Butler started at guard and rotated at D-line,” Schmidt said. “Nyfise McIntyre played corner and rotated at receiver. Dan O’Donnell played fullback, and we had seven sophomores.”
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0-6-14 20
Upper Moreland 13-0-0-6 19
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