Adam Beach likes to tell people he has ‘repeat customers.’
The Upper Moreland coach isn’t kidding, and two of his repeat customers have been impact players on this year’s squad.
Justin Rems had an older brother Matt who played football for the Golden Bears, and Christian Kehoe has two older brothers – Shane (’07) and Jerard (’04) – who went through the program.
Interestingly, there has been a Kehoe on every one of the four championships the Golden Bears have won over the past eight years with Christian the latest and last in that successful brother act.
“I wasn’t on the team when my first brother won it, but I was always at the game watching,” Christian said. “That’s where the whole football thing started.
“It gave me something to look forward to. It gives you motivation because you want to beat your older brothers.”
While football might be a family affair at Upper Moreland – which is the smallest school in the league, the bottom line is that the Golden Bears have established a winning tradition. This year they captured a share of the SOL American Conference crown, and they are the top seed in the District One Class AAA Tournament.
“Obviously, it’s been great,” Rems said. “Winning is winning, and it’s fun.”
Winning doesn’t just happen, and Rems points to off-season workouts as a key. If there was a defining moment in the Golden Bears’ season, it just might have been last summer.
“We actually had a meeting because some people weren’t showing up for the workouts,” Rems said. “We came together and said, ‘We have a chance of being really great, but if we don’t step it up, we’re not going to be anything.’
“After that, we came together, and this is what happened.”
What happened was an 8-1 regular season mark with the Golden Bears’ only blemish a late-second loss to Upper Dublin. Since then, the Bears have won six straight, including last week’s come-from-behind 26-20 win over Phoenixville in the opening round of the district tournament.
“Last week we got a little ahead of ourselves,” Kehoe said. “Since we were the first seed and they were the eighth seed, I think we got a little overconfident before the game.
“But I think it was actually a good thing in a way because it kind of woke our team up a little bit because now we know we’re playing a better team each week.”
Beech points to both players as unsung heroes on a team that features all-everything running back Chris Smallwood. While Rems plays defensive end and lines up at center on offense, Kehoe plays inside linebacker and fullback.
Neither finds their way into the headlines, but both have played prominent roles in their team’s success.
“If you don’t have those guys doing their jobs, performing their roles, you’re not going to be successful as a team,” Beach said. “Anyone around football knows it.
“You see teams with great players, but if they don’t have supporting casts around them and guys who understand their jobs and their roles around them, they’re not going to be successful.”
Rems, at 6-3, 265, is an imposing presence on both sides of the football.
“He changes the coverage - if we’re throwing the ball on the line of scrimmage, he’s responsible for that,” Beach said. “He’s responsible for making any other line calls if we’re running the ball. It’s a lot on him, and he’s done a very good job this year. He’s one of the captains of that line, and he’s made things happen for us.
“People are really putting more guys in the box to stop Chris, which puts more pressure on the offensive line, but our line has risen to the challenge and has been able to spring Chris despite the fact that teams are really scheming against them. Justin is a big part of that.”
Kehoe, who is 5-10, 170, gives up about a hundred pounds to his teammate, but he has made his presence felt on both sides of the football as well.
“He really came into his own last year as an inside linebacker,” Beach said. “He’s not big in size, but he’s quick. He reads the holes well, and he’s able to make the play. We’re not asking him to take on the fullback. We’re asking him to hit the hole on the backside and run them down, and that’s where he excels.
“Offensively, we are asking him to take on linebackers. He’s done a lot of work in the offseason – training, lifting and running, and he’s able to hold up and make the block. On play action pass, he gets open in the flat a lot, and he’s catching the ball.”
Both players are two-year starters, and neither seems to mind a bit that they don’t find their way into the spotlight.
“You don’t get the credit, but you know what – I think I have more fun,” Rems said. “If he (Smallwood) messes up, everybody sees it. If we mess up, we can make up for it on the next play.
“We give Chris the biggest holes we can, and most of the time, he takes them. Sometimes he makes his own, but I’m not complaining. Whatever works.”
“Chris is a playmaker,” Kehoe added. “He helps us win a lot of games.
“I’m kind of like a decoy. When I get the ball, they’re keying on him, which is good for me.”
On Friday night, the Golden Bears face a formidable opponent in an Owen J. Roberts, which boasts running back Ryan Brumfield who has amassed 2,000 yards rushing.
“Everybody has to do their job, do the little things right and ball security,” Rems said of the keys to the game. “The little things are what matters.”
“We’ve been practicing hard,” Kehoe added. “Defense is definitely going to be a big thing. If they don’t score, they don’t win. I don’t think they’re going to shut us down, but if we can shut them down, I think we’re going to win the game.
“I think we’ll be alright.”
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m., and while Smallwood will undoubtedly get most of the touches, a pair of ‘repeat customers’ will be in the middle of all the action as well for the Golden Bears.
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