The Upper Dublin Booster Club is sponsoring Friday night’s Wissahickon at Upper Dublin contest as a SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Game. Check back for complete game coverage. Also, look for bonus coverage of Friday’s Council Rock South at Abington contest. Friday night’s Central Bucks East at Souderton contest will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on WNPV 1440 a.m., and the Hatboro-Horsham/North Penn game will be broadcast live at 7:30 p.m. on www.WNPV1440.com. Be sure to check the web site for all the SOL scores.
Coach Bret Stover warned his players that their high school years would fly by, but they didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to his warning.
Until now.
“It’s funny because I remember back in my freshman year coach Stover said that would be us graduating soon,” senior Andrew Derr said. “It’s weird. The years did go by real fast.”
On Friday night, Upper Dublin’s 21 seniors will be playing their final home game when they take the field to face archrival Wissahickon.
“It hasn’t hit me hard yet,” Derr said. “But it will once the season is over.”
“It hasn’t hit me,” teammate Sean McAneney said. “You’re just playing games, and you always have a couple more. I don’t think it’s hit me yet.”
It might start hitting home when they celebrate Senior Night prior to the game, and it certainly will when they walk off the field for the final time after Friday’s game. And when it does, they’ll realize they’ve had quite a ride together.
These seniors have been winners. The Flying Cardinals have had winning records in three of the four seasons they have been part of the program. Last season, they were part of a Flying Cardinal squad that captured a share of the American Conference crown.
And over the years, they have accumulated enough memories to last a lifetime.
“One of my biggest highlights was my sophomore year,” senior Evan Mao said. “We were 1-3, and we were home against Norristown who was 4-0. I think they ended up winning the conference and going to the playoffs that year.
“No one gave us a chance. Everyone was like, ‘Norristown will be 5-0 after this game. They’ll blow out Upper Dublin.’ We went out and beat them 18-15 on a 42-yard field goal with like a minute left in the game. They had a kid going to Temple and a bunch of others that were going to play in college. It was a huge win for us.”
McAneney points to last year’s come-from-behind 27-20 double overtime win over Cheltenham as a personal highlight.
“That was probably the craziest game we ever had,” he said. “Our coaches were freaking out. It was intense, really intense.”
Derr, meanwhile, is proud of the winning tradition the seniors helped establish and maintain.
“We have the Upper Dublin youth program for football now, and those kids coming to see us play and them starting to play at an earlier age than most of us will definitely be a good thing,” the Flying Cardinals’ senior quarterback said. “They’ll have experience playing at a younger age, and they will come up and make the team even better. In a couple of years, Upper Dublin will be one of the stronger teams to beat and not just in our conference.”
Many of the seniors have been playing football together since middle school, some even longer. Mao, however, didn’t begin playing football until he was a freshman.
“Before that, I talked to my parents, and they were afraid I would get hurt,” he said. “My freshman year I said, ‘Look, it’s kind of now or never. If I don’t start my freshman year, there’s no point in going out any other year.’ My deal was if I kept my grades up they would let me play.”
Mao has kept his end of the bargain.
“Football has been a huge part of my high school experience,” he said. “All of us seniors have put in so much time with our summer workouts, watching film and all of that. It’s gone by way too fast.
“What I will take out of it is definitely a good work ethic from the two-a-days and the ability to communicate with other people from the teamwork you need to have in football. I learned a lot of really good life skills in football.”
According to Mao, there’s nothing quite like high school football..
“I have talked to a lot of kids that are currently playing college football, and they say as much fun as college football is – it’s nothing like high school football, playing with kids you’ve grown up with,” he said. “You’re putting in all this time, all this hard work, and it’s just to do one thing – to play football with them. That’s it.”
Stover acknowledged that this is a special group.
“They’re a great group of kids to be around,” the Flying Cardinals’ coach said. “The staff and I enjoy coming to practice. Our captains have done a great job, and obviously, winning is helpful.
“They have worked hard. They have learned from some of the classes in front of them. They were there when (Kutztown University standout) Josh Mastromatto was a senior. “
This year’s seniors are major contributors on the field with most in starting roles or playing on special teams.
“They’re smart,” Stover said. “They can handle adjustments on the fly on the field. They make us as coaches look like it’s us, and sometimes it’s them.
“A lot of them have been together since middle school, and they have had a desire to be good.”
On Friday night, the seniors will be playing in one of the biggest games of their young careers. Both Wissahickon and Upper Dublin boast identical 6-2 records.
“It’s huge,” McAneney said. “It’s our Senior Night, it’s Homecoming Night, the winner goes to the playoffs and the loser doesn’t, plus it’s our rival from two miles away.
“We have been waiting for this game all season. I don’t really know if there’s a bigger game we’ve ever played.”
McAneney grew up playing football with some of Wissahickon’s players. Derr – who knows many of the Trojan players from both football and basketball – will be playing against his cousin.
“This game means everything,” Derr said. “This is a playoff game, this is everything.
“Everyone in the school is excited - even the non-players. This is the game we’ve been waiting all our lives to play. I’m expecting a packed house.”
And when it’s over, the seniors will walk off their home field for the final time.
“If we lose, it will definitely be a tough walk off,” Derr said. “It won’t be tough to walk off if we win. It will definitely be one of the greatest walks off ever.”
WISSAHICKON at UPPER DUBLIN
Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, 7 p.m.
2011 Record: Upper Dublin 4-1 SOL (6-2 overall), Wissahickon 3-1 SOL (6-2 overall)
2010 Record: Upper Dublin 5-1 SOL, American Conference co-champions, Wissahickon 1-5 SOL, 1-9 overall
Last week: Upper Dublin 47, Upper Moreland 15; Wissahickon 48, Upper Meiron 6
Last year: Upper Dublin 24, Wissahickon 13
Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover’s keys to the game: “They are a vastly improved team. Their new staff has done a great job. They have Ricky O’Donnell at fullback, Anthonly Delegall at running back and JT Crits at quarterback. They have all done a nice job, and they have really gotten better. It’s going to be some game. Really the best defense for us to stop them is for us to have the ball and control the clock. That’s been our MO all year, especially in the big games.”
Players to watch:
Andrew Derr (Sr.) – Quarterback/Safety
Evan Mao (Sr.) – Offensive Line/Defensive Line
Sean McAneney (Sr.) – Wide Receiver/Free Safety
Jino Park (Sr.) – Fullback/Linebacker
Matt Reilly (Sr.) – Center/Defensive Tackle
Coach Bret Stover says: “The Wissahickon game has traditionally been played on Thanksgiving Day, and that’s the kind of environment we’re expecting on Friday night. We’re both 6-2, which is great, and with our schools being so close, I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere for high school football.”
Wisahickon coach Jeff Cappa’s keys to the game: “Defensively, we have to stop their high-powered offense. They have a great passing game that is accompanied with a strong running game. Their quarterback is an experienced player with a very strong arm. He has a great ability to read the defense and deliver the ball to the open receivers. Their offensive line is strong and comes off the ball hard.
“Offensively, we have to find a way to run the ball on them. They have an aggressive defense, and they put a lot of faith in their excellent defensive backs. Their safeties are strong and committed to stop the run. Same as their offense, their defensive line is strong and comes off the ball hard. Their linebackers are smart and find a way to get to the ball.”
Players to watch:
Anthony Delegall (Sr.) – Running Back/Defensive Back
JT Crits (Sr.) – Quarterback
Ricky O’Donnell (Sr.) – Fullback/Linebacker
Pat Bauer (Sr.) – Tight End/Linebacker
Tanoh Kpassagnon (Sr.) – Tight End/Linebacker
Gordon Bentley (Jr.) – Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Joe Gorman (Jr.) – Offensive Line/Defensive Line
Randy Frankenfield (Jr.) – Outside Linebacker
Jared Reed (Soph.) – Wide Receiver
Coach Jeff Cappa says: We’re excited about the season we’ve had so far but are certainly not satisfied. We’ve been focusing every week on getting better from the game before. This week is no different for us. We took a look at last week’s film, assessed Upper Dublin, and developed a practice plan of how to get better and where to attack Upper Dublin. That’s really all we’re focused on. Playoffs have not come into any conversation with this football team. Every week, each game seemed to get bigger than the previous one. This game is no different. We see this as a great challenge to play an excellent football team in Upper Dublin. We’re crosstown rivals that happen to be sitting at 6-2 each. It’s going to be a great atmosphere for high school football and the two districts. This is what players play football for, and this is what we coach for. The challenge of being in a position to play a great team is exciting.”
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