CB West & Upper Moreland were winners in District One Tournament action Saturday. CB West/Ridley photos provided courtesy of Marge Bullock (http://www.margebullock.com)
CB West/Ridley stats provided courtesy of the Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier. To stay on top of the high school football news in the area, visit the Intelligencer (https://www.theintell.com/sports/high-school) and Courier Times (https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/sports/high-school) web sites.
District One Class 6A
#2 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 42, #15 RIDLEY 7
Josh Jackson couldn’t have picked a better time to get healthy. The senior running back had 131 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries to lead the Bucks to a rout of the visiting Green Raiders in Saturday’s district opener.
It was Jackson scoring on a two-yard touchdown run to give the Bucks a lead they would not lose.
“He battled through some injuries early and has continued to get better and improve each week,” coach Rob Rowan said of Jackson. “Last week he had a big night with 84 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries (in the win over Abington).
“He’s a gifted player and just had to get on track health-wise. It was his night to shine and he took advantage of it. He’s a tremendous young man.”
Jack Neri’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Nick Olear spotted the Bucks a 14-0 lead after one quarter, and a 28-yard touchdown run by Jack Fallon in the second quarter sent the Bucks into halftime with a 21-0 lead.
They doubled that lead in the third quarter. Jeremy Goldrick had a five-yard touchdown run, and Jackson added a pair of TDs – the first from 29 yards and the second from 33. Bailey Moyer was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra points, and the Bucks led 42-0 after three quarters.
Ridley scored its lone touchdown in the fourth quarter when the outcome had long since been decided.
Fallon finished the game with 106 yards and one TD on 11 carries.
All but lost in the shuffle was the standout effort of the Bucks’ defense that allowed Ridley just 138 yards of total offense.
“Tonight was a great team defensive effort,” Rowan said. “The entire group played assignment football for 48 minutes.
“Defensively, Pete Santacellia up front did a tremendous job penetrating and causing havoc in the backfield.”
West’s 35-point win – pushed back a night because of a power outage Friday – closed the book on the opening round of district play in Class 6A. The average margin of victory in the eight opening round games was 30 points with Plymouth Whitemarsh’s 56-42 win over Abington the only win by less than 28 points.
Central Bucks West (10-1, 5-1 SOL) will host seventh-seeded Coatesville in a second round game on Friday.
Ridley 0-0-0-7 7
Central Bucks West 14-7-21-0 42
District One Class 4A
#4 UPPER MORELAND 37, #1 SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 14
(Statistics by Alex Wahl/PA Prep Live: https://papreplive.com/football/2019/11/02/hopkins-upper-moreland-run-over-springfield/)
Byron Hopkins had himself a day.
The sophomore quarterback ran for 216 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Golden Bears to the no-doubt-about-it win in Saturday’s district semifinal.
“We were kind of kidding around about it – everybody wants to talk about kids’ ages,” coach CJ Szydlik said. “He’s just a sophomore, but he’s an elite player.
“He makes those sophomore mistakes every once in a while, but you have to take those with the other things he does so well.”
The Spartans got on the scoreboard first, breaking a scoreless tie when quarterback Gabe Franczyk found Cameron Dennis with a 10-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter. Dai-Jahn Dukes answered with a score from five yards out, a touchdown that was set up by a 65-yard Hopkins run. The Golden Bears led 14-7 after a 14-yard Hopkins touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion. A Hopkins to Anthony Broderick 30-yard touchdown pass gave the Golden Bears a 22-7 lead at the intermission.
UM took a 30-14 lead into the final quarter when the Golden Bears tacked on another touchdown for the 37-14 final.
“We started out a little slow and then got into a good rhythm heading into the second quarter,” Szydlik said. “Byron Hopkins ran for 200-plus yards, and we played some really good defense.
“We made a lot of mistakes the last couple of weeks, and we limited those this week, so it worked in our favor.”
Dukes, who also plays linebacker, ignited the UM defense with a pair of interceptions.
“He also had six or seven tackles,” Szydlik said. “Owen Dunleavy, our middle linebacker, was chasing their quarterback around all day.
“We did some really good things defensively as a group that makes us all so proud. We played really good team defense.”
The Golden Bears coach acknowledged that playing in the SOL American against larger schools prepared his squad for district play.
“Honestly, if you think about the scores last night and how well the teams in our division did, once we saw that, we knew that our division was a strong division,” Szydlik said. “Against those teams – we competed really hard against Cheltenham and Upper Dublin. You look at our schedule and we’re playing 5A and 6A schools, and when you get in your own division against schools your own size – getting into the third and fourth quarter, our kids are used to this. It definitely is an advantage for us. Also, we’re starting to get a little healthy, which is a good thing for us.”
Upper Moreland (6-5, 2-4 SOL) will take on third-seeded Bishop Shanahan in Friday’s District One 4A title game. Springfield Township closed out its season with an 8-3 record.
Upper Moreland 0-22-8-7 37
Springfield Twp 0-7-7-0 14
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