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FORT WASHINGTON – The football field at Upper Dublin was all but deserted after the Flying Cardinals’ heartstopping 33-27 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh, but Anthony Williams was just starting to recuperate after the high drama of Friday night’s SOL showdown.
“It doesn’t matter how we win, even if it’s ugly, but that game was scary,” the Flying Cardinals’ senior running back said. “I couldn’t breathe until that clock said zero.”
Williams wasn’t alone.
Friday night’s game wasn’t over until Upper Dublin senior Ken Piccari intercepted a Russhon Phillips pass at Upper Dublin’s own 30-yard line with just over a minute remaining. With the Colonials out of timeouts, Flying Cardinal quarterback Andrew Derr twice took a knee, bringing to an end a high-scoring affair between the American Conference’s top two squads.
And as Senior Night games go, they don’t get much better than this one.“This is a very big game,” Williams said. “As a senior, this only comes around once. On last year’s Senior Night, we got blown out on our home field by Souderton.
“Tonight, you never could get comfortable, you never could take a breath, and you never could take a play off because you don’t know what they’re going to do out of their option. They’re a very good team. We knew it was going to be a fight, and just like against Cheltenham, we had to be on our toes and stop the big plays.”
Stopping the big plays is no easy task when you’re facing a quarterback who makes big plays look all but routine. Phillips completed just 9-of-27 passes, but he made those nine passes count, throwing six passes of 30 yards or more and finishing the day with 246 yards in the air.
Putting up big numbers was of little consolation to Phillips.
“This was tough because when we look back at it, there were plays we were taking off, and we weren’t coming together as a team,” the Colonials’ junior QB said. “We had nine or 10 players playing with each other on each play, not 11, and that’s what we needed.
“We made a lot of mistakes that could have affected this game. If we would have given our best effort, this wouldn’t have happened.”
For as many big plays as PW’s offense made, the Colonials defense could not keep the Flying Cardinals – who scored five touchdowns – out of the end zone.
“That’s not the defense we’re used to playing,” Phillips said. “They played with more heart than our team. We only had so many players out there playing with passion and heart and not the whole team.
“They had a whole team playing and wanting to win this game. We didn’t have that drive. We got too high being little all-stars, and we lost the game.”
PW could not begin to match the emotion of an Upper Dublin team that was celebrating Senior Night and also playing for a fallen teammate – senior defensive end Ryan Hopkins.“We lost one of our defensive stars – Ryan Hopkins,” Upper Dublin quarterback Andrew Derr said. “He was supporting the whole defense and all the subs.
“Everybody was on fire. Coach Stover just got everybody riled up after every single play. We just kept the emotion high and kept playing.”
And emotion might have been the only thing that separated the two teams on Friday night.
“They’re a good ball club, and that game could have gone either way,” Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover said. “Dan and Phil (Chang) are doing a heck of a job offensively and defensively over there. My hat’s off to them. They had a great plan coming in. We were reaching in our bag deep and ran stuff we haven’t run since team camp back in July. I’m very proud of the way my kids approached this week.”
Certainly neither team could ever feel comfortable in this game.
The Flying Cardinals capitalized on a 22-yard punt to take the ball 36 yards in four plays for the score. The big play of the drive was a 27-yard completion from Derr to senior Rich Orth. Two plays later, Jino Park made a nice one-handed grab of a three-yard Derr toss for the score, and Eric Boyer’s extra point put the Cardinals on top 7-0 at the 3:13 mark of the first quarter.
The Colonials had an immediate answer, and after Xavier Ellington raced 13 yards to midfield for a first down, one play later, Phillips found teammate Jamier Hollway in stride for a 46-yard strike that took the ball to the Cardinals’ 10.
“He has a cannon for an arm,” Stover said.
On the very next play, Ellington eluded one defender after another for a touchdown that – after Tyler Haney’s extra point – knotted the score.
In the second quarter, the Flying Cardinals needed just three plays to cover 50 yards for another touchdown. This time Derr – who threw for 166 yards and two TDs in a standout effort – hit Orth for a 23-yard completion. One play later, Park raced in from 25 yards out, and after Boyer’s extra point, the Cardinals led 14-7.
With just 1:22 showing on the clock, the Colonials took over at their own 44-yard line. That was more than enough time for Philllips – who hooked up with Hollway for a 47-yard completion – to take the ball to the Cardinals’ six where the drive stalled.
But Haney connected on a 23-yard field goal to make it a 14-10 game at the intermission.
The two teams exchanged interceptions to open the second half, but the Flying Cardinals made theirs hurt as Orth came up with the interception and took it 41 yards to PW’s two. Williams punched it in but a botched extra point kept it a 20-10 game.
The Colonials – sparked by a 41-yard Philliips to Garnell Sanders completion - cut that lead to seven after a 29-yard Haney field goal. The Cardinals responded with a 59-yard scoring drive, and this one was capped with Derr finding Jake Gibbons with an 11-yard TD strike. Boyer’s extra point made it a 27-13 game with 10:47 remaining.
“I love games like this when everything is open, but it’s not as much fun when both teams have an offensive game like this,” Derr said.
Again, the Colonials had an answer, this time using a seven-play, 75-yard drive that featured Phillips’ completions of 18 yards to Wakeen Blythe and 37 yards to Ellington.
“Russhon is one of our best players,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “He’s an ideal kid to have on the team. He’s a very bright kid, he’s very athletic, and he can throw the ball. He did a good job making plays when we needed to make plays.”
Blythe capped off the drive with a seven-yard TD run. After Haney’s extra point, it was a 27-20 game with 8:44 still on the game clock.
It was three-and-out for the Cardinals, but when Austin Triminski was stopped by Orth on a fourth-down run after a fake punt, the Cardinals took over on PW’s 23. Derr found Jeff Buchanan for 17 yards, and Williams took it in from four yards out, putting the Cardinals on top 33-20 with just under five minutes remaining.
“Coming into the game, we knew they were going to try and stop the run,” said Williams, who led all rushers with 67 tough yards and two TDs. “So we set up the passing game and went right back to the run.”
The Cardinals, according to Chang, wore the Colonials down.
“Our conditioning hurt us,” the first-year coach said. “We were tired, and it was tough for those guys to fight through when they were that tired. What it came to look like was Upper Dublin wanted it a little more.”
The Colonials may have been worn down, but they never went away.
It took PW just over a minute to get that TD back as Phillips found Sanders for a 39-yard gain, and one play later, Blythe took it in from three yards out to make it a 33-27 game. The Colonials came up with a defensive stop and took over at their own 35, but two plays later, Piccari came up with the interception that saved the day.
“They had size on our cornerbacks, and he (Phillips) was just bombing it up,” Derr said. “That play was the game changer.
“Every game is a championship game for us. We just want to win out, win our conference and get the best seed we can in the playoffs.”
While the Cardinals improved to 3-0 in the SOL (5-1 overall), the Colonials fell to 2-1 in league play (3-3 overall).
“I told the guys that the good thing about this game is that it’s over,” Chang said. “We have a big game next week against Cheltenham, and we have to prepare for it.”
UPPER DUBLIN 33, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 27
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7 3 3 14-27
Upper Dublin 7 7 12 7-33
UD-Park 3 pass from Derr (Boyer kick)
PW-Ellington 10 run (Haney kick)
UD-Park 25 run (Boyer kick)
PW-Haney 23 field goal
UD-Williams 2 run (Kick failed)
PW-Haney 29 field goal
UD-Gibbons 11 pass from Derr (Boyer kick)
PW-Blythe 7 run (Haney kick)
UD-Williams 4 run (Kick failed)
PW-Blythe 3 run (Haney kick)
PW UD
First Downs 13 17
Rushing Yards 58 113
Passing Yards 246 166
Total Yards 304 279
Passing (A-C-I) 9-27-2 14-22-1
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 2-20 3-30
Punts-Avg. 3-33.3 3-33.0
RUSHING:
PW: Wakeen Blythe, 7-56, 2 TDs; Xavier Ellington, 8-20; Jamier Hollway, 1-8; Phil Bucci, 1-0; Austin Timinski, 1-(-3); Russhon Phillips, 10-(-23).
Upper Dublin: Anthony Williams, 27-67 2 TDs; Jino Park, 5-34, 1 TD; Andrew Derr, 8-12; Tyler Marks, 1-0.
PASSING:
PW: Russhon Phillips, 9-27-246, 2 INTs
UD: Andrew Derr, 14-22-166, 2 TDs, 1 INT
RECEIVING:
PW: Jamier Hollway, 2-93; Garnell Sanders, 2-80; Xavier Ellington, 1-37; Kenny Williams, 2-36.
Upper Dublin: Rich Orth, 5-90; Jeff Buchanan, 4-37; Matt Scott, 2-17; Jake Gibbons, 1-11; Ken Piccari, 1-8; Jino Park, 1-3.
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