Upper Dublin continued its historic postseason run, defeating third-seeded Bayard Rustin 41-23 in a District One Class AAAA quarterfinal game. To view photos of the action, click here or on any photo to visit the Photo Gallery.
By Dave Conard for SuburbanOneSports.com
WEST CHESTER – There was one simple reason why head coach Bret Stover and his Upper Dublin football squad traveled to the back hills of West Chester Friday night to take on Bayard Rustin in the PIAA District One AAAA quarterfinals – they deserved to be there.
A fact that was emphatically driven home by the Flying Cardinals in their impressive 41-23 win over the Golden Knights in a game that saw Upper Dublin stifle the vaunted ground game of the hosts that was the topic of pre-game hype and prognostication.
“We knew we had to get them out of their game of just running over everyone,” said Cardinals’ head coach Bret Stover. “After the opening play of the game where they got that big run, our defense did a great job containing their backs.”
For the third-seeded Golden Knights, who boast an offensive line rivaling many college squads in size, it looked like business as usual on the opening play from scrimmage when senior tailback Terry Roper took a handoff from junior signal caller Evan Wlock and dashed 70 yards for the game's first points while the Upper Dublin marching unit was still filing into their seats as its bus had been mired in Route 202 traffic.
The Upper Dublin offense, led by junior quarterback Ryan Stover, responded as they have all season when their backs have been pushed to the wall, by marching methodically down the field on a 12-play, 81-yard scoring drive that culminated with Stover (21-29-0, 282 yards, 4 TD) finding junior John Barrett in the seam for a 6-yard touchdown strike.
“I thought Ryan and our entire team for that matter responded well to adversity and never panicked,” said coach Stover. “We gave up that touchdown on the first play – no panic. We had the safety put us in a bad spot and they still never got rattled. Ryan made some very smart decisions tonight, and it is great to see him now with 12 games under his belt growing up right before our eyes.”
The Flying Cardinals (11-1) would need Stover to be sharp as once again their mettle was tested following a missed coverage that led to Rustin's second touchdown of the tilt, a 30-yard toss from Wlock (3-10-1, 54 yards, TD) to the outstretched fingertips of tight end Matt Hosking that put the Golden Knight on top 14-7.
Trailing 21-14, despite knotting the game at 14 apiece on 40-yard jaunt by John Lee (9 carries, 99 yards,TD), the Cardinals found themselves in the unenviable position of punting from the shadow of the own goal posts with just under two minutes to play in the first half.
After the ball sailed over his head on the snap, punter Cole D'Andrea managed to track down the bouncing football only to have his knee touch inside the end zone, forcing a safety, which would ironically be the turning point in the game but in a good way for Upper Dublin.
“That was huge for us not to give them the ball at the one-yard line,” said coach Stover. “I hate giving away points, but with the effort our defense put out there, it actually ended up in our favor.”
After the ensuing free kick, the Golden Knights chose to go for the kill instead of running out the half, and as Roper (24 carries, 183 yards, TD) was trying to fight his way through the line, two sets of Cardinal hands pried the ball loose, and junior Stacey Gardner came up with it at the bottom of the pile, giving UD new life at midfield with less than a minute remaining in the half.
After consecutive completions to Matt Thompson for seven yards, Gary Fields for six and a 25-yard hook up to Barrett, it was Michael Sowers diving into the end zone from a yard out with seven seconds left that sent the teams to halftime with the Flying Cardinal trailing 23-21.
“That was so big for us the score right after the safety,” said quarterback Ryan Stover. “Our defense picked us up, as they have all year when we have a miscue, and instead of us being down by two touchdowns, we went in at halftime with the momentum.”
Momentum is probably not a strong enough word to describe what was about to transpire as Upper Dublin owned the second half, allowing the Golden Knights just 59 yards and three first downs while jumping into the lead on the third play from scrimmage when Stover hit Matt Thompson (9 catches,145 yards, 3TD) on a 62-yard scoring connection.
It was again an Upper Dublin miscue that almost swung the tide in Rustin's favor as – after a three-and-out forced by the UD defense – the punt off the leg of Matt Dever was not fielded, pinning the Cardinals at the one-yard line.
“We almost gave them another chance there when we got the ball at the one,” said Cardinals wide out Matt 
Thompson. “But we know if we keep working to get free that Ryan will find us and make a play. It's what we do for each other – we never quit on any play, and good things happen.”
Good things happened for Upper Dublin to the tune of a 99-yard, 12-play monster of a scoring drive that consumed almost six minutes of game clock and culminated when Stover found Thompson on a 16-yard scoring strike to increase the lead to 34-23.
“These guys are great,” said Ryan Stover. “I know all I have to do is buy some time, and they will come back to the ball or get open. This has been so much fun to play with this team that words don't even describe it right now – I am having a blast.”
It was a microcosm of the night. The Cardinals closed out the scoring and the Golden Knights’ season with their third drive of 10 plays or more, this one covering 73 yards in 13 plays while eating up seven precious minutes on the clock.
A 21-yard touchdown pass from Stover to a wide open Thompson on fourth-and-nine capped off a highlight reel drive that featured a first down catch by Thompson on which his toes appeared to be glued to the sideline, as well as Stover narrowly escaping the clutches of two would-be sackers to find John Lee on a check down for a 28-yard gain to keep the chains moving.
“We are having so much fun right now, this is awesome – words don't describe the feeling right now,” said senior 
John Lee. “We want to keep it going. That is our goal – one more week. We have such a chemistry with each other, and we work for each other and keep battling. That possession tonight when we went 99 yards was so huge. We could just see it took everything out of them. Our defense did a great job shutting them down.”
For Upper Dublin, the task at hand will be preparing all week to stop another solid running attack as the Flying Cardinals’ historic run will continue in the district semifinals next Friday night in Pennsbury.
“The second half tonight was something special,” said Thompson. “This is what we dreamed about when we were little. This is great weather for football, and this is the time of year we want to keep playing. This is what Friday nights are all about – playoff football.”
Upper Dublin 7-14-13-7 41
Bayard Rustin 14-9-0-0 23
11:42 BR-Roper 70 run ( Doyle kick)
7:04 UD- Barrett 6 pass from Stover (D'Andrea kick)
2:46 BR-Hosking 30 pass from Wlock (Doyle kick)
11:51 UD- Lee 40n run (D'Andrea kick)
2:49 BR- Wlock 1 run (Doyle kick)
1:06 BR-Safety
:07 UD- Lee 1 run (D'Andrea kick)
10:44 UD-Thompson 62 pass from Stover (D'Andrea kick)
51:4 UD-Thompson 16 pass from Stover (Kick failed)
3:30 UD- Thompson 21 pass from Stover (D'Andrea kick)
Rushing
Upper Dublin
Lee, K 11-29; Lee, J 9-99, TD; Cottom 2-1; Stover 6-32; Thompson 1-7; Bailey 1-1 totals 30-169.
Bayard Rustin
Roper 24-183, TD; Franks 4-13; Wlock 2-7, TD; Fulton 1-6; McKnight 4-27; totals 35-236.
Passing
Upper Dublin
Stover 21-29-0, 282 yards, 4TD
Bayard Rustin
Wlock 3-10-1, 54 yards, TD
Receiving
Upper Dublin
Fields 4-26; Thompson 9-145, 3TD; Barrett 5-76; Lee, K 1-2; Sowers 1-5; Lee,J 1-28.
Bayard Rustin
Hosking 1-30, TD; McKnight 1-19; Fulton 1-5
UD BR
Rushing yards 169 236
Passing yards 282 54
Total yards 451 290
Penalites/yards 2-10 3-35
Punts /yards 0-0 2-82
First downs 21 10
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2
Sacked-yards lost 2-12 1-5
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