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WILLOW GROVE – To those who thought Upper Dublin’s offense consisted of Josh Mastromatto and little else – guess again.
Upper Moreland’s defense did a masterful job of containing the Flying Cardinals’ star running back in Friday night’s SOL opener. Mastromatto, who had 200-plus yards rushing in each of his team’s three games, had just 66 yards on the ground while his counterpart – Chris Smallwood – had 237 yards in a stellar showing.
But in the end, it was the Flying Cardinals’ passing game that was the difference in the game.
In one of those you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it endings, quarterback Derek Giannetti found teammate Chot Kelly with a 15-yard touchdown pass with three seconds on the game clock, propelling the Flying Cardinals to an unlikely 19-14 come-from-behind win.
“We have to be able to pass the ball,” said Giannetti, who passed for 259 yards and three touchdowns. “We know that Josh is an incredible player. He’s the best in the state. He’s just the most athletic football player I’ve ever seen, but he can’t do everything.
“Give credit to Upper Moreland because to be able to stop a kid like him – that’s incredible because he just breaks free all the time. They did a real nice job of coming out and playing defense, but that’s what opened up the pass.”
Upper Moreland coach Adam Beach acknowledged that stopping Mastromatto was a priority.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of that,” he said. “Having said that, they’re just throwing fades. Their kid beat our kid. It’s nothing we couldn’t scheme against.
“Give their kids credit. That kid threw the ball a mile, and number three (Kelly) could run.”
For the Golden Bears, Smallwood, who had 40 carries, turned in the kind of dominating performance that usually results in a win, and it looked as though the Golden Bears were going to get just that until – with Upper Moreland on top 14-13 and driving – the Bears were whistled for a 15-yard penalty when Smallwood leaped over a Cardinal defensive player.
Instead of second and two on the Cardinals’ 40-yard line, the Golden Bears – who began the drive at their own one - had second and 17 from their own 45. Two plays later Mastromatto came up with an interception on his team’s 23, and the Cardinals – with 3:37 remaining in regulation – were set to stage a dramatic game-winning drive.
“I have to look that up,” Beach said of the rule interpretation that ultimately changed the course of Friday’s game. “What un-athletic man made that rule?
“That’s an athletic play by an athlete, and now he can’t do it. He’s done it before, and they haven’t called it. We’ll have to go back and look at that.”
Things were never quite the same for either team after the call.
“We’re on our way to winning that game,” Beach said. “Then we get that weird call, and we have to get out of our goal line offense. They get the ball, and they’re able to work their way down the field.”
Mastromatto carried for nine yards on first down, and then Giannetti rushed for 12. The senior quarterback – who had been ice cold after connecting on 7-of-8 passes in the first half – completed his first pass of the second half when he found Kelly for 19 yards.
A pair of completions to Dom Matteo – the first for 10 yards and the second for 12- took the Cardinals to the Bears 13-yard line. An eight-yard completion to Kelly put the Cardinals on the three, but on first down, Giannetti was sacked by Tom Knox for a 12-yard loss.
Two plays later, Kelly hauled in the Giannetti touchdown pass for a miracle finish and a 19-14 Golden Bear win.
“We rolled the dice with Derek, and I think we had a back go the wrong way (on the sack), but I trust the quarterback, and that’s what’s nice,” Upper Dublin coach Bert Stover said. “Chotty knew enough to get in the end zone on that route. It does us no good if he gets to the one.”
The outcome might have been different if the Golden Bears wouldn’t have spent the first half shooting themselves in the foot. An eight-play, 42-yard drive stalled because of a fumble on the Cardinals’ 38. A 13-play drive ended at the Cardinals’ 25 when quarterback Mike Rosenbaum was tripped up in the backfield on a fourth down play.
The Golden Bears got on the scoreboard on the final play of the first half when Dmitri Miller caught a six-yard strike from Rosenbaum. It was their only score of a half that saw the Cardinals use a pair of big plays to go on top 13-0.
The first – a 66-yard hookup from Giannetti to Kelly down the left sidelines – put the Cardinals on top 7-0 after P.J. Seyfried’s extra point. Then came a highlight reel 72-yard scoring strike that Kelly caught in stride late in the second quarter.
“I just dropped back and threw it as far as I could throw it,” Giannetti said.
“That was in the air forever,” Kelly said. “I just ran as fast as I could – got lucky and got under it.”
That touchdown pass was the only offensive play of the second quarter for the Cardinals, who took a 13-7 lead into the intermission.
“Penalties stopped most of our drives,” said Beach, whose team had 35 yards in penalties in the opening half. “We made mistakes.
“I told the kids – we had the effort, we had the enthusiasm, and we had the play, but mistakes and outside forces determined this ballgame. We can’t let that happen.”
While the Golden Bears fall to 3-1, the Flying Cardinals improved to 4-0.
“It’s a pleasant surprise,” Stover said. “We were young. I didn’t know what to expect. I knew we had a good quarterback. I knew we had Josh.
“The guys up front – our scheme is solid and the kids are executing. We have been winning by offense the first three weeks, and we really challenged our defense to ‘man up,’ and tonight they did.”
UPPER DUBLIN 19, UPPER MORELAND 14
Upper Dublin 7 6 0 6-19
Upper Moreland 0 7 7 0-14
UD-Kelly 66 pass from Giannetti (Seyfried kick)
UD-Kelly 72 pass from Giannetti (kick failed)
UM-Miller 6 pass from Rosenbaum (Boullata kick)
UM-Smallwod 53 run (Boullata kick)
UD-Kelly 15 pass from Giannetti (kick failed)
UD UM
First Downs 14 17
Rushing Yards 78 231
Passing Yards 259 100
Total Yards 332 331
Passing (C-A-I) 12-23-0 11-17-1
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yds. 2-10 5-60
Punts-Avg. 3-40.0 2-29.0
RUSHING:
Upper Dublin: Josh Mastromatto, 17-66; Giannetti, 1-12; Swartz, 1-0.
Upper Moreland: Chris Smallwood, 40-237, 1 TD; Dmitri Miller, 1-8; Christian Kehoe, 2-4; Mike Kerstetter, 1-3; Mike Rosenbaum, 7-(-21).
PASSING:
Upper Dublin: Derek Giannetti, 12-23-259, 3 TDs.
Upper Moreland, Mike Rosenbaum, 11-17-100, 1 TD, 1 INT.
RECEIVING:
Upper Dublin: Chot Kelly, 7-214, 3 TDs; Dom Matteo, 3-36; Evan Saltzman, 1-13; Josh Mastromatto, 1-(-4).
Upper Moreland: Tom Knox, 5-59; Ronye Dennis, 3-20; Christian Kehoe, 2-15; Dmitri Miller, 1-6, 1 TD.
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