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Upper Dublin had a sound strategy for keeping Cheltenham's game-breaking skill players off the scoreboard.
Don't let the Panther offense touch the ball.
The Cardinals executed that game plan to perfection in the first half, limiting the Panthers to just 17 plays from scrimmage and no first downs. Meanwhile, the host Cardinals scored on three of their four first-half possessions en route to a 19-7 victory over the Panthers in both teams' American Conference opener Friday night at Cardinal Olympic Stadium.
"That was the game plan," said Cardinals coach Bret Stover. "We had to keep the ball away from their power three. Our first drive was six minutes long ... and we put it in. You don't want to go on those drives and not finish them."
The Cardinals opened the game with a 13-play, 75-yard march that featured a three-pronged rushing attack of quarterback Andrew Derr and tailbacks Jino Park and Tybree Stallings. Derr capped off the drive with a six-yard touchdown run.
As important as the opening drive was for the Cardinal offense, so was its initial defensive stand. Clogging the running lanes to try to disrupt the Panther running game, the Cards forced Cheltenham to go three-and-out on its first possession.
"We absolutely wanted to stop the run," said Cardinals' senior two-way lineman Evan Mao. "Year in year out, they always have great speed, overall their team speed is ridiculous. I don't think I can overstate the importance of clogging up the middle because even when we got to (Panther running back Mark Thompson), it took four of us to bring him down."
The Cardinals' second offensive drive -- which covered six plays and 87 yards -- was highlighted by two big runs: Park's 27-yard draw up the middle for the score, and Stallings' 52-yard jaunt early in the drive.
Stallings, who filled in admirably for the injured Khalid Weems, would finish with a game-high 124 yards on 18 carries despite the muddy field conditions.
Actually, Stallings might suggest the conditions were a prime factor in his performance.
"I love playing in the mud. I love it," Stallings said. "This is football."
"Tybree Stallings stepped up big for us tonight," Stover said. "He's a senior, so it's nice to see. And for our team, when you have depth and you have guys who can step up, that's going to make us more difficult to prepare for."
The Cards would take a commanding 19-0 lead with 22 seconds left in the second half on Park's second touchdown run of the night, a 2-yarder to cap a 51-yard drive. Park would give the Cards a pair of 100-yard rushers for the game, racking up 112 on 16 carries.
"We certainly didn't deserve to win," said Cheltenham coach Joe Gro. "They were better than we were. We got down early. I would have run the ball, but I didn't get any plays in the first half. They took us out of our rhythm."
The Panthers managed just 68 yards of offense in the first half, with many of those coming on Thompson's 51-yard run on the final play before the break.
But that play gave the Panthers a spark. The visitors opened the second half by engineering a seven-play, 80-yard scoring drive to get back in the game. Quarterback Hyneef Dockery led the way with an 8-yard run, a 24-yard pass to Demetrius Reynolds, and a beautiful 35-yard scoring strike to Ahjavon Patrick, who had gotten behind his defender and made the catch in stride for the easy score.
Following a three-and-out for Upper Dublin, Cheltenham again invaded the Red Zone, moving as close as the Cardinals' 8-yard line, but the defense held, thanks in part to a terrific breakup of a fourth-down pass by Luke Felix.
"If we had scored that second time it would have been different," Gro said.
The Cardinals echoed that sentiment.
"That was huge for us," Mao said. "They had a lot of momentum at that point. They get that score, they're down five, so making that goal line stop was crucial."
"You can't (go three-and-out) with that team because you put them back on the field and the momentum flipped," Stover said. "Our guys were able to hold on and stop them.
Neither team managed to mount a serious scoring drive for the remainder of the rain-soaked evening.
"We came back and we brought a little more intensity the second half," Gro said. "We defended a little better in the second half. But I tip my hat to (Upper Dublin). They were better than we were."
With the victory, the Cardinals improve to 3-1 on the season, while Cheltenham falls to
2-2. More importantly, though, the Cards have taken their first step toward defending the American Conference crown, which they shared with Cheltenham last season.
"You win that first conference game, you control your own destiny," Park said. "So this was a very important win for us."
"We came out here focused and ready to play, we had to get this win," Stallings added. "This was huge, we had to get this conference win to get things started the right way."
NOTES: Cheltenham senior tailback Aquil Reed was limited to 12 yards on four carries after getting banged up early in the game, according to Gro ... Dockery finished with 94 yards through the air on 5-for-16 passing with one touchdown and one interception ... in addition to Felix's fourth-down defensive play, the senior cornerback also nabbed the game's lone interception on the Panthers' final offensive play of the game ... Sean McAneney also made a great breakup of as pass attempt on third-and-long early in the fourth quarter to stall a Cheltenham drive.
Cheltenham Panthers 0 0 7 0 - 7
Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals 12 7 0 0 - 19
Scoring:
UD -- Derr 6 run (kick failed)
UD -- Park 27 run (run failed)
UD -- Park 2 run (Boyer kick)
C -- Patrick 35 pass from Dockery (Wergelis-Isaacson kick)
Cheltenham Upper Dublin
8 First Downs 12
108 Rush Yards 253
94 Pass Yards 39
202 Total Offense292
4/25 Pen. / Yards 9/69
3/40 Punts / Avg 4/29.8
Cheltenham
Rushing: Thompson 12-87; Reed 4-12; Dockery 8-6; Patrick 2-3.
Passing: Dockery 5-for-16, 94 yards , 1 TD, 1 INT.
Receiving: Thompson 3-58, 1 TD; Reynolds 2-36.
Upper Dublin
Rushing: Stallings 18-124; Park 16-112, 2 TDs; Derr 9-22, 1 TD; Felix 1-8; Rapine 1-1; Boyer 1-(-14).
Passing: Derr 2-for-6, 39 yards.
Receiving: Felix 1-23; Park 1-16.
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