Upper Dublin scored a late TD to earn the important win. To view action photos of the Upper Dublin/Wissahickon, Pennsbury/Truman and CB South/Pennridge games, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
Andrew Derr and Luke Felix used to take on all comers by themselves.
"Back in fourth grade, it would be me and Luke Felix vs. the whole fourth grade on the playground," Derr said. "I was the quarterback, he was always the fastest kid on the playground. So I'd throw it down the blacktop to him. They were fun times."
The stakes are a little higher now that they're high school seniors, and the duo has picked up a pretty impressive group of teammates on this season's Upper Dublin squad. But that connection from grade school recess still exists.
Derr and Felix connected 11 times for 139 yards as Upper Dublin (7-2 overall, 5-1 SOL) defeated neighborhood rival Wissahickon (6-3, 3-2) in a hard-fought 17-10 victory on the Cardinals' Senior Night and Homecoming Night.
"It goes back to grade school," Felix said. "We have that connection. He always knows when to hit me and I always know when to look."
"Luke actually is the sleeper out of our wide receiver group," Derr said. "Chris (Naughton) is leading with touchdowns, so people know who he is, Sean (McAneney) is the big target and Luke's the speedy, all-around athlete. And he's hidden, that's what we love because he makes big plays."
With the Trojan defense seeking to stop the Cardinals' running game and deny long passes, Derr went to work with passes in the flat.
"We knew we were going to have trouble running the ball because they're bigger than we are up front, and we knew from film with the 3-5 (defense) that the flats were available," said Cardinals' coach Bret Stover.
"We saw the flats were open a lot on film," Felix said. "Andrew attacked the flat really well and found me. He made some great throws back there. He always knows when to put the ball in the right spot."
Derr finished the night 17-for-24 for 241 yards and completed 12 of his first 13 attempts. Yet, with the game tied at 10-10 and just five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals put together an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in which seven of the eight plays were on the ground.
Despite having been held off the scoreboard since the first quarter, the Cardinals had no doubt in their ability to engineer a game-winning drive.
"(Wissahickon) had burned a time out," Stover said. "I walked out and said, 'Five (minutes) to win this thing,' and everyone in the huddle said, 'Yep. Let's go.' Andrew exudes (confidence), and all the guys - they all have the same confidence he does. They're all seniors, they've been in the trenches, it's a seasoned team."
"Our offensive line really stepped up on that drive," Felix said. "We only passed once on that drive. I have so much confidence in Andrew and our offensive line. I know we can just pound the ball and pass when we need to."
The Cardinals started the drive with a 17-yard Jino Park run followed by a 17-yard pass from Derr to Felix. Derr's number was called on five of the final six running plays of the march, with a 9-yard scoring run up the middle capping the sequence and putting the Cards on top with 1:22 left in the game.
It was a thrilling victory in a game that, three quarters earlier, had all the makings of an easy victory for the hosts. Upper Dublin scored on its first possession -- a seven-play 64-yard touchdown march that featured two big gains on passes to Felix twice and Park once. Tybree Stallings ran it in from 1-yard out to put the Cards on the board. On their next drive, the Cardinals moved down to the 5-yard line before adding to their lead with an Eric Boyer 22-yard field goal.
While the Cardinals boast big-play potential, so do the Trojans. And it was a 31-yard pass from Wissahickon quarterback J.T. Crits to Dan Murphy that keyed a 64-yard scoring drive midway through the second quarter. Ricky O'Donnell finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to make it a one-possession game at 10-7.
Wissahickon tied the game late in the third on a 23-yard Dan Matthews field goal on a drive that featured a 45-yard bomb from Crits to Anthony Delegall.
"I was really proud of our team in every phase," said Wissahickon coach Jeff Cappa. "This was two really good football teams battling it out for four quarters. I'm really pleased with how our team battled against a great opponent.
"Against an offense like that, I'm not surprised we were able to battle that long. We knew all their schemes, it was going to come down to execution and capitalizing on mistakes and not making mistakes. I'm disappointed in the loss but not one bit disappointed in the staff or the players."
Crits finished the evening completing 7 of 23 passes for 147 yards. The Cardinals played a big part in that, pressuring the senior signal-caller throughout the game and coming up with pass breakups and a pair of interceptions (by Felix and McAneney).
"We knew they had a good short pass game," Felix said. "Our defensive line played really well so we could rush Crits, so we could shut it down."
"They beat us up pretty bad the second half, but our defense held up," Derr said. "Our defense is so strong right now."
And while the Cardinals have six other victories under their belts this season, there was no denying how important this one was to the school, the team and the senior class.
"Today was huge," Derr said. "I ran to school this morning, I could not concentrate this morning. The fans came out, our British exchange students were here, and we couldn't disappoint, especially on our last home game ever."
NOTES: O'Donnell had a game-high 71 yards on the ground, though 47 of those yards came on a spectacular tackle-breaking run on the Trojans' first play of the second half ... Jake Gibbons, Ben Winebrake and Josh Cosme registered sacks for the Cardinals ... Derr targeted six different receivers among his 17 completions ... Gordon Bentley led the Trojans with three receptions for 29 yards; Murphy caught two while Delegall and O'Donnell each hauled in one.
Wissahickon 0 7 3 0 ̶ 10
Upper Dublin10 0 0 7 ̶ 17
UD ̶ Stallings 4 run (Boyer kick)
UD ̶ Boyer FG 22 yards
W ̶ O'Donnell 2 run (Matthews kick)
W ̶ Matthews FB 23 yards
UD ̶ Derr 9 run (Boyer kick)
Wissahickon Upper Dublin
8 First downs 17
75 Yards rushing 117
147 Yards passing 241
222 Total offense 358
2-27 Penalties-yards 4-46
5-36.0 Punts-Average 2-28.0
Rushing:
Wissahickon ̶ O'Donnell 12-17, TD; Delegall 5-12; Crits 7-(-8). Totals: 24-75, TD.
Upper Dublin ̶ Park 9-70; Derr 12-32, TD; Stallings 10-17; Felix 2-(-2). Totals: 33-117, TD.
Passing
Wissahickon ̶ Crits 7-23-2, 147 yards.
Upper Dublin ̶ Derr 17-24-0, 241 yards.
Receiving
Wissahickon ̶ Bentley 3-29; Murphy 2-58; Delegall 1-45; O'Donnell 1-15. Totals: 7-147.
Upper Dublin ̶ Felix 11-139; Park 2-28; Gibbons 1-30; McAneney 1-24; Naughton 1-15; Boyer 1-5. Totals: 17-241.
- Log in to post comments
