The Upper Dublin football team made history this season, and at the heart of this year’s squad was a special senior class.
(Photo by Kim Supko)
By Mary Jane Souder
FRANCONIA TWP – Their final walk together was by far the hardest.
The stands were empty, there was no roaring crowd, but with a throng of faithful fans still lining the fence waiting to show their appreciation, the seniors - the heart and soul of this year’s Upper Dublin football team - walked off the field at Souderton Area High School as a group.
Their storybook season had come to an end as a result of a 30-14 loss to Parkland in Saturday’s PIAA Quad-A semifinal, and there was no mistaking just how much this class had meant to a program that reached new heights this season.
“They’re the best to ever wear the football uniform at Upper Dublin,” coach Bret Stover said. “How do you put that into words? I don’t know. It’s tough to see them go.”
There was something special about this year’s Flying Cardinal squad that went well beyond the fact that they defied the critics and captured the program’s first ever District One Quad-A title. It went beyond the obvious talent they brought to the gridiron.
Instead, it had everything to do with the genuine camaraderie this team shared.
“I’m going to miss it,” said Ryan Stover, struggling to contain his emotions. “It’s going to be different Monday, not coming in after school and putting the pads on.
“To do it with this group of guys – it’s special. I’ve known each and every one of these guys ever since we were little.”
“A lot of us played together since youth,” senior Michael Sowers added. “It was always the ultimate goal to take the program to levels it’s never been and to set the stage for younger classes.
“Our group of seniors is so tightly knit. We’re best friends on and off the field. It’s just so special to do it with a group of guys that you love.”
And that’s what made the ending so heartbreaking, trumping even the fact that just one win separated this squad from a trip to the state title game in Hershey.
“This is one of the toughest things I’ve ever had in my athletic career,” said Sowers, who will be playing lacrosse at Princeton University next year. “You know that you’re never going to put on the pads and that you left it all out there, but I couldn’t be more happy to go out with this senior class.
“I think what makes this group so special is how tight we are on and off the field. We’re always hanging out with each other. I think that translates directly onto the field.”
“It sounds so cliché, but it really is family around here,” Ryan Stover added. “It’s unbelievable. We just get along so well.
“We mesh, and when we put on the pads, it all comes together. It works, and it’s awesome playing with these guys. It’s going to suck not coming back.”
This year’s senior class set the bar high for future classes. The Flying Cardinals closed the year 14-1 and won their second consecutive SOL American Conference title and the program’s first ever District One Quad-A title.
“This was only something we could dream about,” Sowers said. “We were successful at the youth level, and we loved what we did and we take pride in it.”
“There was a lot of talk, a lot of headlines that Upper Dublin could do it this year,” Ryan Stover said. “We knew that was the case, but we didn’t let that get to our heads.
“We showed up every week just knowing it was another week to play football and you have to love playing football every week.”
Coach Stover’s message to his players in his team’s final postgame meeting was simple.
“I said, ‘We’ve got to get together real tight on this one because families – when they’re hurting – need to support each other,’” the Cardinals coach said. “I told them flat out I loved them.
“The seniors – we’re going to miss them, but no one can ever take away what they accomplished.”
And no one can take away the bond this group shared.
“People say it, but with this group – as well as I know them and their families, it really is love,” coach Stover said. “It’s reciprocal.
“They care for us, and we care for them. They’re going to be very successful in life, all of them, which – in the grand scheme of things – is the more important piece.”
This year’s senior class included Sowers, Stover, Stacey Gardner, Gary Fields III, Jack Rapine, Cole Swiger, James Lampmann, John Barrett, Rockwell Wright, David Bryant, Danny Boggs, Kaleif Lee, Todd Spirt, Evan Scott, Ryan Wolpert, Ryan Strassburger, Henry Winebrake, Isaiah Henrich, Chris Shields, Kane O’Connor, Hunter Seeburger and Marco Leone.
Some of their names found their way into the spotlight, others did not, but together they made history, and they will walk together forever.
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