Plymouth Whitemarsh handles Upper Merion
WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh looked like an experienced group of seniors against a young Upper Merion squad Friday afternoon at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
The Colonials allowed two quick goals, then blanked the Vikings for the next 25:13 and won the Suburban One League American Conference game, 13-6.
Upper Merion took one-goal leads fifty seconds (1-0) and five minutes into the game (2-1).
“We are very, very young,” Upper Merion coach Brady McCormick said. “I have two seniors total in the program, so that is showing a lot … We have no varsity experience on our attack. We are still continuing to make young mistakes.”
PW answered both times within 80 seconds and, after falling behind 2-1, rattled off the next eight goals extending halfway through the third quarter for a 9-2 edge.
“We have a lot of senior leadership,” PW’s Austin Betterly said.
“We’re really trying to step it up this year and put some goals in the back of the net. We have a lot of help from young kids … The offense is meshing very well.”
Betterly set up two of the goals during that eight-goal stretch. Each time the senior grabbed groundballs and took off before the defense could react, making it easy to set up teammates for scores.
“It’s the PW mentality,” Betterly said. “We fight, we’re gritty. We want those groundballs – we score off them. The underclassmen have to learn – if you want to play on this team, you want to win – you have to work hard. You have to set an example.”
Upper Merion was able to put the game into doubt for a moment in the third quarter. The Vikings scored two goals within a minute of each other to cut their deficit to five, 9-4.
“We definitely could have fallen apart and just totally, totally fallen,” McCormick said. “That was one of the things I stressed as halftime. This is one of those points — not just for the half, but for the season. It has to be a turning point. Decide whether you are just going to pack it in and we are totally just going to say forget it about this season or are you are going to come out, make some plays and try to turn it around and support each other. We really did that. More looking and less single-minded play.”
PW, however, scored with 14 seconds left in the third to extend the lead to six and make a comeback that much more difficult.
Kenny Diamond and Alex Saurese each scored four goals for the Colonials, Vincent Martina added two and Betterly, Jake Kelly and Sean Sehn each had one.
Will Borkowski and Connor Stutzman each scored twice for Upper Merion and Yaseen Elarbi and Josh Reinhardt each scored once.
The win improves Plymouth Whitemarsh to 2-1 this season and 2-0 in SOL American play.
“We know Upper Dublin is good,” Betterly said of the team’s goals this year. “It would be great to get first (in the league). We’re just going to try to make playoffs again.”
Upper Merion falls to 1-2 overall and 1-1 against league foes.
