Pope John Paul II explodes in 2nd quarter, shuts out Upper Merion
UPPER MERION >> Undefeated Pope John Paul II and winless Upper Merion were locked in a scoreless tie when the horn sounded to end the first quarter Friday night.
Five plays later, the Golden Panthers had a two-touchdown lead and were on their way to a 35-0 Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division win at Upper Merion Area High School.
The second quarter started with a PJP 3rd-and-8 incompletion at Upper Merion’s 11-yard-line. Quarterback Matt DeLaurentis found CJ McCafferty for eight yards and a first down on fourth down. The next play Jake Bildstein took a fullback dive into the endzone from three yards away to put the Golden Panthers on the board.
On the second play on Upper Merion’s ensuing possession, quarterback Anthony Swenda ran for a couple yards before Bildstein stripped him and took the ball 25 yards to score and make it 14-0.
“I saw the ball right there,” Bildstein said. “I stripped it, saw it pop up and it landed in my hands. I just took off.”
Pope John Paul was off and running.
After trading punts, DeLaurentis connected with Rick Bearden for a 40-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Upper Merion responded by getting close to midfield, but then Bildstein made another play — intercepting a pass right along the sideline.
“I knew they were going to take a shot,” Bildstein said. “I followed the wheel, turned around and the ball was right there.”
“Jake’s a program kid who’s been with us since ninth grade,” PJP coach Rory Graver said. “We actually played him in a few games when he was a ninth grader and tenth grader. Then he started last year for us. He’s really come along. He puts a lot of time in the weight room. He’s a heck of a kid. He plays running back, slot, safety, corner, linebacker. He can do it all for us.”
The Golden Panthers turned the interception into an eight-play touchdown drive, ending with an AJ Natale four-yard score.
Another Upper Merion punt gave PJP the ball back with 36 seconds at their own 43 yard line. Delaurentis hit two quick passes to McCafferty to set up a 32-yard touchdown to Bearden, who ran through defenders to make it 35-0 with 14 seconds left before halftime.
“Things do snowball,” Upper Merion coach Victor Brown said of the deficit. “When it gets rolling, it gets bigger and bigger. That’s when our grit has to translate to the field. What we do in practice … we have to figure out a way to translate what we do on a daily basis to Friday night. It’s not translating.”
Big test ahead
Pope John Paul II is a perfect 7-0 this year and 3-0 in PAC Frontier play. The two remaining games are against Upper Perkiomen and Pottsgrove, two teams who entered Friday night 2-0 before the Falcons crushed the Indians, 55-24.
The Golden Panthers aren’t looking ahead to both games, though. Just Upper Perk.
“This is where the fun starts,” Graver said. “It starts with Upper Perk. They’ve had their way with us the last couple years, so we really need a great week of practice and we really need to focus quickly on them.
“We need to keep on doing what we’re doing — that’s getting better each day. If we get better each day, I think it will be a great game next Saturday.”
“We want to be 1-0,” Bildstein said. “Take it one play at a time and have a great week of practice.”
Defensive dominance
Upper Merion’s offense had its best drive of the game on the opening possession. They drove 12 plays — all runs — to get to the PJP 13-yard-line. The drive ended less than a yard shy of the first down on fourth down.
The Golden Panthers defense allowed 105 yards in the game. Fifty-two yards came on the first possession.
“Our defense just went back to doing the little things correctly,” Graver said. “The played assignment football and tackled well.”
Looking for improvement
Upper Merion is now 0-7 on the season and 0-3 in PAC Frontier play. They’ll look for the first win next week on the road against Pottstown.
“We just have to keep working,” Brown said. “It will happen. When it’s ready and we’re ready to win, we’ll win. We just have to keep working and focus on daily improvement with everything. I would do anything to have a ‘W’ for these guys.”
Pope John Paul II 35, Upper Merion 0
Pope John Paul II 0 35 0 0 — 35
Upper Merion 0 0 0 0 — 0
2nd Quarter
PJP – Jake Bildstein 3-yard run (Matt Moroz kick) 11:29
PJP – Jake Bildstein 25-yard fumble return (Matt Moroz kick) 11:29
PJP – Rick Bearden 40-yard reception from Matt DeLaurentis (Matt Moroz kick) 6:37
PJP – AJ Natale 4-yard run (Matt Moroz kick) 1:17
PJP – Rick Bearden 32-yard reception from Matt DeLaurentis (Mat Moroz kick) :14
Individual Statistics
Passing: PJP: Matt DeLaurentis 13-21-225-2-0, Kameryn Herpich 0-1-0-0-0. UM: Anthony Swenda 3-15-27-0-1.
Rushing: PJP: AJ Natale 11-35-1, Jake Bildstein 2-3-1, Joseph Colletta 7-19-0, Justin Kormos 4-12-0, Matt DeLaurentis 1-(-2)-0. UM: David Brown 19-66-0, Tyrese Leach 2-2-0, Nicholas Lindelow 4-10-0, Anthony Swenda 8-3-0.
Receiving: PJP: Rick Bearden 3-112-2, Stephen Skarbek 1-7-0, AJ Natale 2-24-0, CJ McCafferty 7-82-0. UM: Tyrese Leach 2-20-0, Preston Hampton 1-7-0.
Interceptions: PJP: Jake Bilstein.
