Upper Merion gets off on right foot, rolls past Lower Merion

UPPER MERION >> 2018 marked the first winning season for the Upper Merion Vikings since 2008, as the team finished 6-5 overall and earned a trip to the District 1 Class 5A playoffs.

On Friday the Vikings took the first step toward another postseason run, defeating Lower Merion at home, 41-7, in the season opener.

“This was big,” Upper Merion quarterback Dale Clayton said. “We just want to take it one week at a time and the goal is to be better than last year. We’re going for PAC championship, maybe 7-3 (overall), we want to be better than last year.”

Clayton was a big part of the Vikings’ success in 2018 and that trend continued on Friday. The senior quarterback finished with three touchdowns, two on the ground and one in the air, on his way to 66 yards rushing and 54 passing.

“We have good players all around, and Dale is the catalyst to this offense,” Upper Merion head coach Victor Brown said. “This is one of the most athletically gifted groups we’ve had and it starts with Dale at quarterback.”

Clayton led the Viking offense to a touchdown on its opening drive, using up over six minutes of clock before he punched it in from one-yard out to make it 7-0. He ran for 63 of his 66 yards on the drive

“The ends kept crashing down and leaving the outside wide open,” Clayton said. “The outside was just so open, so I just took what they gave me.”

After the Upper Merion (1-0, 0-0) defense forced a Lower Merion (0-1, 0-0) punt on the ensuing drive, Clayton responded with another touchdown, this time on a 50-yard pass to wide receiver Carter Besz. Besz beat single coverage down the right sideline as Clayton delivered a pass that hit his receiver in stride and let him walk into the endzone untouched.

“It was play action and the read is A-to-B-to-C, with the slant, the in and the go,” Clayton said. “The first two reads were covered and I saw Carter wide open and I let it go.”

While the Lower Merion defense was struggling to stop the Vikings, the Aces were also finding it difficult to get much of anything going on offense.

Trailing 14-0 in the first, starting quarterback Rodger Roberts dropped back to pass on a third and long at around his own 25 yard line. As Roberts went to reverse his field after being pressured, the ball slipped out of his hand and Upper Merion defensive lineman Justin Fisher scooped it up and took it the other way to cap off a 21-0 first quarter for the home team and put the game out of reach.

“Our defense was great and it starts on the inside,” Brown said. “We had to replace some very good players on that defensive line and then Justin comes in tonight and makes a play like that.”

Lower Merion managed 43 total offensive yards in the loss, including 15 on the ground.

Leading rusher D’Shawn Jemison finished with 20 yards on 10 carries.

Upper Merion hosts Norristown on Friday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.

The Aces travel to Marple Newtown on Friday at 7 p.m.

NEXT MAN UP

In 2018 the Upper Merion defensive unit allowed just 17 points per game in its 11 games. This season they’re without standouts Mark Picarello, Dontae Slocum, Ahmad Stone and Kevin Jainlett, who was named 2018 Tri-Defensive Player of the Year in PAC Frontier Division.

The Vikings graduated 13 players from last season’s team, including leading rusher Zaire Savage and are looking for players to step in and replace them.

Brown said he expects his defense to again be the strength of the team, but also hinted that there could be a little more offensive firepower from the Vikings this season with Clayton back under center.

Running back Anthony Swenda also looks to take over where Savage left off. Swenda finished Friday’s win over Lower Merion with a game-high 98 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Lower Merion is dealing with even more turn over, losing 22 players to graduation from last year’s roster.

“This is a young team and I think it’s going to take some time to get everyone up to speed,” Lower Merion head coach Evan Breisblatt said. “We’re inexperienced, young and we’re going to have to grow and get better throughout the season.”

BUILDING ON SUCCESS

Brown said the most important part of building on last season’s success is making sure the team remains hungry. The 2017 Vikings finished the season 1-10 before last year’s winning record, and he wants to see this year’s team continue to build on that.

“They got where they were last year with hard work and I think It’s important they remember that and that work becomes what is expected,” he said. “Wins like this (against Lower Merion) can’t make you complacent. You should never feel like you’ve done enough. This team knows, if you’re not 1-0 every Friday then our goals aren’t going to happen.”

Anthony Swenda also echoed his coaches remarks.

“We know what we need to do,” Swenda said. “The expectations this year build on what we were able to accomplish last year and that’s what we expect.”

Upper Merion 41
Lower Merion 7
Upper Merion (1-0, 0-0) 21 14 6 0 — 41
Lower Merion (0-1, 0-0) 0 0 0 7 — 7
Scoring
First Quarter
UM — 1 yard run by Dale Clayton (kick good); 5:17
UM — 50 yard pass from D. Clayton to Carter Besz (kick good); 2:38
UM — 15 yard fumble recovery by Justin Fisher (kick good); 1:06
Second Quarter
UM — 3 yard run from Anthony Swenda (kick good); 5:43
UM —3 yard run from D. Clayton (kick good); 00:59
Third Quarter
UM — 16 yard run from Anthony Swenda (kick missed); 00:46
Fourth Quarter
LM — 8 yard run from Abdoulie Sahor (kick good); 3:10
Team Statistics
UM LM
First Downs 20 6
Rushing yards 274 15
Passing yards 54 28
Total yards 328 43
Passing 2-4 3-6
Penalties 10-60 3-20
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-1
Punts-Avg 0-0 4-30.5
Individual Statistics
RUSHING
UM: Dale Clayton 7-66 2 TD; Marc Clayton 3-31; Taiyan Lobban 4-38; Anthony Swenda 13-98 2 TD; Aaron Anderson 2-22; Matt Zielinski 1-13; Edward Tyrell 2-(-26); Joey Kovacic 7-32; Nolan Clayton 1-0.
LM: D’Shawn Jemison 10-20; Jay Zheng 7-11; Abdoulie Sahor 4-17 TD; Jaden Holder 1-(-5); Rodger Roberts 3-(-28).
PASSING
UM: Dale Clayton 2-4 54 Yards 1 TD.
LM: Rodger Roberts 2-5 12 Yards; Jay Zheng 1-1 16 Yards.
RECEIVING
UM: Carter Besz 1-50 1 TD; Taiyan Lobban 1-4.
LM: Abdoulie Sahor 1-16; Jay Zheng 1-3; D’Shawn Jemison 1-9.