Upper Dublin’s Pensabene finds a way to be seen as Cardinals top Kennett in season opener
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Griffin Pensabene spent all summer preparing for Friday night.
The Upper Dublin senior turned in untold hours running routes and catching balls from classmate Colin O’Sullivan, making sure his ascent to starting wide receiver would be a smooth one. It definitely helped the two have known each other for a long time and that Pensabene had a couple big games last season, but he really went out and proved it in his team’s season-opener by hauling in eight balls for 152 yards and two scores.
Pensabene’s big night offensively and a shutdown effort by Upper Dublin’s starting defense helped get the Cardinals off the ground with a 37-13 win over the Blue Demons at Wissahickon to open the season.
“It all starts with Colin,” Pensabene, who had 123 yards in the first half, said. “I’ve known him my whole life, he’s one of my best friends so it helps us a lot out here. We each know what each other is doing, we can pick up on what we want to do and it just shows we have a connection out here nobody can handle.
“I had to lock in. I feel like last year, I didn’t come into a starter and I wasn’t always super locked-in during the offseason but this year, I knew I had to work and build that connection between me and Sully. I think it really showed out here and I’m pretty happy with how it went.”
O’Sullivan started his third year starting under center for Upper Dublin with pretty good night, completing 16-of-26 balls for 283 yards and three touchdowns. There was little doubt where the senior was going to look in a tight spot, connecting with Pensabene on a key pass in each of the team’s first three scoring drives, the third ending with Pensabene’s first touchdown grab of the night.
Veteran Cardinals coach Bret Stover noted Pensabene’s efforts last season, including a big game in UD’s playoff loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh on that same Wissahickon turf and didn’t want to call it a breakout game. After playing behind Noah Lee and Logan Trimm at wideout last year, Pensabene is firmly entrenched as a starter and will now have to adjust as defenses start to focus on him.
“I’d say it’s more him carrying it over, plus he and Colin have that connection,” Stover said. “We have a couple different people who can have nights like that, which we’re going to need because when you that kind of night, you become the focus.”
It would have been hard to pick which side of the ball was more impressive in the first half. The offense had scoring drives of 99 and 94 yards to start the season but the defense was simply stifling, limiting the Blue Demons to just 26 total yards and one first down in the first half.
Nyles Bunn-McNeill started the season by dropping Kennett quarterback Brett Kauffman for a three-yard loss on the first snap and from then until the Cardinals’ starters began to filter out in the fourth quarter, the visitors couldn’t get much going. Upper Dublin’s front, led by seniors Kyree Butler and Riley Hackett, bottled up Kennett’s explosive Julian Sparacino to just 51 yards on 10 carries.
“You have our guys up front and the linebackers just fit in around them, it was really a team effort,” Stover said. “That’s what you want, but we definitely have a lot of work in front of us.”
Kennett’s Ryan Barker, a Penn State commit at kicker, got a remarkable bounce on his first punt that pinned Upper Dublin at its own 1-yard line to start its first drive. A few runs by Nyfise McIntyre and Tawfiq Bartlett got things going before Sullivan hit his first pass, a nine-yard dart to Pensabene on a 3rd-and 3.
The big play of the drive came a few snaps later when O’Sullivan and Pensabene connected again, this for 34 yards that set up McIntyre’s eventual one-yard touchdown plunge. In total, the drive covered 99 yards on 16 plays in a little over seven minutes.
Pensabene, who later hauled in a 30-yard pass that flipped the field on the team’s next scoring drive, isn’t an out-and-out burner on the perimeter but the 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior still has a knack for getting open.
“I’m not the fastest kid, I’m not the most athletic kid but I’ve learned over the last four years how to read a defense and see what the d-backs are doing,” Pensabene said. “I can find the holes in the defense, which is what helps me get open and be successful because I can’t just burn a kid on the outside. I need to pay attention to what the defense is doing.”
Ask him though, and he’ll chalk a lot of it up to the guy throwing the ball his way. Their biggest connection was a 41-yard pass on a 3rd-and-15 in the final half-minute of the second quarter where O’Sullivan rolled to his right and bout enough time for Pensabene to get wide open over the middle for a long catch-and-run.
A play later, O’Sullivan put one on a rope into his classmate’s No. 8 jersey a few steps into the endzone for a five-yard score.
“He knows what he’s doing out here, his love for the game and his knowledge of the game is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and it shows,” Pensabene said. “He’s checking and changing plays, I mean he called (Dan Johnson’s) touchdown, it was wide open, almost 50 yards and nobody was near him.
“As much as I love catching the ball, I have to put the credit to him. He’s putting the ball where it needs to be, I feel like my little sister could be out here catching it because it’s always right there. I’m proud to be a part of this offense and what we were all doing tonight.”
Stover rated his team’s performance as “little above good,” which he expected coming out of the gates for the first week. His message to his players was there was a lot of work to be done and film study may not be pleasant on Monday, but overall they did what needed to in order to get a win.
Mostly, the Cardinals are just eager to get back home. It’s been almost a year since a devastating tornado caused by Hurricane Ida caused extensive damage across Upper Dublin Township, including destroying parts of Cardinal Stadium that forced UD into a mix of “home” games at other venues and two day games as their nest was being rebuilt around them.
Friday’s game was meant to be played at home, but the new light fixtures weren’t quite ready so it meant one more trip up Bethlehem Pike to Wissahickon. That long-awaited return will come next week when the Cardinals host CB West on Friday.
Upper Dublin will be back at Wissahickon on Sept. 23, this time as visitors as they engage the arch-rival Trojans but Friday, it was Wiss again graciously opening its doors to a neighbor.
“I do love it here, I love beating team on Wiss’ field and I especially love beating Wiss on Wiss’ field but I can’t wait to get back home,” Pensabene said. “It’s been a while since we’ve been under the lights at Upper Dublin so we’re all excited to get back out there.”
UPPER DUBLIN 8 12 3 14 – 37
KENNETT 0 0 0 13 – 13
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
UD – Nyfise McIntyre 1 run (Kick fail) 2:19
UD – Safety 36.4
2nd Quarter
UD – Colin O’Sullivan 42 pass to Dan Johnson (Kick fail) 6:46
UD – O’Sullivan 5 pass to Griffin Pensabene (Kick blocked) 11.1
3rd Quarter
UD – Austin Pendleton 31 field goal 4:43
4th Quarter
UD – O’Sullivan 18 pass to Pensabene (Pendleton kick) 6:17
K – Ian Guyyer 30 run (Ryan Barker kick) 5:35
K – Brett Kauffman 22 pass to Josh Barlow (kick fail) 1:09
UD – Dominick Paone 8 run (Pendleton kick)
Team Stats
UD K
First Downs 21 5
Rushes-Yards 45-207 23-118
Passing 16-26-3-0 2-9-1-0
Passing Yards 283 28
Total Yards 490 146
Penalties-Yards 9-60 8-70
Fumbles-Lost 4-3 1-0
Punting Average 1-47 6-38.8
Individual Stats
Rushing UD – Nyfise McIntyre 19-83, Tawfiq Bartlett 6-13, Colin O’Sullivan 10-5, Dominick Paone 10-106; K – Brett Kauffman 6-(-3), Julian Sparacino 10-51, Jackie Good 1-(-4), Ian Guyer 6-74
Passing: UD – O’Sullivan 16-26-283-3-0; K – Kauffman 2-9-28-1-0
Receiving: UD – Griffin Pensabene 8-152, Bartlett 2-24, Dan Johnson 2-52, DJ Cerisier 2-19, Coleman Zamborsky 1-4, Paone 1-32
