Upper Dublin’s defense dominates in win over CR South

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UPPER DUBLIN >> When Upper Dublin’s offense had an off night against Council Rock South Friday, its defense was there to pick up the slack.

Not only did the Cardinals defense make sure the offense’s two touchdowns were enough to win, they outscored the Golden Hawks offense themselves.

Upper Dublin recorded a safety and grabbed an interception while holding Council Rock South to 49 yards of total offense in a 16-0 Suburban One League Continental Conference win at Upper Dublin High School’s Cardinal Stadium.

“It starts with our coaching,” UD linebacker Griffin Pensabene said of the defense, which shutout Wissahickon two weeks ago and had a shutout against CR North last week before pulling the starters. “(Defensive coordinator Dave) Sowers is one of the best coaches in the state in my opinion. He knows everything. We come out here prepared every week. We know every single play they’re running. We have the talent up front – we have four huge guys. We have the best line, also I think in the state. We went out here, we preformed. We watched film all week, studied these guys all week. We really knew what they were running and I’m just happy with how it went.”

“They’re believing in each other,” Sowers said. “They’re believing in the system. That’s the key thing – we pride ourselves on winning the games Sunday to Thursday and put the time in. They’re really working hard. We have to clean up some things, but at the end of the day they’re believing in each other.”

The Cardinals (7-0, 3-0 SOL Continental) defense was strong in all aspects of the game. They limited the Golden Hawks (3-4, 1-2 SOL Continental) to less than one yard per carry – 32 rushes for 31 yards – and 18 passing yards on seven attempts. They were at negative-one passing yards until the final minute of the game.

“I like the way we swarm to the ball,” UD head coach Bret Stover said. “It seemed like we were getting good penetration with our front four and we didn’t have to bring a whole lot of extra guys to get a stop, which was nice because then we can just cover and come up and make tackles if someone does get through. Just keep everything in front of us.”

UD’s defense forced three three-and-outs to open the game. On the fourth drive, they jumped offsides on a 3rd-and-1 before forcing  a punt four plays later. They forced another three-and-out before allowing a first down on the final drive of the half.

After the break, the Cardinals defense allowed a pair of first downs on their first drive before forcing a punt from the CR South 48-yard line, which was the furthest they allowed the Golden Hawks offense to get all game.

In the fourth quarter, UD’s defense was even more dominant to put the game away. On their first defensive possession, they forced a three-and-out that totaled negative-two yards. On the second drive, Nyles Bunn-McNeill pressured the quarterback and forced an intentional grounding in the endzone for a safety and 16-0 lead. On the final drive, Chris Kohlbrenner grabbed an interception on the last play of the game.

“We’ve got one of the best lines in the state,” Pensabene said of the safety. “Coach (Mark) Schmidt is one of the best coaches in the state. He prepares those guys and they got back there when we really needed it, closed the game out for us.”

Upper Dublin’s offense got off to a fast start. After the defense forced a three-and-out, they went straight down the field in seven plays for a touchdown. The three key plays were 12, 23 and four-yard completions from quarterback Colin O’Sullivan to Pensabene. The 12-yard gain converted a 3rd-and-4 and the 23-yarder was the following play to set up 1st-and-goal at the 10. The four-yard connection was a jump ball on 3rd-and-goal to make it 7-0.

“We were just going to see what kind of defense they were playing and see what we could hit,” Pensabene, who caught six passes for 63 yards, said. “We have four great receivers, we’re never really dialed in on one person. We saw we had a smaller corner on me. I’m one of the bigger receivers. He saw he could throw it up to me in the endzone and it went well. The rest of the game, not so much. Only putting up 16 points is not what we want to see.”

The other touchdown came late in the second quarter. Shyne Roberts took his first carry of the game up the middle for a 38-yard touchdown and 14-0 lead.

Upper Dublin gained more than half its total offensive yardage on the two drives.

“They puzzled us a little bit,” Stover said. “It’s good to get a test like that. Hats off to (CR South head coach) CJ (Szydlik) and the South staff. They had a good plan. That part is what it is. They stopped us.”

“We just weren’t reading things well,” Pensabene added, “little bit of miscommunication down here on one play I didn’t hear one of Colin’s audibles. We just have to clean up the communication. We need to practice hard. This is a reality check.”

On special teams, punter Austin Pendleton was a weapon for the Cardinals. He hit a 39-yard punt to pin South at their 1-yard line in the first quarter and a 46-yard punt to set up the safety in the fourth.

“He’s really valuable as a punter for us and place kicker,” Stover said. “He’s done a nice job. He just picked it up this summer. He’s kicked a little bit before in his lifetime, but he picked it up this summer. I’ve got a kicking coach now, an All-American from West Chester University Brendan Paulison, which is nice to have. He’s doing great things with (Pendleton) and all my kickers.”

Upper Dublin 16, Council Rock South 0

Council Rock South         0 0 0 0 – 0

Upper Dublin     7 7 0 2 – 16

Scoring

First Quarter

UD – Griffin Pensabene 4-yard reception from Colin O’Sullivan (Austin Pendleton kick) 6:42

Second Quarter

UD – Shyne Roberts 38-yard run (Austin Pendleton kick) 2:13

Fourth Quarter

UD – Safety 3:06

Team Statistics

CRS        UD

First downs        5              12

Rushes-yards     32-31     29-82

Passing yards     18           101

Total yards          49           183

Passing                 3-7-1      11-19-0

Punts                    7              3

Fumbles-Lost    1-0          0-0

Penalties-Yards                8-57       5-45

Individual Statistics

Rushing

CRS: Chase Myers 13-20; Chase Ennis 15-12; Jake Zarnowski 3-(-1); Nick Diaz 1-0.

UD: Nyfise McIntyre 16-45; Dominick Paone 2-2; Colin O’Sullivan 6-(-8); Shyne Roberts 4-42, TD; Jacon Cornbluth 1-1.

Passing

CRS: Chase Ennis 3-7-18-0-1.

UD: Colin O’Sullivan 11-19-101-1-0.

Receiving

CRS: Jake Zarnowski 2-4; Daniel Boss 1-14.

UD: Griffin Pensabene 6-63, TD; DJ Cerisier 3-28; Dan Johnson 1-5; Jacob Cornbluth 1-5.

Interceptions

UD: Chris Kohlbrenner.

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Ed Morlock

Ed Morlock
Ed Morlock is a sports reporter for The Times Herald in Norristown.

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