Upper Dublin dominates Quakertown, finishes regular season undefeated

UPPER DUBLIN >> Upper Dublin joined the Suburban One League Continental Conference in the 2020 season. Last week, they clinched at least a share of their first league title. Friday night, they made sure to keep it for themselves.

The Cardinals completed an undefeated regular season with a 38-8 SOL Continental win over Quakertown at Upper Dublin High School’s Cardinal Stadium.

“All week we were talking, ‘We’re not sharing anything,'” Upper Dublin quarterback Colin O’Sullivan said. “To be able to come out here in the first quarter and dominate the way we did, that’s what we were asking for all week. We had a good week of practice, so that felt really good.”

“We play with some good teams up here,” UD coach Bret Stover said of the first Continental Conference title. “I’m proud of my guys. It’s an accomplishment. I’m happy we can hang another banner in the gym.”

The win also gives Upper Dublin the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage in the District 1-5A playoffs.

Upper Dublin (10-0, 6-0 SOL Continental) wasted no time jumping out to a lead, scoring three first-quarter touchdowns and building a 24-0 advantage after 12 minutes.

The game’s opening drive was all O’Sullivan. The signal caller went 6-for-6 for 80 yards and a touchdown on the first possession, connecting with five different receivers. He capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to Shyne Roberts.

“The plan was to come out and punch them in the face early,” O’Sullivan said. “Score early and often and that’s what we did. Throwing to five different guys – we have so many different people that can do things on this team. Having all those weapons is fun, just sitting back there and choosing.”

After a Quakertown three-and-out, Upper Dublin took over around midfield. On the second play of the drive, O’Sullivan hit DJ Cerisier for a 51-yard touchdown and 14-0 lead.

“If (the cornerback) was manned up on me I knew I was going to score,” Cerisier said.

Chris Kohlbrenner recovered a fumble on the first play of the ensuing Quakertown (5-5, 4-2 SOL Continental) possession and Austin Pendleton hit a 22-yard field goal to make it 17-0.

Cerisier was in the endzone again on the next drive. Quakertown went for a 4th-and-6 and Griffin Pensabene got a hand on the pass and deflected it to Cerisier, who grabbed the interception and raced 67 yards for a touchdown and 24-0 advantage.

“Griffin broke on it,” Cerisier said of his first interception of the season. “I had a feeling he was going to tip it up, so I was behind him. I broke behind him and just caught it. I was in the right position at the right time.”

Nyfise McIntyre ran for a six-yard touchdown in the second quarter before O’Sullivan hit Pensabene for a 10-yard score to send the Cardinals to the locker room with a 38-0 lead.

O’Sullivan finished the game 10-for-14 for 156 yards and three touchdowns. McIntyre led the ground attack with 10 carries for 128 yards and a touchdown. Neither player played in the second half.

“We can get you a couple different ways now,” Stover said. “Last year we really had to rely on Colin and the passing game. We couldn’t really run the ball that well, we weren’t strong enough yet and we were the younger team in the league. Now we’ve grown up and I just think we can do  so much and we have so many different packages. It’s going to be fun to watch these guys put all the stuff out there that we can do.”

Quakertown got on the board in the final minute of the game. Brady Martin scored a touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak and Aiden Whiteley ran in the two-point conversion.

Upper Dublin 38, Quakertown 8

Quakertown      0 0 0 8 – 8

Upper Dublin     24 14 0 0 – 38

Scoring

First Quarter

UD – Shyne Roberts 4-yard reception from Colin O’Sullivan (Austin Pendleton kick) 9:32

UD – DJ Cerisier 51-yard reception from Colin O’Sullivan (Austin Pendleton kick) 6:59

UD – Austin Pendleton 22-yard field goal 4:31

UD – DJ Cerisier 67-yard interception return 2:13

Second Quarter

UD – Nyfise McIntyre 6-yard run (Austin Pendleton kick) 8:33

UD – Griffin Pensabene 10-yard reception from Colin O’Sullivan 4:01

Fourth Quarter

QT – Brady Martin 1-yard run (Aiden Whiteley run for 2) :41

Team Statistics

QT          UD

First downs        10           14

Rushes-yards     28-106   22-136

Passing yards     67           164

Total yards          173         300

Passing                 10-22-1 11-16-0

Punts                    3              2

Fumbles-Lost    3-1          1-1

Penalties-Yards                1-19       5-43

Individual Statistics

Rushing

QT: John Eatherton 6-15; Gavin Carroll 3-13; Brett Hileman 1-0; Vincent Micucci 3-13; Owen Jaegers 1-2; Aiden Whiteley 8-60; Brady Martin 4-0, TD; Declan Palmer 2-3.

UD: Nysife McIntyre 10-128, TD; Shyne Roberts 1-0; Dominick Paone 3-14; Scott Montgomery 4-1; Jake Evans 2-(-1); Martin Campbell 1-0; Kevin Etkins 1-(-4).

Passing

QT: Vincent Micucci 8-17-47-0-1; Brady Martin 2-5-20-0-0.

UD: Colin O’Sullivan 10-14-156-3-0; Kevin Etkins 1-2-8-0-0.

Receiving

QT: Max Morris 3-25; Adam Streahle 2-8; John Eatherton 2-11; Gavin Carroll 1-3; Ayden Formica 1-9; Kaleb Kostenbauder 1-11.

UD: DJ Cerisier 2-58, TD; Starling Reaves 2-56; Griffin Pensabene 4-32, TD; Chris Kohlbrenner 1-6; Shyne Roberts 1-4, TD; Dan Johnson 1-8.

Interceptions

UD: DJ Cerisier.