DOYLESTOWN – The Central Bucks West football team needed just four plays to go 58 yards and reach the end zone on the opening drive of Friday night’s matchup with Upper Dublin.
The next time the Bucks got the ball, they needed only two plays to extend their lead – Conor McFadden sprinting away for a 61-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 less than five minutes into the first quarter.
“So Week 1 we had that big run at the beginning and then we had basically the same thing this week,” McFadden said. “And it was really just for me, when we put up that second score just as easy it was like ‘All right, we’re rolling.’”
The Bucks never stopped rolling in a dominating first half that ended with them outgaining the visiting Cardinals 347 yards to nine.
A McFadden touchdown catch from Taylor then a safety after a blocked punt by Sean Blue made it 23-0 after 12 minutes. Ryan Clemens added two touchdown runs in the second quarter and the Bucks went on to claim a 37-7 victory over the defending District 1-5A champions.
“We came out all week and we knew we wanted to pound ‘em,” West senior quarterback Cooper Taylor said. “And coach was saying all week it’s body shots and then eventually we’re going to land a knockout punch. I think that knockout punch was the punt block by Sean Blue.
“Listen, this team could be special as long as we keep executing.”
Taylor – who made the shift to QB due to the Bucks losing Ganz Cooper to an offseason knee injury – began last week’s 17-13 victory over Garnet Valley with a 62-yard TD run and Friday against UD again set a similar tone on the ground.
After Taylor ran for 33 yards down to the Cardinals 19 on the game’s second snap, he scored two plays later, going around the right side and crossing the goal line from 13 yards outs.
“We kept the same thing rolling cause it worked last week,” Taylor said. “We had a couple mistakes last week but we didn’t do that this week and it worked.”
The Bucks (2-0) compiled 286 rushing yards in the first half, finishing with 324 on the night. Clemens led the way with 94 yards on six carries with McFadden running three times for 86 yards.
Taylor chipped in 64 yards on nine carries while completing 3-of-5 passes for 61 yards.
“We stayed to our basic stuff pretty much,” McFadden said. “Obviously that sweep play we just put in but that was bound to happen eventually. We didn’t have that for Week 1 but we knew it was coming so it wasn’t too advanced or anything.”
Upper Dublin (1-1), which started its year with a 21-0 road win over Kennett, could not find much of anything to work on offense until Shyne Roberts broke away for an 80-yard touchdown run at 5:53 in the third quarter that made it 37-7.
“Hey we’re going to learn a lot from tonight,” Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover said. “That’s really what our job is as coaches is to make sure that we get better from here.
“Some of our guys got punched in the face and they didn’t respond, which is to me a little disappointing. But again, when you have a young team like we have and you’re playing this crossover game, certain years it’s going to be that way.”
The Cards’ rushing total at the break stood at negative 22 yards. UD was held to single digits for the first time since falling 31-0 to Quakertown in Week 5 of the 2021 season.
“We got smothered,” Stover said. “Seven (West defensive end Jack Williams) last year, man, was a dude and now he spent a year in the weight room and I grabbed him at the end of the game, he’s a dude. I said last year when we played that game, if I could vote all-league in that league he would be my first pick.”
Both teams have Suburban One League nondivision games Friday. Central Bucks West looks for its first 3-0 start 2019 when it visits Quakertown while Upper Dublin hosts North Penn.
“The one thing I’m scared of is I don’t want people to be cocky,” McFadden said. “I don’t want everyone to think ‘Oh we just own 37-0 or 37-7, whatever, I don’t want that to happen. I want everyone to just be humble cause I know Qtown has some good players. I don’t want to come in to that game thinking ‘Oh it’ll just be another UD.’”
After Taylor’s 13-yard touchdown run at 10:08 on the opening series, West forced a three-and-out then took a 14-0 lead as McFadden took a 2nd-and-13 carry from the Bucks’ 39 all the way to the end zone for a 61-yard score at 7:59.
“As I got out, I was trying to get space to the outside but I saw two kids coming down fast,” McFadden said. “I was going to try to, cause they were overcommitting, so I was going to try to cut it up but then when I cut it up, I saw more people coming so I just found an alleyway back and I just took that.”
The Cardinal elected to go for it on a 4th-and-3 from their own 39 but gained only a yard to give the ball back to West.
On a 4th-and-4 from the UD 34, Taylor connected with Williams for 15 yards. Four plays later on 3rd-and-Goal at the 10, Taylor rolled right and found McFadden in the end zone for a 21-0 lead at 2:22 in the first quarter.
“My job’s really easy when I have all these guys around me,” Taylor said. “And Conor, he’s a freak athlete and I just put the ball where only he could catch it and he made a play on it.”
The Bucks tacked on two more points with 59 seconds left in the quarter as Blue got in to block a UD punt, the ball going out the back of the end zone for a safety.
“Right before the play I yelled, ‘Yo, Sean go block that thing,’” McFadden said. “And then I wasn’t looking because I was running down with the gunner. And I turned around and I didn’t know how it worked, I didn’t even know it was a safety, I thought it was just a touchback or something like that.
“And I turned to the dude that was running with me and I’m like ‘What does that mean?” And he goes ‘I think it’s a safety.’ I’m like ‘Let’s go.’”
Clemens dove over the goal line to finish a six-yard touchdown run, putting the Bucks up 30-0 at 11:13 in the second quarter.
The first Upper Dublin first down of the half came when Roberts picked up two yards on a 4th-and-2 from the West 37. A roughing the passer on 4th-and-12 moved the Cardinals to the 22. UD got down to the 14 but threw incomplete on 4th-and-2.
Clemens collected his second TD run on the ensuing drive, scoring from seven yards out with 5:21 left in the second quarter for a 37-0 lead.
