FOOTBALL: Shyne Roberts runs for 7 touchdowns in Upper Dublin’s wild win over Wissahickon
UPPER DUBLIN – Before he took his seat in the stands, Shyne Roberts’ dad had a few pointed final words for him.
The Upper Dublin senior had just been honored on the field with his family prior to Friday’s rivalry game with Wissahickon and his dad told him to put on a star effort. Roberts, who plays running back and defensive end, refers to himself as a dog.
Well, the dog got loose big time on Friday as Roberts put on a star performance in a wild 53-42 Cardinals win over the visiting Trojans.
“He said I’m giving you the opportunity to go all out, I’m letting you off the leash, so go ball like a dog,” Roberts said. “That’s what I did.”
Roberts ran over, through, around and all over Wissahickon to the tune of 334 yards and a staggering seven rushing touchdowns on just 19 carries. If that weren’t enough, he also forced and recovered a fumble on defense, forced an errant throw that led to an interception and single-handedly blew up a Trojans’ two-point try in the second half.
Considering everyone in the stadium thought he was done for the night after he needed to be carted back to the UD sideline after a touchdown-saving tackle in the third quarter, it was definitely one for the record books. Roberts was most certainly tired and more than a little sore when the marathon game ended, but he knew that thinking won’t fly in his house, so he just ignored it while handling several interview requests on the field.
“It means I keep going and don’t stop,” Roberts said. “You ever see a dog chasing somebody and they keep going until they get ‘em? Well, I keep going until I get it.”
While neither teams’ defensive coordinator will be thrilled to break down Friday’s tape, the game did more than enough to re-ignite the neighborhood clash that’s been decidedly all Upper Dublin the last decade-plus. Both sides of the stadium were filled with fans and while Wissahickon wasn’t able to end its losing streak – the Trojans’ last win against the Cardinals was Sept 9, 2012 – they showed their 4-0 start wasn’t a mirage.
Upper Dublin’s average margin of victory since 2012 has been 32 points and had won the last two games by a combined 90-0 score. While Friday’s clash was riveting, the second half almost straying into the absurd after a relatively calm 14-7 first half, it was still a Wissahickon loss and the Trojans were none too pleased about it.
“We have to get better offensively, we have to get better defensively, we need to get better on our special teams, so if we can keep getting better every day, we’ll see where it goes,” Wissahickon coach Rory Graver said. “What you saw tonight and against Hatboro-Horsham, when we go down, we’re able to bounce back. I know this group will come ready to play.”
With every passing score, Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover would simply glance at the clock and mutter “long way to go,” his words continually proving prophetic as Roberts kept trading haymaker touchdown runs with Wissahickon’s potent office. Stover knew Wiss was bound for a quick turnaround with Graver at the helm and a cadre of, as he called them, “dudes” ready to put their names out there.
Wissahickon had survived a similar shootout in Week 2 against Hatboro-Horsham but for every dazzling play by Aidan Westcott, who caught 13 balls for 178 yards and a touchdown, or read by Nolan Pounds on his way to 319 passing yards and three scores, UD had an answer. That’s where Graver pointed to postgame as the difference, but the second-year coach also continually lauded his team’s efforts.
“They’re a resilient bunch, I was proud that when we were down 21-7, it could have been a turning point and instead of hanging our heads about it, we came back,” Graver said. “I’m proud of our effort, we did a great job but we do have some things to fix, for sure.”
While Roberts stole the show on the home side, Jaden McLean continued to prove he belongs in the conversation as one of the SOL’s premier players and on both sides of the ball. The Wissahickon senior rushed 20 times for 117 yards and a score and his 33-yard pick-six return in the third quarter gave Wiss a 28-27 lead after he ran in the two-point try following a gutsy call by Graver.
“Wissahickon is definitely a force,” Stover said. “They have some dudes over there now and they are only going to keep getting better. The fullback (Quasir Sampson) is a freshman, there’s nothing but good days ahead and we were fortunate to get the win tonight.”
Roberts’ first touch went to the end zone, the senior bursting 66 yards on Upper Dublin’s first snap under a stunning display of color in the sky, and he really never stopped after that. A bulk of his damage, and the 177 yards on 14 carries chalked up by Ronald Shepherd, came off the right side.
That was yet another subplot in the game. Christian Holland, UD’s normal starting right tackle, was out Friday due to an illness, so junior right guard Philip Roll slotted over one spot on the line with sophomore Duce Selby taking up the guard spot.
Over and over again, Roll and Selby helped give Roberts that bit of room he needed to get loose and get going, not a bad effort for a patchwork offensive line.
“We had to fight every play, Christian being out is a huge form of adversity, so I think it forced everyone to step up their game,” Roll, listed at 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, said. “We worked really hard this week on our technique and good technique with physicality is a hard combination to beat, so I think that’s what helped us.”
Stover lauded the work offensive line coach Steve Roberts, no relation to Shyne but a former lead rusher at UD himself, did getting the group ready to play on Friday. Roll, who started two games and was in the rotation on last year’s dominant line, said a big lesson he learned was how to adapt and win battles by doing the little things right.
Friday, he and Selby didn’t have to blow anyone five yards back off the ball, they just had to give Shyne Roberts enough of a hole to get by.
“You gotta feed him, he was cooking all game, so why stop,” Roll said. “I was a little scared when he got hurt, but he’s a dog. We’re brothers, we do it for each other, we try to make their job easy and they try to reciprocate.”
In Roberts’ view, that’s exactly how it played out.
“They did amazing blocking, I saw a cut to go through and took the cut to the crib,” Roberts said.
After Roberts scored on a 17-yard run on the first possession of the second half, he made a ridiculous defensive play running from the backfield to bring down Westcott on the sideline. However, the play also left him down and hurting, eventually getting a quick cart ride back to the Upper Dublin sideline to get his lower leg treated. He missed the remainder of that series and the next two, but wanted back in badly.
“I knew I wasn’t done,” Roberts said. “My team needed me. It was an amazing team game, but I’m a part of that team too and I had to lock in with my brothers too.
“I showed them, just keep ballin’, work hard and do what you gotta do.”
His first drive back ended with McLean’s pick-six. His next touch was a direct snap that he took 75 yards for a touchdown, a Lazarus moment in a third quarter that saw the teams combine for 40 points and trade the lead four times.
The final go-ahead touchdown, a 12-yard run from Roberts on his fifth score, was only able to happen thanks to one key play from Kevin Etkin. The UD quarterback didn’t have a huge night, but his 41-yard completion to senior Chris Kohlbrenner on third-and-17 after he’d just been sacked flipped the field and helped the Cardinals regain the lead.
Kohlbrenner, one of just eight seniors, played a big role late recovering Wissahickon’s final onside kick attempt and finally sealing the win when he wrestled the ball out of a Trojan receiver’s hands for a fumble recovery with half-a-minute left.
Roberts’ last two carries went for scores, a 45-yarder that came a play after he had a 35-yard score pulled back on a holding call then finally a 49-yard run. Stover couldn’t recall any player having scored more times in a single game in his tenure and it was a performance that even he had to marvel at.
The dog had been let loose and he’d made the most of the chance to run free.
“They don’t work harder than me,” Roberts said.
Upper Dublin 53, Wissahickon 42
Wissahickon 7 0 21 14 – 42
Upper Dublin 14 0 19 20 – 53
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
W – Nolan Pounds 54 pass to Aiden Westcott (Ryan Dowdy kick) 10:13
UD – Shyne Roberts 66 run (Matthew Miller kick) 10:01
UD – Roberts 1 run (Miller kick) 5:29
Third Quarter
UD – Roberts 17 run (Miller kick) 11:05
W – Pounds 20 pass to Amari Nash (kick miss) 8:48
UD – Ronald Shepherd 9 run (kick fail) 7:22
W – Quasir Sampson 1 run (Dowdy kick) 4:42
W – Jaden McLean 33 Interception return (McLean two- point run) 3:49
UD – Roberts 75 run (Two-point fail) 3:27
Fourth Quarter
W – Pounds 25 pass to Rahmel Brooks (two-point fail) 10:09
UD – Roberts 12 run (two-point fail) 8:16
UD – Roberts 45 run (Miller kick) 4:34
W – McLean 1 run (Pounds two-point pass to McLean) 1:41
UD – Roberts 49 run (Miller kick) 1:23
Team Statistics
UD W
First Downs 20 27
Rushes-Yards 40-538 47-231
Passing 2-9-0-1 23-31-3-1
Passing Yards 50 319
Total Yards 588 550
Penalties-Yards 8-75 7-55
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-2
Punting Average 2-32.5 2-36.5Indvidual Stats
Rushing: UD – Shyne Roberts 19-334, Ronald Shepherd 14-177, Kevin Etkin 3-3, Chris Kohlbrenner 3-21, Martin Campbell Jr 1-3; W – Jaden McLean 20-117, Dom Harvey-Sheppard 8-44, Quasir Sampson 15-82, Nolan Pounds 4-(-12)
Passing: UD – Kevin Etkin 2-9-0-1-50; W – Nolan Pounds 23-31-319-3-1
Receiving: UD – Kohlbrenner 1-41, Roberts 1-9; W – Aidan Westcott 13-178, McLean 3-29, Amari Nash 3-67, Rahmel Brooks 2-25, Harvey-Sheppard 2-20
Interceptions: UD – Nate Cairnes; W – McLean
Sacks: UD – Ryan O’Sullivan; W – Kareem Lee
