Gouch fuels Upper Darby’s red-hot start at Conestoga

TREDYFFRIN >> With versatile senior quarterback Josh Gouch at the controls, Upper Darby scored early and often in its 49-13 win against Conestoga Thursday evening.

On the Royals’ first three offensive plays, Gouch ran the ball, for a 25-yard gain, a 10-yard touchdown, and a 46-yard TD.

Early in the second quarter, Gouch tossed touchdown passes of 26 and 83 yards to Na’Sir Greer, and midway through the second period, the Royals had a 29-0 lead.

“We really haven’t scored in the first quarter all season, and it was our goal tonight to score early,” said Upper Darby head coach Rich Gentile. “Our offensive linemen, Mike Williams and Dan Snyder and Derick Korboi, did a good job tonight.”

With 3:41 left in the first quarter, Upper Darby (4-2, 3-2 Central) had a 14-0 lead.

“On the first touchdown, it was open all the way to the end zone,” said Gouch. “On the second, I had to improvise — I went up the middle, then broke to right when I saw an opening. Without our line, I couldn’t have done anything tonight. Our receivers were blocking, too, whenever they saw me running with the ball.”

Gouch finished the night with 146 yards rushing and 227 yards passing. Greer gained 134 yards receiving.

Early in the second quarter, the Royals were facing a 4th and 7 at the Pioneers’ 26. Gouch took the snap, faded back to pass and spotted a wide-open Greer at the goal line, and hit him for a 26-yard TD pass.

Three minutes later, the Royals were pinned at their own 17 yard line, facing 3rd and 12, when Gouch hit an open Greer down the right sideline, and the senior wide receiver took it 83 yards for a touchdown to give the visitors a 29-0 lead with 8:06 to go before halftime.

Conestoga (1-5, 1-4) then put together a seven-play, 74-yard touchdown drive, helped by 40 yards in Royal penalties. The drive was capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Cameron Marcus to senior end Thomas McGovern in the left corner of the end zone.

For most of the game, the Royals’ defense held the Pioneers’ solid running offense in check.
Gentile said, “Na’Sir did a good job for us [at defensive back], and so did our middle linebacker, Richard Tougeekay. And our front four, Derrick Korboi and Dan Snyder, and Richard Moore and Eric Moore, also did a great job.”

Even though the visitors led 29-6 at halftime, Gouch and company weren’t finished. Late in the third quarter, Gouch faked a handoff, then took off through an opening for a 30 yard TD run to make it 35-6.

Then, early in the fourth quarter, on 3rd and 6 from the Conestoga 24, Gouch hit Jalen Camille for a 24 yard TD to make it 42-6.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Conestoga gave the home crowd something to cheer about when sophomore Liam Kirk scored on a 25-yard TD run down the left sideline with 5:16 to play.

Upper Darby capped the game’s scoring with a 56-yard touchdown run down the left sideline by junior Shawn McCullough.

Conestoga head coach Marquis Weeks said, “We didn’t do what we needed to do tonight. We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot, and dug ourselves a big hole early. It’s not lack of effort, it’s execution.

“Cameron Marcus did a good job for us tonight starting at quarterback for the first time this season, and Nick Braendel had a pretty good game at wide receiver. We put some nice drives together, but we need to execute in the red zone better.”

Upper Darby 49, Conestoga 13

Upper Darby 14 15 6 14 — 49

Conestoga        0  6 0   7 — 13

First Quarter

UD: Gouch 10 run (Beweh kick)

UD: Gouch 46 run (Beweh kick)

Second Quarter

UD: Greer 26 pass from Gouch (Greer pass from Gouch)

UD: Greer 83 pass from Gouch (Beweh kick)

CO: McGovern 14 pass from Marcus (kick blocked)

Third Quarter

UD: Gouch 30 run (kick blocked)

Fourth Quarter

UD: Camille 24 pass from Gouch (Beweh kick)

CO: Kirk 25 run (Williams kick)

UD: McCullough 56 run (Beweh kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

UD      CO

First downs         9         10

Rushes-Yards 20-254 32-76

Passing yards      227      114

Total yards          481      190

Passing            12-19-1 12-22-1

Punts-Average 2-32.0 7-33.5

Fumbles-Lost      2-2        4-2

Penalties-Yards 10-74    10-73

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: Upper Darby — Gouch 7-146, McCullough 1-56, Davis 10-29, Kerwood 1-25, Garder-Maddox 1-(minus 2). Conestoga — Kirk 2-33, Robinson 6-16, Bailey 1-11, Christopher 5-10, Reilly, 1-5, Braendel 1-4, Duffy 2-2, Ditton 1-0, Satell 1-0, Marcus 12-(minus 5).

Passing: Upper Darby — Gouch 12-19-1, 227. Conestoga — Marcus 11-21-1, 117; Braendel 1-1-0, (minus-3).

Receiving: Upper Darby — Greer 4-134, O’Donnell 2-33, Camille 2-28, Tegethoff 2-8, Davis 1-15, Brown 1-9. Conestoga — Braendel 4-33, Robinson 3-10, Bailey 2-42, McGovern 2-20, Reilly 1-9, .Interceptions: Upper Darby — Greer. Conestoga — Bailey.