Great Valley’s improved 2nd-half defense stops Upper Moreland in district opener

East Whiteland >> With some tough second-half defense, No. 8 seed Great Valley edged ninth-seeded Upper Moreland, 24-21, in its District 1 5A football playoff opener Friday night.

The host Patriots (8-3) held Upper Moreland (8-3) scoreless in the second half – no small feat against a Golden Bears team whose high-powered offense had scored at least 40 points five times this season.

“I think we’ve had a tendency to start slow and give up points early,” said Great Valley head coach Jeff Martin. “Defensively, we made some adjustments at halftime, and we got back to what we normally do, and that’s to bring pressure and be aggressive. And our guys executed, they just played excited football, different guys stepped up when they needed to.”

The Patriots, who did not gain the lead until the fourth quarter, fell behind 7-0 just three minutes into the contest. On the fourth play of the game, Upper Moreland senior standout defensive back/running back Stephen Broderick intercepted a pass at midfield and returned it all the way to the Patriots 14. Five plays later, Golden Bears quarterback Shawn Herbert snuck over from the one yard line for a 7-0 lead.

Great Valley came right back with an eight-play, 69-yard drive highlighted by three short passes by junior quarterback Braeden Melia of 15, 25 and 9 yards, the last two to senior Colin Kiselak. Jack Coffey’s 5 yard TD run up the middle completed the drive and tied the score at 7-7.

“Braeden was able to make plays when he needed to make plays tonight,” said Martin. “Offensively, across the board, I think we did what we wanted to do – we were clicking pretty much the whole game. We were able to run the ball tonight – [senior running back] Jack Coffey had a heck of a game, and the offensive line opened up some holes for him.”

Just two plays after Coffey’s touchdown, Broderick took a handoff, shot through a hole up the middle, cut to the left and then raced down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown run to give the visitors a 14-7 lead.

Great Valley then engineered an 11-play, 66-yard TD drive that was highlighted by an 18-yard pass from Melia to Gavin Maslowski on 3rd-and-9, and a 16-yard run up the middle by Coffey. Melia finished the drive with a one-yard quarterback keeper to tie the score at 14-14 with 11:27 left before halftime.

Upper Moreland answered with a six-play, 88-yard touchdown drive, with the big play a 54-yard pass completion from Herbert to junior wide receiver Zion Akinbo. Golden Bears senior fullback Aiden Casey carried the ball on the final two plays – first a 13-yard run, then an 8-yard run up the middle for a touchdown. The Golden Bears held that 21-14 lead until halftime – and it turned out to be the final points Upper Moreland scored.

Great Valley opened the second half with a gutsy onside kick that they recovered. Four plays later, on 4th-and-1 at the Upper Moreland 41, the Patriots opted to go for the first down and Kiselak ran to the right for a key four-yard pickup. Great Valley moved steadily downfield until a pass was intercepted by sophomore defensive back Aiden Tuffy at the Upper Moreland 8.

Upper Moreland went three-and-out and was forced to punt – the first punt of the game by either team – and Great Valley took over in Golden Bears territory. A Patriot drive stalled at the visitors 25, and senior standout kicker Seth Turner came out to boot a 42-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-17 with 1:50 left in the third.

As the fourth quarter began, Great Valley took possession on its own 41, then put together an 11-play, 59-yard touchdown drive made possible by two key fourth down plays.

The first key fourth down play came on 4th-and-3 at the Upper Moreland 18, when junior tight end Carter Stedman leaped and grabbed a pass over the middle for a 15-yard gain to the Golden Bears’ 3.

“It was a great play call by our offensive coordinator Glen Hughes,” said Martin. “We fumbled the snap, and our quarterback had to make a heck of a play to pick up the ball, [then] he threw it a little high, and Carter made a great catch.”

Three consecutive runs got the ball down to the 1, where the hosts faced a crucial 4th-and-goal situation. Coffey got the ball and he crashed over the right side to give the Patriots their first lead of the game, 24-21, with 5:16 left.

Upper Moreland then began a short drive, advancing the ball to midfield before giving it up on downs with 1:54 left. Great Valley then handed the ball three consecutive times to Coffey, and he got a crucial first down that killed the remaining time on the clock.

With the victory, Great Valley will face No. 1 seed Upper Dublin in the second round of the District 1 5A playoffs next Friday.

Martin credited the entire defensive unit for its improved second-half performance.

“I think our defensive line did a great job once we settled in the second half,” said Martin. “Raheem Orr at defensive end, as well as our linebackers – Jack Coffey, Justin Nadwodny and Ryan Shim. On the back end, we were able to tackle in the open field – we had Nick Pellicciotta back [from injury] and I was happy to see him in there, and [safety/wildcat quarterback] Colin Kiselak made a lot of great tackles as well as some big plays on offense. So I think everyone [on defense] chipped in.”

Upper Moreland head coach Adam Beach said, “I think we were executing up front [on offense] in the first half. We gave our running backs a chance to do some good things. I think we needed to make quicker adjustments on defense – we allowed [Great Valley] to hang around enough and stay in the game.”

Beach also reflected on the Golden Bears’ penalties, some of which proved costly – an 80-yard touchdown run by Broderick at the end of the third quarter was nullified by a holding call.

“The penalties didn’t help us – we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds that we weren’t able to overcome,” said Beach. “[But] after the game I told our players I was proud of them – they represented our program well this season and they played hard for all 48 minutes.”