North Penn blasts Unionville 48-7
East Marlborough >> Through the years, it’s been proven that the recipe for winning postseason football games is a strong rushing attack and a stout defense. Suburban One National League champions, North Penn, possess both. On a windy Friday night at Unionville High School, the ninth-seeded Knights steamrolled the eighth-seeded Indians, 48-7, in the opening round of the District 1 Class AAAA playoffs.
North Penn will face top-seeded Downingtown East in the quarterfinals on Nov. 20.
“North Penn is a really good team,” Unionville coach Pat Clark said. “They came out here and beat us. We gave up some big plays early that definitely hurt us but that’s a good football team over there.”
It was all North Penn (9-2) in the first half. After blocking an Indians’ punt on the Unionville 15-yard line, the visitors made it 7-0 on a Justin Ostopowicz 9-yard run around the left side.
Following a Unionville three-and-out, North Penn extended its lead on a 64-yard drive that was capped off by a Nick Isabella 9-yard blast up the middle.
The Knights defense was equally as impressive, holding the home team’s offense to 10 yards in the opening stanza.
“It was hard to get anything going on offense,” Unionville’s senior running back Brandon Boon said. “They game planned really well and they flew to the ball.”
With just under four minutes left in the second quarter, Isabella scored his second touchdown of the night on a 1-yard dive.
Trailing 20-0, the Indians responded. With the combination of a North Penn personal foul penalty and a handful of productive runs by quarterback Brendan Boyle, the eight seed marched into its opponent’s territory for the second time of the evening. With 26 seconds left in the half, Boyle floated a beautiful pass to Boon who reeled it in for the 37-yard touchdown.
“I just ran down the seam and he (Boyle) threw it up there,” Boon said. “Our coaches always say we have to win our one on ones and that’s what we did.”
The Knights’ special teams unit struck once more before the break. On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore Justis Henley broke free down the left sideline for a 56-yard return, setting his offense up at the Unionville 24-yard line. With 13 ticks left on the clock, North Penn’s quarterback Reece Udinski threw a strike to junior Ricky Johns in the middle of the end zone. After Udinski connected with Garrett Quallet on the two-point conversion, the nine seed led 28-7 at halftime.
Things didn’t change in the second half. The Knights added three more touchdowns (all rushing) and out gained their opponent by 134 yards.
“Give credit to North Penn,” Clark said. “We weren’t able to establish anything on offense but they have a great defense. That is a really tough group over there.”
The Indians finish as Ches-Mont League American Division champions, and graduate 19 seniors.
“This was such a great group,” Clark said. “I am so proud of each and every one of these kids. They accomplished so much this season. We had great leadership and a bunch of hard workers. I am really going to miss these guys.”
North Penn 48, Unionville 7
North Penn 7 21 7 13 — 48
Unionville 0 7 0 0 — 7
First Quarter
NP — Ostopowicz 8 run (Bealer kick)
Second Quarter
NP — Isabella 9 run (Bealer kick)
NP — Isabella 1 run (kick fail)
U — Boon 37 pass from Boyle (Mainwaring kick)
NP — Johns 24 pass from Udinski (Bealer kick)
Third Quarter
NP — Isabella 23 run (Bealer kick)
Fourth Quarter
NP — Stewart 2 run (kick fail)
NP — Gillett 38 run (Macnamara kick)
Team Statistics
NP U
First downs 20 9
Rushes-yards 46-306 21-95
Passing 10-15-0 4-14-1
Passing yards 128 77
Total yards 434 172
Punts 4-30 3-30
Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 1-31.0 6-38.2
Individual Statistics
Rushing — North Penn: West 19-114, Isabella 12-102, 3 TD, Ostopowicz 2-10, TD, Udinski 1-5, Stewart 3-12, TD, Gillett 1-38, TD, Andrews 3-7, Penna 2-7, Dillon 3-11. Unionville: Boyle 9-28, Boon 8-64, Marmo 1-(-6), D’Amico 1-2, Nash 1-3.
Passing — North Penn: Udinksi 10-15-0, 128 yds., TD, Jones 0-0-0, 0 yds.. Unionville: Boyle 4-12-1, 77 yds., TD, Hagen 0-2-0, 0 yds.
Receiving — North Penn: Hubler 1-14, Henley 2-15, Ostopowicz 3-45, West 1-14, Isabella 1-28, Johns 1-24. Unionville: Boon 1-37, TD, Nash 2-13, Clark 1-27.
Interceptions — North Penn: Ostopowicz. Unionville: none.
Sacks — North Penn: Isabella 3. Unionville: Dauphin 2
