Unionville survives in OT to edge persistent Interboro

EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Just one week after going toe-to-toe with Coatesville, the Unionville football squad had to scratch and claw its way past winless, but game, Interboro on Friday in a surprise non-league defensive thriller.

The host Indians needed an overtime session to finally edge the Buccaneers, 14-7. And at the conclusion, the big story was how Interboro staged an epic fourth-quarter drive to knot the score, and push Unionville to the brink in the process.

“(Interboro) is a very proud program, and they jumped up and punched us in the mouth,” said Indians’ head coach Pat Clark.

“I’m very proud of my kids – we really played hard and physical,” added Bucs’ head coach Steve Lennox. “But I am disappointed in the outcome.”

Now 3-3 overall, Unionville broke a two-game losing skid. Interboro falls to 0-6, but has some positives to draw on heading into next week’s Del-Val League opener.

“It’s a win – we’ll take it,” Clark said. “We will build off the positives and we will continue to correct our mistakes.

“Interboro played with tremendous guts and heart. A lot of people around here don’t understand that they’ve won more championships than we have. So to think it was going to be a cakewalk was a mistake.”

Trailing 7-0 most of the evening, the Bucs’ defense forced a turnover on downs at their own 3, and then promptly marched 97-yards in 18 plays to knot the score midway through the fourth quarter. Interboro benefitted from a pass interference call, and later converted a fourth-and-six at the 13 when runner Sean Meyers nearly got into the end zone. Two plays later he did.

“We hang our hat on trying to hang onto the ball and being physical,” Lennox said. “The kids did a great job on that possession.”

The Indians had one final chance to end it in regulation, but kicker Stefan Twombly’s 39-yard field goal in the final minute was wide left.

For the Bucs, to allow just seven points in regulation was a big win. Interboro surrendered an average of 53 points per game heading in, including a 78-point outburst against Oxford.

“Our defense really stepped up,” Lennox said. “You know, we’re 0-5 and the kids could quit. They could just pack it in, but they are still buying into what we are selling.

“I’d like to think we are getting better. We’ve had a tough non-league schedule.”

In the overtime, Unionville’s Connor Schilling ran it three straight times, with the final carry a six-yard TD. The senior had 93 of his 111 rushing yards in the second half and overtime.

“Everyone in the huddle had the mindset that we were going to score right here,” Schilling said.

On the Bucs’ OT possession, Meyers ran for a yard and then quarterback Mike Zane threw three straight incomplete passes, with Schillling breaking up two, including the fourth down play.

“I was proud of my kids for the way we responded in overtime,” Clark said. “Our defense kind of locked them down.”

The only first half score came early, when Zane was unsuccessful on a fake punt deep in Interboro’s end of the field. Three-play later, Schilling scored on a four-yard run for Unionville.

The Indians did put together a 10-play, 60-plus yard march in the second quarter, but a pair of holding penalties sabotaged the effort, including one that nullified a TD, and Unionville came away empty handed.

It happened again in the third quarter, when the Indians went 74-yards in 13 plays, but another potential touchdown was called back by a holding penalty. Unionville then turned it over on downs, setting up the Bucs’ game-tying drive.

“A guy I used to coach with said, ‘we shot ourselves in the foot so many times, we don’t have any knees left,’” Clark said. “But some of the holding is that an Interboro kid was playing harder and we weren’t able to match their effort. They forced us into some mistakes.

“I don’t think we played with great energy in the first half. I think sometimes out kids have to keep their noses out of the newspaper and on social media, and tune out all of the distractions. We didn’t do a good job of that.”

The Indians wound up with a 280-175 edge in total offense. Twombly had five catches for 72 yards.

“We definitely came out slow – probably the slowest all season,” Schilling said. “And then we just killed ourselves with penalties the whole game.”

Meyers led Interboro with 55 rushing yards on 14 carries.

“(Interboro) played with as much grit as any team we’ve played on our schedule,” Clark said.