Upper Dublin doesn’t panic, rallies to beat Plymouth Whitemarsh

WHITEMARSH >> It took one simple adjustment.

Down 14 points and struggling offensively Friday night at Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin head coach Bret Stover took the advice of running back Malik Bootman.

“Malik said, ‘Let’s just stay in our goal-line offense,” Stover said.

The plan worked to perfection as the Cardinals scored four unanswered touchdowns and blitzed their hosts, 28-14, to stay in Suburban One League American Conference contention.

Bootman and Lucas Roselli finished with a pair of touchdowns apiece as the Cardinals stormed back to topple their SOL American rivals and stay in contention for at least a shot at the conference crown.

“We can’t go back and beat Quakertown,” said Stover, still smarting from last week’s overtime loss to the Panthers, “but we can win out and give ourselves the opportunity to get into the playoffs.”

At first, it didn’t look like the Cardinals were heading anywhere but consolation alley after PW’s Iannarelli ran back the opening kickoff 79 yards to put the home team on top.

The Colonials got another score when Kai Allen intercepted a pass by Cardinals quarterback Julian Gimbel and returned it 32 yards to put the home team on top, 14-0.

But eventually, the Cardinals calmed down.

It began late in the half when Bootman polished off a 10-play, 42-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, to make it 14-7 with 5:40 left in the half.

Bootman then found paydirt from 24 yards away with 2:12 left in the half, and the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.

Upper Dublin took the lead for good just 2:22 into the second half when Roselli capped a six-play, 58-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown.

The Colonials answered with a 12-play response, that died via a fourth-down fumble at the Upper Dublin 19-yard line with 1:14 left in the third quarter.

“The story of our season has been turnovers and penalties,” said PW head coach Dan Chang. “We probably fumbled eight or nine times tonight.”

The Cardinals said thank you and drove back the other way 80 yards for the put-away touchdown, a 1-yard plunge by Roselli, and the Cardinals had looked adversity in the eye and failed to blink.

“I give our defensive coaches all the credit,” Stover said. “Our defense played lights out.”

And brought the Cardinals back from the brink..