Upper Dublin stands strong after storm, tops CR South
NEWTOWN >> The gesture was simple, but said plenty.
With his players assembled in front of him, Upper Dublin football coach Bret Stover removed his well-worn gameday visor and tipped it in their direction. To anyone who had arrived at Council Rock North High School without any background knowledge, it simply would have looked like another strong effort on both sides of the ball from one of the top programs in District 1 and the Suburban One League.
After all the Upper Dublin community has been through in the wake of the extensive damage left by Hurricane Ida this week, it was anything but just another usual effort by the Cardinals.
Cast out on the road with their stadium and their high school unusable due to storm damage, the Cardinals rallied and showed plenty of resilience as they hammered “visiting” Council Rock South 38-7 on Saturday afternoon with CR North hosting the contest.
“You just go with your gut on this one and fortunately, we have some really good leadership, not that you ever have a ‘good year’ to have something like this, but we know we have the right kids,” Stover said. “I told them for three hours, you have to put everything in a box, leave it out there, play for each other and play for our community. That’s just what they did.”
Ida hit the area Wednesday, which was also Upper Dublin’s first day of school. With the damage, which also extended into the developments and housing around the high school and all over Fort Washington and Maple Glen, being as severe as it was and leaving the district’s flagship building and facilities unsafe, there were questions if the Cardinals would even get to play this week.
UD senior receiver Noah Lee, who recorded 107 yards and two touchdowns Saturday, said he and his teammates spent most of the previous two days exchanging videos and photos of damage and checking in on each other.
“Getting on the field and having a chance to forget about it for a little bit was what we needed and getting a win to go with it was amazing,” Lee, who caught six passes, said. “Every week, the coaches put us in position to win and this was no different. As for the guys, this is the closest group on a football team that I’ve ever been around and it really shows in the way we play for each other and rally around each other.”
It’s not unheard of for a football game to be moved or rescheduled due to weather, in fact Upper Dublin had to move a game due to snow just a few seasons ago, but this was entirely different. Senior linebacker Tristan Cairnes, who was a defensive force with two sacks and another tackle for loss against the Golden Hawks, knows that all too well right now.
“I’m even staying at someone’s house right now, we’re all taking everybody in who needs help and putting our hands out to anyone who needs it,” Cairnes said. “We want to throw everybody on our back, we take pride in doing that for our community.”
Cairnes added that several of his teammates got hit harder than he and his family did and it’s the same for other students at the high school and Fort Washington Elementary School, just down the block and also rocked by the hurricane and tornado it produced.
Stover, an Upper Dublin graduate himself who still lives in the township, is hoping to organize efforts for his team to help out cleaning up the community and getting supplies to those who need them. He also knows his team can again be a pillar for the community to rally around but there are still plenty of questions in front of them, mainly when or even if the Cardinals will regain use of their facilities and where their next practice will be held.
Neighboring Wissahickon opened its doors to the Cardinals on Friday, allowing the team to get a practice in on Friday evening. Stover made the session totally voluntary, but still had all but three players make it over.
“These kids want to play ball, my freshmen through seniors, to a man, they showed me they’re all-in and know we’ve got a good group here,” Stover said. “Our next hope is to get out in our community and help out a little bit. I really think all our sports teams are going to pull together.
“The Wissahickon community has been so gracious, I saw (Trojans coach Bruce Fleming) as he was getting on their bus last night and he stopped to say ‘anything we can do,’ and we’re all one big community. At the end of the day, we’re all helping each other, which is what’s great about this area.”
On the field, the Cardinals didn’t look like a team that had just two hours of preparation the prior three days. After a scoreless first quarter, Colin O’Sullivan hit Lee for a 39-yard touchdown pass that got everyone going, then senior Caleb Jamison recovered a fumbled CR South kickoff and Tawfiq Bartlett punched it in from 10 out for a 14-0 lead.
A buzzer-beating 36-yard field goal from Owen Carl gave UD a 17-7 halftime lead and the Cardinals really turned things up in the second half. Upper Dublin’s defense limited CR South’s triple-option offense to 76 rushing yards and just 82 total yards of offense and notched the icing on the day when Quincy Pauling deflected a pass to Chris Kohlbrenner for a 30-yard interception return.
“Dave Sowers is a wizard with the defense,” Stover said. “We tried to plan for the rain, so we got everything set offensively on Monday and Tuesday but the defense, trying to stop (CR South coach Vince Bedesem’s) offense on just two hours, Dave is just incredible in how he prepares those guys.”
Offensively, O’Sullivan was terrific throwing 16-of-19 for 179 yards and two scores, both going to Lee while the offensive line blocked well for Bartlett and Nyfise McIntyre.
“After that first touchdown, it felt like nothing would stop us today,” Lee said. “I think the next couple weeks will really show who we are.”
UPPER DUBLIN 0 17 7 14 – 38
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring Plays
2nd Quarter
UD – Colin O’Sullivan 39 pass to Noah Lee (Owen Carl kick) 9:28
UD – Tawfiq Barlett 10 run (Carl kick) 8:26
CRS – Thomas Woloshyn 3 run (Gavin Hagen kick) 1:50
UD – Owen Carl 36 field goal 0.0
3rd Quarter
UD – Nyfise McIntyre 2 run (Carl kick) 1:18
4th Quarter
UD – O’Sullivan 8 pass to Lee (Carl kick) 8:21
UD – Chris Kohlbrenner 30 interception return (Carl kick) 5:42
Team Stats
UD CRS
First downs 19 6
Rushes-Yards 34-126 31-76
Passing 16-19-2-1 1-6-0-1
Passing Yards 179 6
Total Yards 305 82
Penalties-Yards 5-28 4-20
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-1
Punting Average 1-32 4-35.3
Individual Stats
Rushing: UD – Michael Wright 4-5, Tawfiq Bartlett 9-44, Colin O’Sullivan 6-8, Nyfise McIntyre 9-53, Chris Kohlbrenner 1-7, Coleman Zambrosky 1-(-9), Dominick Paone 1-3, Jacob Cornbluth 3-15; CRS – Jake Zarnowsky 6-15, Connor Omlor 4-9, Thomas Woloshyn 8-51, Chase Myers 4-11, Matt Striffolino 5-(-19), Ari Moore 2-1, Caleb Christian 1-7, Bobby Kennedy 1-1
Passing: UD – Colin O’Sullivan 16-19-2-1-179; CRS – Striffolino 1-6-0-1-6
Receiving: UD – Noah Lee 6-107, Logan Trimm 4-53, McIntyre 1-8, DJ Cerisier 2-18, Tristan Cairnes 2-9, Kohlbrenner 2-4; CRS – Alex Checchia 1-6
Interceptions: UD – Kohlbrenner; CRS – Woloshyn
