Upper Dublin’s Colin O’Sullivan is The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2022 Football Athlete of the Year
For Colin O’Sullivan, the season’s journey was just as rewarding as the success the Upper Dublin football team achieved in 2022.
“The most satisfying part of it all was watching everything that all of us put into the offseason, watching it come to life on the field,” the Upper Dublin senior quarterback said. “Just watching the morning workouts where we were on timing, working on chemistry and then just being able to throw those 10-yard outs on time, being able to throw those comebacks.
“I think that was the best part of it all, watching workouts turn into a district championship and a state final four, to be able to do that was really special with the guys.”
Throughout the year for the Cardinals, O’Sullivan – the 2022 The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media Football Athlete of the Year – showed that hard work along with his skills under center in impressively orchestrating a high-scoring offense that paired with a stout defense to lead Upper Dublin to its second District 1-5A championship in three seasons.
“All these guys, we’ve always had the talent but the biggest thing for me this year was stepping up as a vocal leader for these guys and getting everyone to buy into it,” O’Sullivan said. “And that was the biggest thing for us cause we always had the talent and the coaches and just everyone to put all they had into it was the biggest thing. So being able to step up as a leader on the team I think made a big difference for us.”
O’Sullivan ended his third season as the Cards’ starting quarterback with 2,831 yards passing – an average or 188.7 yards per contest – tossing 36 touchdowns while getting intercepted just five times as Upper Dublin went 14-1, won its second straight SOL Continental Conference title and advanced to the PIAA semifinals for the fourth time since 2015.
“Over the last three years it’s just been getting a little bit better every year,” said O’Sullivan, who threw for 5,248 yards and 61 TDs in his high school career. “This year, definitely the biggest thing for us was being able to be more balanced. Just big shout out to the guys up front. I mean, we controlled the line of scrimmage in almost every game that we played and when we’re able to run the ball that opened up so much in the passing game and that was huge for us.”
He played the final two postseason games on what was later revealed to be a fractured ankle but threw for 182 yards and a TD in the district final against West Chester Rustin. He then passed for 234 yards and two second-half touchdowns as UD’s rally against Imhotep Charter came up short in a 21-14 loss in the PIAA-5A semifinals.
“Oh man, after that Rustin game I couldn’t even stand on it,” he said. “But I mean it was all worth it in the end.”
O’Sullivan completed 63.8 percent of his passes (194-of-304) and threw for 150 yards or more in 12 of UD’s 15 games in 2022. Six times, he eclipsed 200 yards with his season-best 314 yards against North Penn in a dramatic 32-28 comeback victory in Week 3.
The Cardinals trailed 28-17 late in the fourth but O’Sullivan found Griffin Pensabene for a 38-yard touchdown with 42.4 seconds and after UD recovered an onside kick, he connected with Pensabene again for a 25-yard score to go ahead with 29.5 seconds left.
“The game was hyped up, and then first play of the game I think for us was like a 72-yard touchdown to Griff,” said O’Sullivan, who finished 19-of-24 passing with four TDs in the game. “And just so much film work was put in that week cause we all know if you want to be one of the great Upper Dublin teams you have to have that signature win against a team like that.
“So I think with all those expectations and everything and to say we did that, I think that’s what made that performance so special.”
The Cardinals offense went onto average 32.8 points per game, putting up 30 points or more 12 times, including a season-best 47 in a shutout win over Wissahickon in Week 5.
“I would probably say just the versatility that we had,” said O’Sullivan of UD’s offensive success. “Coach (Mark) Schmidt just did such an awesome job with the offensive line – they all worked their butts off. We were able to run the ball well, talking about Nyfise (McIntrye), Dom Paone they both played, just had awesome seasons.
“And then when people started moving people into the box we had people like DJ (Cerisier), Grif, Chris (Kohlbrenner), Star (Reaves), I mean so many weapons that I was able to choose from it just made us so tough to defend.”
O’Sullivan began the season throwing for 283 yards and three TDs as the Cardinals cruised past Kennett 37-13 then followed by throwing four TDs in a 35-7 Week 2 win over Central Bucks West, which went on to reach the District 1-6A final.
Hosting Souderton in Week 9 with the winner clinching at least a share of the SOL Continental title, O’Sullivan threw a trio of TDs passes – two in the second half – in going 14-of-17 for 213 yards passing in a 34-3 victory.
A week later, O’Sullivan tossed another three touchdowns as the Cards secured the outright conference crown and an undefeated regular season by rolling past Quakertown 38-8.
“It never seemed like we underestimated a team or fell into a trap against a team,” O’Sullivan said. I feel like this team always came out and handled business and that just the mentality we had, all the guys were so bought into it and we just all had a common goal and we worked towards it.
“The defense helped the offense, the offense helped the defense and the special teams made plays. When you’re all working together like that, you’re not going to have any of those trap games.”
O’Sullivan started the District 1-5A playoffs throwing five touchdowns as the top-seeded Cards beat Academy Park 35-0. Upper Dublin followed with another 35-0 victory in the quarterfinals against Great Valley, O’Sullivan going 11-of-15 for 279 and three TDs.
Up next came a semifinal matchup with Plymouth Whitemarsh, which prior year beat Upper Dublin in overtime to knock the Cardinals out in the district quarters. This time, UD rolled to a 30-0 win, O’Sullivan finishing 13-of-20 with 98 and a touchdown – a nine-yard strike to Cerisier to make it 16-0 in the fourth before Upper Dublin pulled away with two defensive scores.
“We swore that was never going to happen again,” said O’Sullivan of the 42-36 loss to PW in 2021. “We’re never going to walk off this field like that again and that’s really what made us put in all that work cause that feeling after that game was one of the worst, watching the seniors walk off that field never getting to play again.
“We swore that was never going to happen again and then just to be able to get the chance to give those guys their money back, I mean, there was nothing better than that.”
O’Sullivan gave UD a 7-0 lead in the District 1-5A final, connecting with Reaves for a 33-yard TD at 4:25 in the first quarter. The delay in the second quarter after the lights went out at UD’s stadium did not derail the Cards’ offense, as it built a 21-0 lead en route to a 21-7 victory.
Upper Dublin beat Rustin for the district title in 2020 but had to forfeit its PIAA semifinal matchup with Cathedral Prep due to COVID-19. Two years later, the Cardinals got their chance to reach a state final facing Imhotep Charter at Wissahickon.
Imhotep took a 21-0 lead in the third quarter but UD battled back – O’Sullivan hitting Pensabene for a 4-yard TD in the third with the senior QB connecting with Cerisier for a 14-yard score with 4:59 in the fourth. Upper Dublin got the ball back with 3:26 left and moved to the Imhotep 25-yard line but the comeback bid ended with a turnover on downs.
“It really just spoke to the resilience and grit of the guys that we have in that locker room,” O’Sullivan said. “It goes all the way back to Week 3, North Penn – we’re down 11, two-and-a-half minutes left. It’s easy to just put your head down, say ‘Oh, it was North Penn, it wasn’t our game.’ But just kept fighting, kept fighting. Got a lucky bounce, and then just go on and cash in and win that game. Yeah, the resilience this group showed was just crazy.”
