Upper Moreland bears down, pulls away from Archbishop Carroll

UPPER MORELAND >> Stephen Broderick was ready to contribute in multiple ways to the Upper Moreland offense Friday night, and the senior even dusted off his crystal ball.

“I was watching film, and I said to my team: ‘this game is gonna start off as a dog fight,'” Broderick said of the non-league contest with Archbishop Carroll. “My prediction was 14-7 at halftime, which it was. I knew we were gonna pull ahead — I had faith in my team the whole way through.”

Broderick was a big reason the Bears pulled away to an impressive 41-13 victory over the Patriots, his three rushing touchdowns and 181 yards on the ground — along with 65 yards receiving — helping to power Upper Moreland to a 2-0 start.

The Bears trailed 7-0 early, led 14-7 at the break, and then blew the game open in the third quarter.

“They came out and they punched us in the mouth,” Broderick said of the Pats. “But that’s what we needed. We needed that to know it wasn’t gonna be easy. And then once we got the ball rolling, they couldn’t stop us.”

The Bears piled up 249 yards on the ground and gained another 152 through the air, with quarterback Shawn Herbert throwing a pair of touchdown passes to Aiden Tuffy and scoring another on a nine-yard scramble.

Upper Moreland’s defense forced a pair of crucial turnovers in the third quarter, both converted into scores by the Bear offense.

“Carroll came out – they had a nice game plan, had that fake punt and they were able to extend the drive,” Bears coach Adam Beach said of the Patriots, who had a 15-play march — which included a Mason Waller-to-Anthony Spurio connection on a fake punt — to go up 7-0. “Our kids had to answer, and it was good to see them answer.”

After Spurio’s one-yard blast gave the visitors their 7-0 lead, Upper Moreland struck on the very next play from scrimmage.

On play action, Herbert hit Tuffy in stride for a 61-yard score. The Bears would be penalized for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play, pushing the extra-point attempt back. The kick failed, leaving the margin at 7-6.

But Upper Moreland’s had its second big play of the night when Broderick broke free up the sideline on a pass into the flat, taking it 65 yards to set up his own three-yard touchdown run with 2 minutes and 54 seconds left before the half.

Herbert ran in for two to make it 14-7.

“Carroll’s a pressure defense, and we knew they were gonna do some things up front that they may win, but we had to make them pay when we got them,” Beach said. “I think at times we did that, and that was enough to get us going. And then I think as we started to wear them down a little bit, and things started to go our way.”

The second half would belong to the Bears.

Broderick scored again — this time from two yards out — to make it 21-7 early in the third, and soon after Tuffy made a nice grab in the back of the end zone for a 17-yard score and a 28-7 Bear advantage.

Before the end of the quarter, Broderick made a few nifty cuts and was off to a 23-yard touchdown run and a 35-7 cushion for Upper Moreland.

“We’re very happy with Stevie,” Beach said. “He’s worked very hard and he’s a good runner. We wanna keep giving him the ball and we have some other guys in the program who we’re gonna start getting the ball to as well.

“We had some things cooked up that we worked on this week. We knew (Carroll) was gonna key on Broderick, so we had to work off of that, and Aiden seemed to be the guy getting the ball tonight. Other guys are gonna be getting the ball too, depending on what’s going on, but tonight happened to be Tuffy’s night.”

Herbert battled in on a tough, nine-yard scramble to boost the lead to 41-7 early in the fourth.

Said Broderick of the big plays throughout the evening: “That all stems from the blockers. Our guards and center all the way out to the receivers. Our fullback, Marcello Falsone, had a great game blocking. And Shawn made some nice throws. We all just came together and put together a great offensive game.”

The Patriots (0-2) closed out the scoring, with a 70-yard strike from Waller to Jesse Ventre.

Upper Moreland 41, Archbishop Carroll 13

Carroll 7 0 0 6 – 13

Upper Moreland 6 8 21 6 – 41

First Quarter

AC-Anthony Spurio 1 run (Alex Raker kick), :51.

UM-Aiden Tuffy 61 pass from Shawn Herbert (kick failed), :30.

Second Quarter

UM-Stephen Broderick 3 run (Herbert run), 2:54.

Third Quarter

UM-Broderick 2 run (Jaryd Meehl kick), 7:23.

UM-Tuffy 17 pass from Herbert (Meehl kick), 5:46.

UM-Broderick 23 run (Meehl kick), 3:48.

Fourth Quarter

UM-Herbert 9 run (kick failed), 9:32.

AC-Jesse Ventre 70 pass from Mason Waller (kick failed), 3:28.

AC    UMo

First Downs              11            14

Rushes-yards           31-106     37-249

Passing (c-a-i)          6-18-1      4-8-0

Passing yards           169          152

Total yards                275          401

Punts                        4              2

Penalties-yards         3-25          9-80

Fumbles-lost             1-1           1-0

Rushing

AC: Hasaan Bailey 19-73; Kyle Komstock 2-2; Anthony Spurio 5-18, TD; Jesse Ventre 1-(-1); Mason Waller 2-5; James Wright 2-9.

UM: Broderick 16-181, 3 TD; Tomas Carr 1-6; Alex Foley 2-(-2); Herbert 6-15, TD; Elijah Davis 1-(-2); Jimmy Murray 1-1; Logan Condeelis 1-10; Isaiah Lyles 6-33; McKeyl Hudson 3-7.

Passing

AC: Wright 3-12-32-0-1; Waller 3-6-137-1-0.

UM: Herbert 4-8-152-2-0.

Receiving

AC: Spurio 1-9; Chase Gallagher 2-67; Bailey 2-23; Ventre 1-70, TD.

UM: Tuffy 2-78, 2 TD; Broderick 1-65; Paul Meyers 1-9.

Interceptions

UM-Tuffy.