Upper Moreland too much for Conwell-Egan
By Stephen Pileggi
Two opposing philosophies on offense met in Willow Grove on Friday night as the powerful running game of the Upper Moreland Bears took on the aerial attack of the Eagles of Conwell-Egan Catholic.
But it was the Bears, led by junior running back Rodney Morgan (143 yards-TD-2 INT), who prevailed as Upper Moreland walked away with a 20-10 victory. The win moves them to 3-0 to start the season.
Defense dominated in the first half with neither team able to generate much momentum.
Looking to get something going in the second quarter, the Bears lined up for a punt on 4th-and- 3, but a direct snap to junior running back Nick Pagano resulted in enough yards to pick up the first down.
Another fourth down on the same drive saw the Bears line up to punt on a long 4th and 17, but a running into the kicker penalty on the Eagles gave the Bears another first down. However, the Bears could not capitalize following their string of good fortunes on that drive.
The Bears successfully limited the Eagles ground game to just 12 yards in the first half, but could do nothing to solve an aerial attack led by junior quarterback Kendall Jones (10/19-148-2 INT), who had completed five of nine passes for 82 yards by halftime.
Jones’ favorite target was freshman running back Patrick Garwo (5-75-KR TD), who accounted for half of the Eagles’ total receiving yards.
Eagles’ junior defensive lineman Keanan Baines kept Bears junior quarterback Casey Decker (5/9-80) on the move throughout the first half and tallied two sacks before hobbling off the field in pain with an apparent lower body injury.
An Eagles field goal with under a minute in the first half broke the scoring stalemate.
Upper Moreland found its rhythm in the second half, with Decker putting the Bears up 6-3 late in the third quarter on a 1-yard keeper to cap off a 90-yard drive.
However, the Eagles responded with an 85-yard touchdown by Garwo on the ensuing kickoff and Conwell-Egan regained a 10-6 lead.
After missing on his first four passes of the game, Decker completed his last five and drove the Bears down the field, where his 8-yard touchdown run with 10:21 left in the fourth quarter put Upper Moreland up for good.
Faced with a third and long late in the fourth quarter, Decker completed his final pass of the evening to junior running back Nick DeLucas for 24 yards, which Upper Moreland head coach Adam Beach said was key to extending that drive and running down the clock.
“Earlier in the game, [Decker] was missing some wide open guys, but you saw him mature a little bit,” Beach said. “He’s a young quarterback and I think every game’s going to be a little better.”
With two minutes left in the fourth quarter and with the Eagles around midfield, Morgan recorded his second interception of the game – and the quarter – and took it inside the Eagles red zone before scoring on a 13-yard scamper to put the Bears up 20-10 with 33 seconds left in the game.
A bobbled return on a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by the Bears, who iced the game with a Decker kneel down.
After the game, Beach talked about some of the offensive adjustments that were made at halftime.
“It was kind of one of those classic defensive struggles,” Beach said. “But the great thing about having an experienced offensive line is you make some adjustments, we changed up our blocking scheme because they were giving us a different look (on defense) and we had enough success to spring guys, our quarterback made big plays when he needed to extend drives and we put the ball in the end zone and I think that’s what gave us the ballgame.”
Meanwhile, Morgan’s two interceptions sealed the victory for the Bears and he explained what was going through his head before his second interception with the Eagles marching down the field with under three minutes left in the game.
“I didn’t think we were going to pull it out,” Morgan said. “As soon as I saw that ball in the air, I knew I had to make a play because I messed up on offense. I said I had to do it, did it and we had a great game here today.”
The Bears (3-0) next challenge will come Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. when they host the Hatboro-Horsham Hatters (1-3).
