Young’s pick 6 sets tone in Upper Merion’s 44-0 blanking of Pottstown

POTTSTOWN >> It isn’t often that you see a linebacker returning an interception 20 yards downfield for a touchdown after picking off the pass of an unsuspecting quarterback. It’s even less often that you see such a play happen on the very first offensive possession of the game.

However that’s exactly what Upper Merion senior linebacker Harrison Young did to open the Vikings’ first defensive possession of their 44-0 road shutout of Pottstown on Friday night. Young read the eyes of Trojan junior quarterback Gabe Hicks, jumping the running back’s route on the play and snagging the pass before making his way untouched into the end zone.

“I usually like to take the ball first and set the tone that way,” Upper Merion coach Davis Chubb said. “But the way that our defense has been playing, starting on defense might’ve been the best thing for us. Harrison is a senior and a kid who has been around this program forever and it was just amazing to get that score.”

A handful of drives later, Upper Merion Bradley Zielinski would repeat the feat, intercepting an errant pass by Hicks and returning it 27 yards to give the Vikings a 20-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

The pair of pick-sixes would book-end Upper Merion’s second touchdown of the opening quarter, a short five-yard rushing touchdown from junior running back Qwynne Seals, who would end the night with two rushing touchdowns on 17 yards of rushing.

As the Vikings have done this season, Upper Merion utilized a dual-quarterback system through-out the game. Nolan Clayton got the start and led his team in passing yards with 117 yards through the air and a touchdown on five-of-six passing. His touchdown pass would account for the majority of his aerial yardage, as he found junior receiver Alzere Thomas streaking down the field for a 75-yard score on the opening play of the second quarter. Junior Zayd Etheridge would get would also make an appearance for the Vikings, tallying 30 yards of three-for-four passing on the night.

“Until it’s not working, I’m going to keep doing it,” Chubb said of utilizing two quarterbacks. “They both deserve the right to play and I’m going to keep using them. Our defense did it’s job tonight and our offense played fine, but we’ve got a lot of things to clean up. We’re not anywhere close to where we want to be offensively right now and that’s going to be something for us to figure out the rest of the year.”

Penalties dragged down both teams throughout the night, and careless turnovers on offense struck down any chances the Trojans had of finding the end zone on their various possessions.

Running back Chris Thomas was one of the lone bright spots for Pottstown, as the freshman came in and generated 26 yards on five rushing attempts in the second half.