Football: Cardinals Primed for Opening Night Showdown against CB West

A share of the Suburban One American Conference championship isn’t enough for the 2011 Upper Dublin Football Cardinals. Head coach Bret Stover started planning for Friday’s season opener against CB West well ahead of schedule. Why? A big reason for not winning the title outright was last season’s 42-28 loss, and all of the Cardinals know that.

“West is a good opponent, bigger front line, and it’s going to be a good test for us to see where we’re at,” the ninth-year head coach said. “If we can get this win tomorrow, it’ll springboard us into our season.”

CB West, who finished last season at 9-3, is still considered to be a top contender in the SOL Continental Conference. With that reputation brings a heavy offensive threat that nit-picked the Cardinals last year. Stover’s camp has made sure that those defensive let downs don’t happen again.

“We’re just trying to solidify our scheme. We were young last year, and a lot of people are back who know what needs to be done. If we can solidify the defense, we’ll pick up a win,” he said.

One person who Stover knows can lead that defense is the same person who leads his offense. Team captain, linebacker and starting quarterback Andrew Derr is on the same page as his head coach and knows how important getting off to good start really is.

“We’re just trying to get back from last year from the loss,” said the senior play caller. “We need to start off 1-0 and win all of our non-conference games. It starts here with West.”

When asked about his front line, the Division I hopeful smiled and gave praise.

“Our linemen aren’t the biggest, but they’re the very athletic type, so the more I can do with my mobility the easy it is for them,” Derr said.

Derr compares his style of play to the likes of Ben Roethlisberger. The speed and accuracy of his play was a major contribution to Upper Dublin’s success, but with West’s shut down run-game coming back, he’ll have to rely greatly on his receivers.

“Sean McAneney is one of my favorites because of his size, but we also have Chris Naughton, Josh Field [and] Eric Boyer. I trust all of my receivers with the ball,” he said.

Khalid Weems is expected to get a majority of the snaps at the running back position, but also is going to shore up the Cardinals secondary. Weems wants West to know the defense is on to their plan.

“We know they like to run with their quarterback,” said Weems. “We got to a lot of speed on defense this year, so we’re not giving up a lot of big plays to them. We just got to keep up the pressure and contain.”

UD will also have their defensive leader Jino Park to help contribute. Held high in the praises of Coach Stover, Park is a third-year starter at linebacker.

“[Jino] has been having a great camp. He’s smart and takes what he’s learned off of watching tape and applies it on the field,” said Stover.

If anything is for sure, the Cardinals are taking their 2011 motto to a literal level. “Take the next step” is all over the locker room and their undershirts, and they’ll get their first shot at taking that step under the lights. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Cardinal Stadium.