Football: Plymouth Whitemarsh Outruns Cardinals, 23-7

One might look at the final score of Thursday night's football game as Plymouth Whitemarsh 23, Upper Dublin 7, and suspect that the Cardinals had been soundly beaten by the home team.

But while the margin of victory was wide, Upper Dublin head coach Bret Stover knew there were only a few key moments where the Colonials (5-1, 3-0) got the better of his squad.

"Plymouth Whitemarsh made the plays when they had to, and we did not, and that's why you're looking at the scoreboard the way it is," said Stover after the game. "They're a good football team, and they did a good job preparing for us."

Ultimately, Upper Dublin could not match the speed of Plymouth Whitemarsh, whose one-two punch of quarterback Russhon Phillips and runningback Xavier Ellington combined for three scores, all coming on the ground.

Things started off with a bang early for the Cardinals (4-2, 2-1), although their first play from scrimmage resulted in a 40-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Derr to receiver Sean McAneney being called back due to an illegal procedure.

However, two downs later, Cardinals' runningback Tybree Stallings broke free for a 33-yard scamper down to the Colonial 12-yard-line. After a rush for no gain, Derr hit receiver Luke Felix with a precision pass in the middle of the end zone to take a 7-0 lead with 7:32 left in the first.

On their ensuing possession, Plymouth Whitemarsh responded, and made it clear they were going to establish the run game. The Colonials used a trio of short rushes to get a first down on their own 37-yard-line, and followed it up with another three-yard gain to the 40.

With the Cardinals thinking run on second down, Plymouth Whitemarsh QB Russhon Phillips faked a handoff up the middle and bootlegged around the right end, taking it 60 yards for a touchdown.

"We had a kid out of the game with a busted helmet,  and we put a backup in and they went right at him," said Stover of the play. "Hats off to their staff, they found him. Our defensive end tackled the dive and off he went."

The first quarter would come to a close with the teams knotted at 7, but things went downhill for the Cardinal and Gray from there. After a three-and-out to start the second, Upper Dublin would punt the ball away to the Colonial 39-yard-line.

Plymouth Whitemarsh picked up right where they left off by running the ball on consecutive plays, and after a pair of first downs, Ellington broke free for a 43-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7.

"They have a lot of team speed, and when you're on turf with them, there's no equalizer. They're that much faster out here on this carpet," said Stover.

Phillips and Ellington would continue to have their names called through the game, primarily running up the gut as time ticked away. A Colonial field goal would make it 17-7 at the half, and another Phillips touchdown, this time a 5-yard rush, put the game away at 23-7 with 7:53 to play.

The Cardinals found themselves trying to work magic through the air, and there was the feeling that they just needed one break to get back in the game-- but it never came. With less than five minutes to play and down 16, the Cardinals had one last chance to punch a touchdown in from the Colonial 5-yard-line, but were stopped an inch shy on 4th down.

"We got down to the one-inch line there and we didn't get in. We get in there and get a two point conversion, it's a one touchdown game with three and a half minutes to go," said Stover. "We didn't do it, we didn't capitalize there."

Now sitting at 4-2, with four games left in the season, the Cardinals are still in a good position. And Stover knows that if his squad takes care of business the rest of the way, there might be some redemption in the cards.

"We'd like another shot at them down the road, if the football gods will smile on us," he said.

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