Mayhem’s Game of the Week

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

Michael Pietrangelo | October 20, 2022

Make sure you are following along on Twitter: @ArtisticMayhem1 IG: @mr_mayhem13

The Game:

Souderton Indians @ #1 Upper Dublin Cardinals

Friday, October 21, 2022

Kickoff: 7pm

800 Loch Alsh Ave, Fort Washington, PA 19034

The Details:

Souderton Indians

Head Coach: Ed Gallagher

Last Season: (6-5) overall (4-2) Conference

League: Suburban One-Continental Conference (6A)

This Season: (7-1) overall (4-0) Conference

Last Week: 23-0 Win against Council Rock South

Indians Notables: Heading into Friday’s match up the Indians lone loss is to 6A Suburban One power Central Bucks East (7-1) in week 3. Since the loss the Indians have won 5 in a row.  Souderton took down last year’s conference champion, Quakertown 34-20 in week 6 so If they beat Upper Dublin on Friday, Bensalem (2-6) (1-3) would be the only team to standing in their way of a conference title.  The Indians are currently ranked 6^th in District 1’s playoff seedings so a win could help boost their odds of a higher seeding. Souderton’s offense is averaging a respectable 29.9 points and their defense is yielding slightly higher than two scores a game at 14.5 per. Offensively the Indians love to run the ball which they do behind the legs of senior running back No. 3 Chris Kerns who has 102 rushes for 638 yards & 7 TDs, senior quarterback No. 11 Jared Zimmerman-366 yards on 66 attempts for 5 TDs, & senior running back N0. 9 Shaun Purvy- 46 carries for 280 yards, 2 TDs. Purvy also has another 21 catches for 282 yards receiving & 2 more scores.  Through the air Zimmerman has 7 TDs and over 882 yards passing. Behind Purvy, junior wide receiver No. 6 Danny Dyches has hauled in 22 balls for 259 yards & 3 scores. On the defensive side of the ball look for senior MLB No.3 Chris Kerns to make an impact as he leads his team with 51 total tackles, 5 TFL, & 1 sack. Junior defensive tackle No. 78 Kahlil Williams has 26 total tackles, 7 TFL, & 5 sacks and will wreak havoc in the UD backfield if given the opportunity.

Upper Dublin Cardinals

Head Coach: Bret Stover

Last Season: (9-3) overall (6-1) Conference

League: Suburban One-Continental Conference (5A)

This Season: (8-0) overall (4-0) Conference

Last Week: 44-14 Win against Harry S. Truman  

Cardinals Notables: The Cardinals are PFN’s No. 1 ranked team in (5A) in the whole state. They are undefeated heading into Friday’s matchup, which has conference championship implications with only 1 game to play in the regular season. Upper Dublin’s offense is averaging a commanding 35.6 points per contest and their defense is surrendering slightly higher than two scores per contest at 10.25 points per. They have two shutouts to date and are going to be a handful for the Indians potent rushing attack. The offense is lead and paced by senior quarterback No. 9 Colin O’Sullivan who has completed 100 of 151 passes (66%) for 1,554 yards, 18 TDs & only 2 INTs. Colin’s favorite target is senior wide receiver No. 8 Griffin Pensabene who has 530 yards on 31 catches & 7 TDs. Senior running back No. 10 Tawfiq Bartlett will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL which he sustained at Wissahickon. He was productive in both the running and passing game with over 300 total yards and 4  TDs. Sophomore running back No. 31 Dominick Paone has filled in nicely and has over 250 yards and 4 TDs. Defensively, not many have been successful against the Cardinals. To date their largest point total yielded was to 6A North Penn (28).  I caught up with Colin during the week to see if the preparation this week was different since the conference title is on the line this week and he had this to say, “I mean obviously you prepare to the best of your ability every week, but this week is definitely different. Coach Stover told us that the playoff mentality starts this week, and we took that to heart. We worked really hard this week and definitely had a good week of practice.”  It interested me to know what they needed to do to be victorious and Colin said, “Souderton is a good team. They’re really well coached and I’ve been playing them since freshman year, and they always are a physical and smart team. They’ve got some athletes in that secondary this year, I think if we can win at the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively and if we can limit those 15-20 play drives that they seem to have every game I think we will find success. They’re a good team and I’m excited to play for a league championship Friday night!”

Mayhem’s Prediction: Last season these two met & Upper Dublin walked away victorious 10-7.  Year in and year out these two teams battle hard against one another, and I don’t expect anything different in 2022. The emotions of this game are going to be at an all-time high for both sides. I’m taking the home team in this one. Cardinals prevail 28-20 over the Indians.

Other Predictions: (Winners in bold) 

Bensalem @ Council Rock South

Central Bucks East @ Neshaminy

Central Bucks West @ Central Bucks South 

North Penn @ Pennridge 

Abington @ Pennsbury 

Council Rock North @ Hatboro Horsham

Harry S Truman @ Quakertown

*A Special thank you to Shannon O’Sullivan for allowing me to use her action shot of Colin for my GAMEDAY Edit and to Christian Gresko for allowing me the use of his action shot of Jared.

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