Upper St. Clair beats South Fayette in thriller

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

Andrew Schaffer | October 24, 2020

Just like last week Upper St. Clair overcame a deficit although this might have been in more dramatic fashion. It was a late touchdown that lifted Upper St. Clair in their 36-32 victory over South Fayette. Upper St. Clair led for the majority of the game however they did have to rally late to win the game.

Upper St. Clair had the ball first and on one play Ethan Dahlem broke a big run which went down to the South Fayette 17 yard line. Despite the big run, South Fayette came up big holding Upper St. Clair to a field goal.

South Fayette’s first drive of the game started off well and they did get into Upper St. Clair territory but a third down sack stopped the drive and they ended up punting it. Sacks played a big role in the game for Upper St. Clair they had 9 of them. “The plan coming into the game was to bring pressure, it really changed the game for us defensively” said Coach Junko.

Late in the first quarter Upper St. Clair extended their lead when Ethan Dahlem connected with Mateo Cepullio for a 49 yard touchdown. The score at the end of 1 was 10-0 Upper St. Clair.

South Fayette did nothing on their next drive and punted it back to Upper St. Clair. It didn’t take long for them to extend their lead once again. Jaden Keating was off to the races scoring on a 76 yard run. The score was now 16-0 with Upper St. Clair threatening to run away.

South Fayette desperately needed an answer and they did exactly that. 65 seconds later South Fayette got on the board when Naman Alemada found Ryan McGuire for a 36 yard touchdown.

Late in the second quarter Upper St. Clair again extended their lead on a 4 yard run by Dahlem. The score at halftime was 23-7 Upper St. Clair. The defense was the story in the first half for the Panthers. “That really gave us a lot of confidence and I think the carried over to the fourth quarter” said Coach Junko.

South Fayette got the ball to start the second half and again they needed points. Again they came up with a big answer when Naman Alemada connected with Ryan McGuire for a second time in the game this one for 26 yards. That made it 23-14.

On Upper St. Clair’s first drive of the second half, they responded back with a touchdown of their own when Dahlem found David Pantelis for a 21 yard touchdown.

It was after that touchdown that South Fayette turned it around. Late in the third quarter South Fayette was driving but was held to a field goal which made the score 29-17 at the end of 3.

The fourth quarter was nothing short of dramatic. Early on Naman Alemada connected with Joey Audia for a 14 yard touchdown. It was now it was now only 29-24 Upper St. Clair.

South Fayette needed a stop and they got just that when they forced Upper St. Clair to a 3 and out. South Fayette started their next drive at their own 14 yard line. That wouldn’t stop them and a key play was a deep pass that bounced off a defenders head and caught. A few plays later Shay Aitken scored on a 18 yard run. After a 2 point conversion. South Fayette led 32-29 with 7:13 left in the game.

South Fayette had all the momentum now and the crowd was certainly fired up. Despite all that Upper St. Clair started with decent field position close to midfield. After a penalty it was third and long a pass was completed but was way short of the chains. They decided to go for it and It was on that play where the play of the game occurred. Ethan Dahlem somehow escaped a sack and miraculously completed a pass down to the 10 yard line. “Every time Ethan Dahlem does that, I think he’ll never do anything to top that and then he does something to top that, that play is just a microcosm of the type of kid and competitor he is” said Coach Junko. 2 plays later Dahlem found Luke Banbury for a 9 yard touchdown. Dahlem was 13 of 21 for 199 yards in the game and also had 45 yards rushing.

That ended up being the game winning score. South Fayette had 2 chances but both drives ended by turning the ball over on downs. That made the final score 36-32 Upper St. Clair. Despite the loss Naman Alemada had a huge night passing he was 23 of 37 for 371 yards.

Tomorrow we’ll find out who plays Upper St. Clair in the first round of the playoffs. And despite not being a guarantee South Fayette stands a very good chance of making the playoffs as well.

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