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From Stalemate to Triumph: Upper Dublin’s Second-Half Surge Secures 31-7 Victory over Bensalem

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 15, 2023

Fort Washington- The Cardinals and Owls battled it out on the field in the opening half of last night’s game. Entering halftime, the score was all knotted up at 7 a piece. Both teams exchanged rushing touchdowns respectively. Upper Dublin’s came with 1:25 remaining in the first quarter when senior running back Shyne Roberts followed his lead blocker senior fullback Martin Campbell Jr. through the line and into the endzone.

Bensalem took over to start the second but was forced to punt. Upper Dublin was once again stopped and forced to punt as well. Four minutes into the quarter sophomore running back Aidan Mayfield took the handoff, juked a would-be tackler, bounced outside, and went untouched into the endzone. With 8:14 left to go in the half the score was 7 all.

The first-half stalemate continued with both teams again exchanging a few series but couldn’t finish and find paydirt.

The Second half was an entirely different game all together. Upper Dublin started off the second half and controlled the line of scrimmage as they powered their way past the Bensalem defense and took 6 minutes off the clock.  With 5:54 left to go in the third quarter, senior Swiss Army knife Chris Kohlbrenner took the handoff and got caught from behind in the cluster of defenders at the line of scrimmage but managed to carry the defender into the endzone on his back. After the PAT from senior kicker Matt Miller, it was 14-7.

Bensalem’s next possession ended in a three-and-out. At this point, this is when junior quarterback Kevin Etkin had a shift in his mental game, and you could tell the junior started calming down in the pocket. He marched his team straight down the field then capped off the drive with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Kohlbrenner only twelve seconds into the fourth quarter to open up the score a bit. After another Miller PAT, the lead was extended to 21-7.

The defense for the Cardinals, led by junior Ryan O’Sullivan clamped down on the Bensalem Offense and forced yet another 3-and-out. UD’s next possession would see Etkin drop a few dimes to his wide receivers and the Cards running backs eat up yards but ultimately Kevin took the rock in for a 3-yard score with 7:47 left in the game. After another Matt Miller PAT, the score now sat at 28-7.

Bensalem again took over and couldn’t muster any momentum.  UD took over with a little over 2 minutes to play but couldn’t find the endzone which set up senior kicker Matt Miller for a 28-yarder that would have been good from 40+.  The lead which would be our final was now at 31-7.

The last two minutes saw backups for both teams get some action. Bensalem’s sophomore QB Logan Savage had a beautifully placed ball that went for 37 yards to his receiver but would be turned over on downs a few plays later.

After the game, I caught up with quarterback Kevin Ektin of Upper Dublin to talk about his performance and how his team was back in the win column. “Honestly it feels amazing-we’re back Rollin’, it’s been a rough two weeks for us, but we got that week 1 (21-0 win over Kennett) feeling back.”  Head Coach Bret Stover had this to say about his team’s performance, “They are young, maybe even younger than we are. Alex is doing a great job over there and you can see it on film.” He continued, “It’s there and they’re going to get better, and that first win will come soon.” As for his team, “You know we were facing a little adversity coming out of the half 7-7. I was very proud of the way we went down into the wind and ate up six minutes of the clock then found the endzone- We finished the drive!” he then stated, “Before we weren’t finishing drives. We’re getting there. We still have a lot of growing up to do, we got a long way to go.”

Stats

UD- 07-00-07-17-31

   B- 00-07-00-00-7

Passing

UD- Etkin 12/18 (67%)  214 yards, 1 TD

B- Sanders 4/6 (67%) 18 yards, Savage 1/2 (50%) 37 yards

Rushing

UD-Shepherd 14-31, Roberts 12-44 1 TD, Kohlbrenner 5-27 1 TD, Campbill Jr. 4-30, Ektin 2-9 1 TD

   B- Mayfield 13-61 1 TD, Bailey 4-10, Sanders 4-7

Receiving 

 UD- Roberts 3-99, Kohlbrenner 2-42 1 TD, Bernen 2-32, Shepherd 2-17, Morris 1-2

   B- Bailey 2-13, #26 1-37,Varallo 1-4, Nieves 1-(-1)

Sacks

UD- Kohlbrenner 1

Player of the Game:

Honorable Mention:

Chris Kohlbrenner- 5 carries for 27 yards & 1 TD, 2 catches for 42 yards and 1 TD, 1 Sack on defense

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