PHOENIXVILLE — In the moments following the performance of both of their lives, Ryan O’Sullivan turned to Kevin Etkin with incredulity.
“We just won that game,” O’Sullivan said to his senior classmate. “I can’t believe we just won that game!”
Indeed, the amazing Upper Dublin quarterback-wide receiver duo really did just win that game — and what a game it was.
Etkin completed 24 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns, three of which went to O’Sullivan, who skied for the 22-yard game-winner with 32 seconds remaining as sixth-seeded Upper Dublin outlasted No. 3 Phoenixville 35-28 in an instant classic District 1-5A quarterfinal on Friday night. The Cardinals advanced to next week’s semifinals, where they will take on No. 2 West Chester Rustin.
“It’s just team chemistry,” Etkin said. “We’ve worked all summer and all season for it to all come down to those kinds of moments. Chemistry matters the most out of anything. You can have the best skills, but chemistry is what makes a good team. You have to all want to build it together.”
The chemistry between quarterback and receiver was palpable in the second half, when Etkin completed 15 of 19 passes for 134 yards and two scores to O’Sullivan, who hauled in 10 of those completions for over 100 yards. Most of them were short hitch routes and checkdowns that were not glamorous but continuously moved the ball down the field.
The winning touchdown only came to pass because Etkin found O’Sullivan across the middle for 10 yards on a fourth-and-8 on the preceding play, so it was no surprise that those two hooked up again for the winning score.
“That’s a play you can’t really practice, just a broken play where I broke off my guy,” recounted O’Sullivan. “Our line did their job holding up longer than they usually do. Kevin scrambled out, kept the play alive and gave me a chance, and I just made a play on the ball.”
O’Sullivan ended his night with a staggering 14 catches for 137 yards and three scores, while Etkin was 24-for-34 overall.
Things started as poorly as possible for the Cardinals (9-3), who allowed star Phoenixville running back Deacon Williams (18 carries, 182 yards, TD) to motor 80 yards for a TD on the first play from scrimmage. But Etkin and O’Sullivan calmly shrugged it off, needing just five plays to traverse 80 yards and tie the game at 7 with a 16-yard touchdown connection with 9:55 on the clock.
The Phantoms (9-2), thanks to an 85-yard kickoff return by Henry Roberts, reached the end zone again just over a minute later when Talon Romance (7-for-16, 62 yards, 2TD, INT) hit Kevin Kingsbury (two touchdowns, fumble recovery) with an 8-yard TD strike.
A Jordan Fields 2-yard TD run knotted the score back up with 2:36 to play in the opening quarter, which saw four trips to the end zone in under 10 minutes of play.
“We got into a shootout,” Phoenixville head coach Anthony Ciarlello said. “In the end it was going to come down to who made fewer mistakes.”
Upper Dublin’s first lead of the night came early in the second quarter when Etkin hit Fields (128 total yards, 2 TDs) for a 60-yard catch-and-run touchdown. But Phoenixville refused to blink, as Kingsbury took the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to the house to tie the score at 21 just 13 seconds later.
Things remained deadlocked until the fourth quarter, and the Cardinals failed to create any separation on the scoreboard thanks in part to two second-half fumbles by Fields, including one in the end zone that the Phantoms recovered for a touchback. The Cardinals went back in front 28-21 when Etkin hit O’Sullivan for an 8-yard TD with 10:20 to play, but Fields’ second fumble soon turned into the tying score as Romance found Chris Mull for an 18-yard score with 7:06 remaining.
This set the stage for UD’s heroic final drive, which began on their own 20 and featured six receptions by O’Sullivan, three of which were converted for critical first downs. The Cardinals twice converted on fourth downs to keep the drive alive.
“We found their weaknesses and picked at them,” Etkin said. “We’re in Week 12 now heading into Week 13, and when you work all of that time together you build that trust. The trust becomes so high that I don’t even feel pressure about it because I know my guys have got me.”
The short routes worked so well for the Cardinals in part because the team also effectively ran the ball for 134 yards throughout the night. They weren’t big chunk runs, but they didn’t need to be either – Upper Dublin just needed to keep the chains moving and the defense honest.
“A big part of our game is the run game,” O’Sullivan said. “Teams haven’t been able to stop it, so when we load everyone on the run and only have two receivers outside, they have no choice to load the box. Then we’re 1-on-1 on the outside, so Coach (Bret Stover) told Kevin all week to throw the hitch, get something short. We don’t need the big plays – let’s just move the ball, and that’s what we did.”
For Phoenixville, it was a sudden and stunning end to a brilliant season that still felt like it contained so much promise. With a senior-heavy team that’s been playing together since grade school, this was Phoenixville’s best shot at a district title, and the Phantoms really did come that close to moving on to the final four.
The accomplishments of this group cannot be overstated, from Williams to Romance to Kingsbury to Mull to Trey Lear to TJ Howard to Andrew Kirk to Myles Tenbroeck and so on. They were all good and all brought something to the table, and replacing what they meant to each other and to the town will not be done in short order.
“These young men wanted their community high school football team to be great, and I think they exceeded their own expectations,” Ciarlello said. “This senior class is leaving with 28 wins, 14 losses, 15-5 in the PAC Frontier and 3-2 against Liberty teams over their four years. I’d say that’s successful.
“It has to hurt tonight, but this group was fun. They loved showing up for football games. They were gamers who loved it out there, and every one of them had something they offered that made us great at what we do and got us to where we are today.”
While the season abruptly ends for Phoenixville, Etkin, O’Sullivan and the Upper Dublin Cardinals have at least one more week and one more game together to try and win. This time of year, that’s really all you can ask for.
“I’ve been playing football my whole life, and tonight was not the night I wanted to go home,” O’Sullivan said. “Our whole team played together – it wasn’t just me.”
Upper Dublin 35, Phoenixville 28
UD 14 7 0 14 – 35
PHX 14 7 0 7 – 28
Scoring Plays
PHX: Williams 80 run (Jacobson kick)
UD: O’Sullivan 16 pass from Etkin (Miller kick)
PHX: Kingsbury 8 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick)
UD: Fields 2 run (Miller kick)
UD: Fields 60 pass from Etkin (Miller kick)
PHX: Kingsbury 90 kickoff return (Jacobson kick)
UD: O’Sullivan 8 pass from Etkin (Miller kick)
PHX: Mull 18 pass from Romance (Jacobson kick)
UD: O’Sullivan 22 pass from Etkin (Miller kick)
Team Stats
UD PHX
First Downs 21 9
Rushing Yards 134 197
Passing Yards 306 62
Total Yards 440 259
Passes C-A-I 24-34-0 7-16-1
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 4-25 4-35
Punts-Avg. 5-38.6 6-33.7
Individual Stats
Rushing
UD: Fields 24-68, TD; Stokes 5-44; Etkin 4-11; S. Greenberg 3-11
PHX: Williams 18-182, TD; Lear 3-25; C. Howard 1-1; Romance 3-(-11)
Passing
UD: Etkin 24-34-306, 4TD
PHX: Romance 7-16-62, 2TD/1INT
Receiving
UD: O’Sullivan 14-137, 3TD; Lapa 4-22; Berman 3-28; Fields 1-60, TD; Atherholt 1-42; S. Greenberg 1-13
PHX: Kingsbury 3-25, TD; Mull 2-23, TD; Lear 1-8; Carey 1-6
Interceptions: UD- T. Greenberg
Sacks: UD- Roll, Waugh; PHX- T. Howard
Fumble Recoveries: PHX- Kirk, Kingsbury
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