It’s shaping up as a special season at Upper Moreland and Friday night offered the first look at potential rewards. The Golden Bears scored twice in the game’s first four minutes and rolled to a 48-16 win over visiting William Tennent in a Suburban One American matchup
The win assures Upper Moreland (8-1, 4-0 in conference) of at least a share of their first league title since 2020. A win Hatboro-Horsham next Friday night will give the Bears the championship with the District One Class 5A playoffs to follow.
“Even before the season, the goal was the league championship,” said senior running back Kyle Moore. “We struggled a couple times in past years, but we had every league game circled {this year} and we knew what we had to get done.
Moore did his part, rushing for 195 yards and three touchdowns on just seven carries. He also returned an interception 43 yards for another score.
The game got off to a unique start. The Panthers (2-7, 0-4 in conference) got the ball first and their series concluded with a snap that sailed over the head of punter Braylon Ward who scooped up the ball inside his own 10-yard line and attempted to punt. The kick sailed into the hands of Upper Moreland’s Julian Melendez who took it eight yards to the end zone with just 100 seconds gone in the game. Moore extended the lead just over two minutes later with a 60-yard spring on his team’s second offensive snap.
Two scores down Tennent put together a 75-yard drive that consumed all but 30 seconds of what remained of the opening quarter. The touchdown came on an eight-yard connection from Brayden Rementer to Aidan Garvin.
The hosts dominated from there. Santino Rodriguez’s four-yard run with 2:35 left in the first half extended Upper Moreland’s lead to two scores once more.
Moore scored his second touchdown on a 62-yard dash on the first of the second half, added his third on a short run up the middle six minutes later and his fourth before the third quarter ended when he intercepted a Rementer pass and returned it 43 yards.
“I think the offense really took control of the game,” said Upper Moreland coach Adam Beach. “They were able to come out and have some decently long drives against us. Sand I thought (Rementer} threw some really good balls. That kept them in the game.”
The Panthers added two points in the closing minutes of the via a safety on a botched punt attempt and seven more on Jimmy Kulpa’s 18-yard scamper with 2:16 left in the game.
Upper Moreland’s last points came on Jeremiah Zabalou’s 81-yard-run with 1:28 left in the game.
In the second half we came out and we just kept scoring,” Beach said. “And the game got away from them.”
Tennent coach Biz Keeny took some positives away from the loss.
“Upper Moreland is a very good football team,” he said. “They don’t make many mistakes. I thought we did some good things offensively tonight. We had better balanced. So, we made some progress.”
- Rementer finished 11-for 19 through the air for 129 yards.
William Tennent 7 0 2 7—16
Upper Moreland 14 7 21 7—48
Scoring
UM-Melendez 8 punt return (Rohn kick)
UM-Moore 60 run (Rohn kick)
WT-Garvin 8 pass from Rementer (Ruiz kick)
UM-Rodriguez 5 run (Rohn kick)
UM-Moore 62 run( (Rohn kick)
UM-Moore 1 run Rohn kick)
UM-Rohn 43 interception return (Rohn kick)
WT-Safety; loos ball kicked out of end zone
WT-Kulpa 18 run (Ruiz kick)
UM-Zabalou 81 run (run failed)
William Tennent – Upper Moreland
First downs 10 9
Yards rushing 66 286
Passing; att.-comp-int 11-19-1. 4-7-0
Passing yards 129 69
Total offense 195 355
Fumbles/Lost 1-0 1-0
Punts 5-10.2 1-28.0
Penalties 4-20 3-30
William Tennent
Rushing: Canales 13-42; Mensch 12-37; Kulpa 1-18, TD; Rementer 7-5; Winkler 1-0
Passing: Rementer 11-18-1, 129 yards TD; Mensch 0-1-0
Receiving: Mensch 4-58; Garvin 4-33, TD; Ward 2-15; Deissler 1-13
Upper Moreland
Rushing: Moore 7-195, 3TDs; Zabalou 4-93, TD; Rodriguez 6-23, TD; Murray 2- (-1); Center pass 1- (-24)
Passing: Adamski 4-7-0, 69 yards
Receiving: Underwood 2-23, Rodriguez 1-12; Moore 1-42
Interception: Moore