{"id":5411,"date":"2011-10-29T12:48:29","date_gmt":"2011-10-29T16:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5411"},"modified":"2011-10-29T12:48:29","modified_gmt":"2011-10-29T16:48:29","slug":"unionville-holds-off-octorara-likely-playoff-bound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=5411","title":{"rendered":"Unionville holds off Octorara, likely playoff bound"},"content":{"rendered":"

33-26 win wasn’t easy, but another big day by Sampson sets up possible showdown next week against Kennett<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Unionville's Matt Maggitti (29) and Tim Christopher (19) corral Octorara quarterback Dan Soloman \u2014 who was able to keep the Indians' defense off balance all night with his feet and arm. Jim Gill photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

ATGLEN \u2014 Imagine this: you run for 210 yards, a pair of touchdowns and lead your team not just to a hard-fought win, all but lock up a spot in the post-season and yet somehow, that wasn\u2019t the most impressive performance of the night.<\/p>\n

Sure, once again, Richard Sampson \u2014 Unionville\u2019s all-Universe tailback \u2014 was spectacular in leading his team to a hard-fought 33-26 win over Octorara Friday night.<\/p>\n

But Sampson, arguably putting together one of the best seasons in Indians\u2019 history, might have been outclassed by Braves\u2019 quarterback Dan Soloman, who used his feet and arm to drive the Unionville defense crazy \u2014 and almost carry his 4-5 team to an upset. The senior competed 21 of 32 passes for 220 yards and four touchdowns, while running for another 98 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kid (Soloman) must have thrown it a hundred times tonight,\u201d Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. \u201cWe knew coming in, they would probably spread us out, because we\u2019re probably little more experienced up front then they are. We have a few kids on the defensive line that probably are better better than they guys, so we knew we\u2019d get a lot of edge, perimeter stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid (Soloman) is gutsy and he makes a ton of plays. But we\u2019ve played a ton of good quarterbacks, but he\u2019s right there with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Unionville's Richard Sampson rushed for 210 yards and a a pair of touchdowns to lead the Indians. Jim Gill photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

And while Soloman was nothing short of spectacular, Sampson has been as constant as the North Star for Unionville, racking up some 1,257 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground (plus a couple more TD via the air) this season \u2014 with one game to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid is just a phenomenal athlete,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHe\u2019s proving himself to be one of the best in the county. He\u2019s asking me for the ball at the end, and who am I to say no? He\u2019s shown tremendous maturity. I thought our kids up front did a nice job, too, we gave him room to run and then when he didn\u2019t have too much room, he found some room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it was yet another narrow win, the (8-1) Indians very likely locked up a District 1 playoff berth \u2014 and a win next week against rival Kennett could mean an opening round\u00a0 home game for Unionville. The emerging Blue Demons need a win Sunday (Saturday\u2019s contest was delayed by snow) over Oxford to stay in the playoff hunt \u2014 turning the already heated rivalry game into a must-win for both teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a first round playoff game, to be sure,\u201d Clark said, praising Kennett head coach Scott Green for his quick transformation of the program.<\/p>\n

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Unionville's Tom Pancoast (2) runs to the edge, helped by a Richard Sampson (23) block. Jim Gill photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday\u2019s win \u2014 regardless of the outcome of next week\u2019s game \u2014 probably puts Unionville into the AAAA postseason bracket, with eight wins, including quality wins over Coatesville and Frankford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope when we look at points, we should get a spot in the AAAA playoffs and my kids should be extremely proud of that,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWe\u2019re kind of a young team, we\u2019ve overcome some serious injuries, kids are getting their first varsity experience, so we\u2019re proud of that fact. Now, if we don\u2019t tighten things up a little bit, we may not be there for long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although they escaped with the win, it was another battle, another back and forth game that could have gone either way.<\/p>\n

Unionville grabbed the early lead with 74-yard drive on its first possession, capped by Sampson\u2019s 25-yard scoring run. But Soloman, as would do all night, was able to sling the ball all over the lot \u2014 creating room and time for himself using the option to great effect. And just when the young Indians\u2019 defense got the hang of reading the option, the Braves would switch out to a spread look \u2014 which frustrated Unionville\u2019s attempt to get to the speedy Soloman. The senior QB engineered a six-play, 53 yard drive to tie the game at 7-7 \u2014 which is where things stood at the half.<\/p>\n

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Unionville's Ross Kim-McManus reels in a scoring pass from Tom Pancoast. Jim Gill photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

As seems to be the routine this year for the Indians, a quiet, low-scoring first half was followed by a high-scoring, drama-filled second half.<\/p>\n

Much as they did on their first possession of the game, the Indians opened the half with an impressive 70-yard scoring drive \u2014 again capped by a long (20-yard) scoring run by Sampson, to grab a 14-7 lead \u2014 a lead Unionville never would surrender.<\/p>\n

In fact, it looked like the Indians would take control of the game when Soloman fumbled on his own 46 and they scored in quick order, quarterback Tom Pancoast connecting with Matt Maggitti from 10 yards out, putting them up 21-7.<\/p>\n

Despite the miscue, Soloman didn\u2019t quit \u2014 he came back firing the ball. He quickly engineered a 69-yard drive, hitting Charles Cooper with a 19-yard scoring strike, cutting the deficit to 21-14.<\/p>\n

Just as quickly, Unionville again seemed to break the Braves spirit \u2014 scoring in four plays, Pancoast perfectly leading Ross Kim-McManus for a 39-yard score. Even with a missed extra point, the Indians appeared to have a commanding 27-14 lead.<\/p>\n

Octorara proved how deceiving appearances can be, and went 60 yards on eight plays with Soloman connecting with James Brown for a 15-yard score. The Braves extra point attempt failed, too leaving the score 27-20.<\/p>\n

The Braves had a chance to turn the game from scary into downright terrifying. Unionville took over the ball its 43 after an onside kickoff \u2014 and then Sampson raced 40 yards down to the Octorara 17 \u2014 and it looked like the Indians were in position to score again. But Maggitti lost the ball on the next carry, giving the Braves the ball and a chance to tie the game with 7:49 left.<\/p>\n

Unionville was able to bottle Soloman up \u2014 and in what may have been a pivotal choice by Octorara head coach Jed King, the Braves went for fourth and 2 on their own 20 and didn\u2019t get it, turning the ball over on downs at the 21 with 6:21.<\/p>\n

Sampson made quick work of taking advantage, getting the ball in the end zone on three carries \u2014 and eating nearly two minutes off the game clock in the process, giving Unionville a 33-20 lead with 4:57 left.<\/p>\n

A good thing, too, as the Indians would need the cushion.<\/p>\n

Soloman coolly directed a 10-play 63-yard scoring drive, bring his Braves to within 33-26 with 2:18 left.<\/p>\n

But Sampson would have the last word. After Unionville recovered another onside kick, the senior tailback raced 22 yards, down to the Braves\u2019 28. Three more carries \u2014 despite a number of Octorara time outs \u2014 ate up the clock and the Indians were able to go into \u201cvictory\u201d formation at the Octorara 16 \u2014 to run out the final seconds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

33-26 win wasn’t easy, but another big day by Sampson sets up possible showdown next week against Kennett By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com ATGLEN \u2014 Imagine this: you run for 210 yards, a pair of touchdowns and lead your team not just to a hard-fought win, all but lock up a spot in the post-season […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[31,33,32,24],"class_list":["post-5411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","tag-football","tag-high-school","tag-indians","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}