{"id":571,"date":"2010-10-23T19:06:44","date_gmt":"2010-10-23T23:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unionvilletimes.com\/?p=571"},"modified":"2010-10-23T19:06:44","modified_gmt":"2010-10-23T23:06:44","slug":"stout-defense-carries-unionville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=571","title":{"rendered":"Stout defense carries Unionville"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gades, Popham solid, but turnovers, powerful defense help Indians bury Great Valley, 24-7<\/span>
\nBy Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Unionville's Drew Diehl drives Great Valley's Tom Brown into the turf. The Indians' defense was dominant and did not allow a score all day.\u2014Mike McGann photo<\/p><\/div>\n

MALVERN \u2014 It was the kind of a game that could have been a trap for Unionville \u2014 a struggling Great Valley team celebrating its homecoming Saturday amidst a patch of moderately easier games before a season-ending showdown with Downingtown East.<\/p>\n

But within moments of the opening whistle, the Indians made it clear that they were in the here and now, running out to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter and holding on for a solid 24-7 win.<\/p>\n

Unionville (5-3, 3-2 in the Ches-Mont American Division) looked like it would romp to an easy win after totally dominating the Patriots (1-5, 1-4), but after the early offensive fireworks, the offense bogged down a bit, turning the game into more of a workman-like performance.<\/p>\n

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Great Valley quarterback Graham Lucas loses the handle \u2014 a fumble that set up Unionville's first score of day.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe lost our focus and that\u2019s very typical of high school sports,\u201d Indians head coach Pat Clark said. \u201cYou get up and then you lose your focus and we made a few mistakes. Fortunately, on special teams we also scored twice today which helped us and gave us great field position. I was very pleased with our effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the offense, at times, sputtered after the first quarter, the defense dominated all four quarters \u2014 Great Valley\u2019s lone score came on a block of a Unionville punt \u2014 and it managed to post a pair of safeties, creating a bit more comfortable margin.<\/p>\n

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Unionville Rich Kaiser goes up for the ball against Great Valley's Pete Pappas.<\/p><\/div>\n

Senior quarterback Connor Gades struggled a bit in the passing game, completing just 4 of 14 passes for 53 yards \u2014 but he was his usual dynamic self running the ball, adding 75 yards on 20 carries. Mason Popham ground it out again, pounding away for 87 yards on 25 carries \u2014 but they were often tough yards as the Patriots were able to close up any running room up the middle time and again.<\/p>\n

But maybe the story of the day was turnovers \u2014 mostly by Great Valley \u2014 and Unionville\u2019s ability to cash in. Pats\u2019 quarterback Graham Lucas fumbled the ball on the third play of the game \u2014 giving the Indians the ball on Great Valley\u2019s 21. Four plays later\u00a0 Evan Weslyk powered the ball in from one yard out and Norb Sax\u2019 extra point made it 7-0. (story continues on next page, click below<\/em><\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

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Unionville's Jimmy Gill brings down Great Valley quarterback Graham Lucas for a big loss.<\/p><\/div>\n

Just moments later, Pats\u2019 punter Richie Eppleman stepped on the end line, receiving a high snap for a safety and a Unionville 9-0 lead. Unionville then took the ensuring kickoff back to its own 47 and quickly moved the ball. Popham picked up eight, then Gades found Doug Ott for 22 yards down the sideline. Gades then raced the ball in from 23 yards out \u2014 and with 5:11 left in the first quarter, the Indians had a commanding 16-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Popham added a second quarter, 6-yard run for a score \u2014 although the extra point attempt was blocked \u2014 to give Unionville a 22-0 lead early in the second quarter. Great Valley got it\u2019s only points when a David Kurey pump was blocked and recovered in the end zone by the Patriots. Unionville added a second safety when a fourth-quarter punt by Eppleman was blocked.<\/p>\n

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Unionville's Mason Popham breaks into the open on a long run.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFor the last six years, they\u2019ve really thrown the football well against us, they\u2019ve always given us fits,\u201d Clark said. \u201cSo this was the first time in four or five years that we really handled the pass game well.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it might not have been a perfect performance, Clark was pleased with the solid effort from his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were good for the situation, but I think we can be better,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

Although the schedule says that upcoming games against Octorara \u2014 the only team Great Valley has beaten this season \u2014 and Kennett, neither may be as easy as they look on paper.<\/p>\n

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Unionville quarterback Connor Gades breaks into the open on what would be a 23-yard touchdown run.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOctorara is a heck of a football team,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI saw them last night, boy, those kids are good. Good solid offensively and great skill kids. We have to play better \u2014 it\u2019s another challenge for us, but I think we\u2019ll be up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One other concern: a quick scan of the sidelines shows an increasing number of injured players \u2014 and until those veterans come back, it means younger players will need to step up, Clark said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the walking wounded right now, but I think everyone is at this time of year,\u201d Clark said. \u201cTo our kids credit, they put in all the offseason work and the preseason work, so the next man is always ready to go. With a week, those kids will be better, they were okay for us today, but with a week of practice, we shouldn\u2019t miss a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gades, Popham solid, but turnovers, powerful defense help Indians bury Great Valley, 24-7 By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com MALVERN \u2014 It was the kind of a game that could have been a trap for Unionville \u2014 a struggling Great Valley team celebrating its homecoming Saturday amidst a patch of moderately easier games before a season-ending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4,18],"tags":[34,31,93,33,32,24],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-unionville-high-school","tag-ches-mont","tag-football","tag-great-valley","tag-high-school","tag-indians","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","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=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}