UNIONVILLE VS. SPRINGFIELD BREAKDOWN

When Springfield has the ball:

The Cougars’ offensive stats won’t jump off the page, but what you will see is a lot of good, solid results without any glaring weaknesses. Ja’Den McKenzie leads the team with 1,218 rush yards and 20 offensive TDs, and Phil Shovlin added 796 and seven scores on the ground. Quarterback Jack Psenicksa completed 66 percent of his passes and has tallied 1,866 yards and 21 TDs with only five interceptions. With a defense like Springfield’s, getting two scores from the offense is pretty much all that’s needed. Where the Cougars get their satisfaction is trying to be as physical on offense as they are on defense. They will feed their big backs with traps and isos and try to break a team’s will, forcing defenders to tackle them play after play. Unionville is facing its fourth straight team from Delco and third from the Central League, and Springfield will be the most balanced offense its faced. The Indians shut down big running teams in Glen Mills and Strath Haven the first two weeks, and responded well to an early-striking Marple Newtown team in the semis, without star quarterback Anthony Paoletti. The Indians are plus-five in the turnover ratio this postseason, but Springfield has been stingy with the ball. Much like when Great Valley defeated the Cougars in the 2014 district final, Unionville will need to find or create scoring opportunities through special teams or off turnovers.

Speaking of turnovers, Springfield specializes in that category, taking it away an astounding 38 times this season. Springfield has only allowed multiple touchdowns in three games this season and yielded just 8.7 points and 213.7 yards per game. Unionville is built very similar to the Cougars, with a lot of good athletes, without any eye-popping numbers. Senior Joe Zubillaga is the catalyst, and Unionville offensive coordinator Tim Murphy will find any and every way to get him involved. Zubillaga’s carries have increased each week of the postseason, and he leads the team with 794 yards and 13 TDs on the ground, while adding 35 receptions for 650 yards and 10 TDs. He’s also 3-for-5 throwing the ball with all three completions going for touchdowns. The Indians would prefer to run as much as possible, which will likely be tough sledding against Springfield. Unionville will benefit from having multiple options to go along with Zubillaga, using Dante Graham and Joe Fariello as ballcarriers and JT Hower (39 receptions, 764 yards, six TDs) as the play-action threat. Alex Gorgone has had a very similar year to Psenicksa, and like his counterpart, Gorgone is best off of play-action. For Unionville to have any shot of cracking the Cougars’ defense, it will need to be at least efficient running the ball to give Gorgone better opportunities to attack downfield and for Zubillaga or whomever to hit on a trick play.

When Unionville has the ball: