Spring-Ford tops Upper Dublin in districts

Spring-Ford never trailed in Thursday’s District 1-AAA second round contest with Upper Dublin as the Rams advanced with a 12-7 victory over the Cardinals.

Spring-Ford never trailed in its District 1-AAA second-round game against Upper Dublin.

The No. 4 seeded Rams led for all but 90 seconds of its 12-7 win over the No. 13 seeded Cardinals at SpringFord High School Thursday night.

Spring-Ford will host No. 5 seeded Central Bucks East in the quarterfinals Saturday at a time to be determined.

Ryan Rosenblum got the Rams on the board right away. After Gavin Hare won the faceoff, the offense circled the ball around Upper Dublin’s goal until Rosenblum stepped in and let a shot rip into the back of the net 53 seconds into the game.

Drew Giovinco scored the game-winner less than a minute and a half later off an assist from Tate Pijanowski to make it 2-1.

The Pioneer Athletic Conference champion Rams would extend that lead to 4-1 with goals from Rosenblum and Dan Cassidy. The Cardinals would never get closer than two goals the rest of the way.

Cassidy and Jared Marenger iced the game at the end of the third quarter. They each scored in the final 21 seconds of the third to turn a 7-5 game into a 9-5 edge with 12 minutes remaining.

Cassidy led Spring-Ford with a game-high five goals, Rosenblum scored four and Marenger added two.

Max Winebrake paced Upper Dublin with four goals.

The Cardinals cut their deficit to 5-3 with a minute and a half left in the first half when Winebrake scored his third goal. He appeared to score his fourth with eight seconds left in the half to make it a 5-4 game, but the goal was called off by the officials. District 1-AAA Second Round Spring-Ford 12, Uppuer Dublin 7

Upper Dublin 1 2 2 2— 7 Spring-Ford 4 1 4 3—12

Goals: UD: Max Winebrake 4, Colin Asper, Jed Hanson, Jerry Bardol. SF: Ryan Rosenblum 4, Drew Giovinco, Dan Cassidy 5, Jared Marenger 2. Assists: UD: Jerry Bardol 2. SF: Tate Pijanowski, Jared Marenger, Dan Cassidy, Ryan Rosenblum 2. Saves: UD: Lojeski 8. SF: Kyle Pettine 2.