Unionville staves off Great Valley

Great Valley came into Saturday’s Ches-Mont League American Division contest with Unionville missing a key piece as one of the league’s top runners, Mark DeRobertis, was out due to a separated shoulder.

The Patriots fought and fought and helped harass Unionville into four first-half turnovers. Undeterred, the Indians came back with resolve in the second half, fighting back from a fourth-period deficit. Brendan Boyle hit Elan Nash with a 19-yard touchdown pass with 47 seconds left to give the Indians a 21-18 triumph at Great Valley Stadium.

The victory gives Unionville a big leg up in the American Division race with a 3-0 mark, 5-2 overall.

“This is one of the guttiest teams I have had at Unionville,”

head coach Pat Clark said. “We made so many mistakes in the first half, but we were only down six points. We talked at halftime, and the kids knew they made a ton of mistakes, but they never quit. And Brendan Boyle, our quarterback, is the type of kid that cares so much. He never gets down no matter what the situation is. He picks himself and other kids up. We have a whole lot of kids that care deeply about this program and I could not be prouder of them.”

Great Valley (2-2, 5-2) was further hampered in the running game after Zach Tillett went down with an ankle injury in the third period. This put the pressure on quarterback Robert Geiss to throw the football.

The Pats recorded the only score of the first half when Geiss hit Hubley -the first of three of their TD connections -- for a 25yard score midway through the first.

Unionville stumbled for much of the half, they lost three fumbles and had an interception, yet trailed by just the one touchdown at half.

The Indians found their footing in the third, first Nash caught a 32-yard scoring pass from Boyle. Then Boyle dove in from the one to take the lead, 14-6.

Great Valley got closer as Hubley caught a slant from Geiss and galloped 37 yards to close the deficit to 14-12 with a little over 10 minutes to play. About five minutes later, the two hooked up again as the junior speedster caught a 55-yard strike to retake the lead, 18-14.

Geiss finished the day 9-of-20 220 yards. Hubley had seven receptions for 159 yards and three scores.

“Hubley is just a real gifted athlete,” Great Valley coach Dan Ellis said. “He plays both ways, he returns kicks and punts for us. He is a very skilled player.”

Unionville stopped the Patriots on downs and took on its 21 with 2:03 to play. Then, another passer-receiver combo took over. Boyle hit Nash three times on the decisive drive to help advance the ball to the Great Valley 19. On a 3rd-and-4, Boyle hit a streaking Nash in stride and he waltzed into the end zone for the eventual game-winning tally.

Great Valley had one final chance, starting from its 33, they made it to the Unionville 40, thanks to passes to Hubley and Andrew Wineinger. But, Geiss fumbled the snap on the game’s last play on the cold, windy afternoon.

“We did not have DeRobertis and then Zach Tillett went down. We were close to (being) out of running backs, and still we scratched and clawed and were only 40 yards away,” Ellis said.

Boyle gained 114 yards and passed for 184 -- 105 to Nash on five catches.

“We made so many mistakes early on, but we told ourselves last winter we would win the Ches-Mont,” Nash said. “We fought and fought and never gave up. Brendan got a lot of time from the offensive line and he grew a perfect ball and I just was there to catch it. This team does not know the meaning of quit.”

Clark added his thoughts on the line’s performance.

“Last year, they hurt us with blitzes and we talked and worked, and today, they really stepped up and got the job done,” he said. “Give Great Valley credit, and Hubley kept them in the game. And now we get ready for a big rivalry game with Kennett. We still have a lot to play for,” Clark said.