Gimbel shines as Cardinals knock off pesky Radnor
UPPER DUBLIN » Upper Dublin led Radnor by seven points late in the first half Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals defense forced a three-and-out deep in Radnor territory and took over at the Raiders 45-yard line to add to their lead.
On the second play of the drive, Radnor’s Jack Connolly sacked Upper Dublin quarterback Julian Gimbel and forced a fumble that was recovered by defensive lineman Ifeyan Gavin.
On the ensuing possession, Sean Mullarkey threw a touchdown to Kieran Sheridan as the half expired to send the teams into the locker room tied.
Gimbel wouldn’t make any mistakes after that. He led the No. 5 seeded Cardinals to two 97-yard touchdown drives in the second half to highlight a 27-21 win over the No. 12 seeded Raiders in the first round of the 1 Class 5A playoffs.
Radnor scored on the opening possession of the second half to take a 21-14 lead, and a mishandled kickoff had the Cardinals backed up at their own threeyard line going against a strong wind. Gimbel ran for a first down on 3rd-and-7 in the shadow of his goalposts and completed firstdown passes on 3rd-and-11 and 3rd-and-7 to set up a two-yard Malik Bootman touchdown run to tie the game at 21.
“(Gimbel) made some really good decisions and threw some catchable balls,” Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover said. “The biggest play of the night was the third down where he ran it for the first down ... We’re going to punt the ball into the wind if we don’t get it and he somehow manages to get (the first down). That sparked us and we went down the field five minutes into the wind and put one in to tie the game. Then our kids just settled in.” District
“I just know what we have to do,” Gimbel said of his 3rd-andlong mindset. “We have to get the first down, keep the clock running, keep the score going. We had to get back into the game. We had to get those third down plays going.”
Radnor followed with a threeand-out and a beautiful punt rolled to a stop — again — at the Cardinals three.
“I just tell them when I get into the huddle, ‘Listen, this is where we scored the first time, let’s do it again,’” Gimbel said. “We went down and did it again. It’s all we had to do.”
On the first play of the fourth quarter and sixth of the drive, Gimbel connected with Bootman for 24 yards on 3rd-and-7 and then hit Brody Balasa on the next play for 11 more yards. Bootman finished off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run — his fourth score of the game — to put the Cardinals ahead, 27-21, with 10:02 to go.
Gimbel had one more trick up his sleeve.
The Cardinals faced a 4thand-1 at Radnor’s 48-yard line with 2:07 remaining and leading by six. After a timeout, Gimbel got under center in a tight formation and got a few Raiders to jump offsides and give Upper Dublin the first down.
“There was no play called,” Stover said. “I went out in the huddle and we sold it up a little bit, getting everybody juiced. Take a chance on that. You don’t want to give them the ball at midfield, you don’t want to say we can’t get a yard ... That was fun.”
Bootman picked up another first down on the next play and the Cardinals were on their way to a date with No. 4 Academy Park in the quarterfinals next Friday.
“We played defense really well all year,” Radnor coach Tom Ryan said. “My hats off to their staff and their players. They had the ball — good time of possession — and they grinded it out. At times we bent. It’s a good football team right there. I’m proud of my guys.”
Gimbel finished 8-for-14 for 153 yards and a touchdown and 14 rushing yards. He threw for 130 of those yards after halftime.