Mead and Upper Moreland roll over Sun Valley

UPPER MORELAND » Upper Moreland felt like the game should have been over at halftime.

Holding penalties had wiped a pair of Golden Bears touchdowns off the board in the first half and as a result, the No. 2 seed only led No. 15 Sun Valley by two scores at the break of their District 1 Class 5A first-round playoff game. The Bears felt like the game should have been over, so they decided to go out in the third quarter and actually end it.

Upper Moreland played its most dominant third quarter of the season, scoring four times and shutting out the Vanguards as they rolled to a 57-30 win Friday night.

“We wanted to come out here and put these guys away and that’s exactly what we did,” Upper Moreland running back Caleb Mead said. “It was all just mental stuff.”

Mead ran for 129 yards and two scores and caught a third touchdown to lead Upper Moreland while the other half of the Bears’ running back monster, Sterlen Barr, ran for 94 yards with a score. Fullback Billy McKenna had two rushing touchdowns and Cole Kitchen had a receiving touchdown from Brendan Olexa, who finished 12-of-17 for 146 yards and two scores. Olexa had two great touchdown passes negated by holds in the first half.

Upper Moreland received the second half kick and drove right down the field, ending the drive when Mead went in from 23 yards out. Sun Valley got a 49-yard completion from Anthony Ellis to Julz Kelly on the next drive, but on the very next play, UM forced and recovered a fumble.

The Bears took the gift and made the most of it, going back the other way and scoring when Olexa hit Kitchen for a six-yard score. A three-and-out from the Vanguards followed and UM was clearly feeling it, going down the field again and punching in a touchdown when McKenna scored from six yards out. Things continued to spiral downward for the Vanguards when Brossman sacked Ellis on first down following the McKenna touchdown.

“We’re a second half team,” Mead said. “I’d say that was the best third quarter we’ve played all season. Four touchdowns, we’ll take that.”

Sun Valley scored two fourth-quarter running clock touchdowns to cut into UM’s lead, but it was a 57-14 game after three quarters.

Ellis threw for 164 yards and a touchdown, finding James Gines seven times for 73 yards and hitting Dayon Belgrave for an eight-yard touchdown. Kelly ran for 115 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns and Lance Stone added a score with his 37 yards in the fourth quarter.

Upper Moreland (10-0) will host Marple Newtown next week in the quarterfinals, the third straight season the teams will have met in the postseason. Two years ago, UM trumped Marple-Newtown, but the Tigers handled the Bears last fall.