MIDDLETOWN \u2014 The Penncrest turnover chain got a workout Friday night. It has for most of the season, which is what defensive coordinator Jeff Allison had in mind.<\/p>\n
The block \u201cB\u201d \u2013 machined out of wood by Allison, painted black and fastened to a heavy-gauge chain \u2013 gets plucked off the bench anytime a Penncrest defender creates a turnover. The \u201cB\u201d stands for \u201cblackshirts,\u201d one of the Lions\u2019 jersey colors, and echoes of the University of Nebraska\u2019s once-vaunted defensive unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something to set the tone,\u201d Orion Kolleh explained Friday, \u201cget the defense moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
That defense eventually got Penncrest\u2019s offense moving. The first of Kolleh\u2019s three touchdowns in a 34-7 win over Upper Darby came via an interception return. It was the Lions\u2019 second pick-six and the second of three turnovers collected in stretching their winning streak to three.<\/p>\n
Kolleh\u2019s 38-yard interception return in the second quarter joined a 36-yarder from Garrett Clark in the first to stake the Lions to a 21-7 halftime lead. Kolleh had the only scores of the second half, touchdown passes of five and 30 yards from Paul Graham, the latter set up by Jeffrey Cropper fumble recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d Kolleh said of the defensive scores. \u201cBeing able to score without even having to hold the ball on offense is great for the flow of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defense tipped a wild first half in Penncrest\u2019s favor. Upper Darby had five first-half drives. Two ended in interceptions. The other three reached plus territory, with two turnovers on downs and a stop at the goal line to end the first half.<\/p>\n
Penncrest twice in the final minute stuffed the Royals inside the 2, a emotional backbreaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal line is man versus man,\u201d Kolleh said. \u201cIf we can stop them there, we can stop them anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really hurt us real bad,\u201d UD receiver Shyyon Branch said. \u201cTwo times we were in the red zone and we just couldn\u2019t punch it in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game started normally enough, Penncrest (5-2, 4-2 Central) controlling the clock on the ground for a nine-play, 83-yard drive culminating in a 28-yard Sean Benson touchdown.<\/p>\n
Then came chaos. Quarterback Saify Salley, restored to the starting job, targeted Mustapha Daboh on a deep seam route. Daboh was slow to turn toward the ball, Clark reading it from his center field safety spot, pocketing the catch and going untouched into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Branch answered by returning the ensuing kickoff 78 yards to the house, spinning out of the tackle around the 40 that oriented him toward a slice of free space up the right sideline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect them to kick me the ball,\u201d Branch said. \u201cOther teams don\u2019t kick me the ball. But we had a design where we go straight up to the right. And I saw everyone blocking, and I took it to the outside, and I just used my speed, and I broke that tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upper Darby (1-6, 1-4) got a short field when Branch returned a punt 34 yards to the 40 but fumbled a fourth-and-3. They forced a turnover on downs after Benson\u2019s field-flipping 45-yard carry, but that led to Kolleh\u2019s pick-six, the linebacker dropping into coverage to jump a shallow comeback route aimed at Branch.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw on film the quarterback kind of finds a spot and always throws it to there,\u201d Kolleh said. \u201cSo I knew if I could get in the right spot, I could make the play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Special teams got Upper Darby another short field, up-man Jabir Hanton returning the kick 42 yards to the 27. The Royals pounded the ball to first-and-goal at the 5 but were turned away, Cropper stuffing an A\u2019zeem Spicer Wildcat carry from the 2 with 57 seconds left.<\/p>\n
Upper Darby got the ball right back when Spicer ripped the ball out of the hands of Kolleh as he was tackled on a 12-yard reception, putting UD at the 17. They ran four plays, Salley getting to the 1 with an 11-yard carry. But on first-and-goal with no timeouts, a sneak attempt was repulsed to end the half.<\/p>\n
Upper Darby was its worst enemy in the second half. A third-down conversion on its first series was wiped out by a chop block. A stop on Penncrest\u2019s second series was nullified by a sideline warning flag.<\/p>\n
Upper Darby tallied just 125 yards of offense, 64 on 28 carries and 61 via Salley, who was 6-for-17 through the air.<\/p>\n
Graham sustained a scoring drive of 13 plays, 67 yards and 8:28 bridging the final two quarters. It ended with him faking a QB dive and popping a 5-yard pass to Kolleh up the middle. After Cropper\u2019s fumble recovery, Graham dropped a dime to Kolleh up the seam for 30.<\/p>\n
Benson led Penncrest with 13 carries for 103 yards. Graham ran 21 times for 80 yards and was 7-for-8 through the air for 112, Kolleh catching five balls for 73 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaul\u2019s been my quarterback ever since we started playing,\u201d Kolleh said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had great chemistry, and it only gets stronger and stronger. \u2026 I think we\u2019re starting to really see it. Me and everyone else has full confidence in Paul\u2019s passing ability. He\u2019s done a great job of developing over the past couple years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defense backing that connection has made it more than enough in the Lions\u2019 fast start to the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re an unstoppable defense when we play together,\u201d Kolleh said.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 4, 2025 at 1:08 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIDDLETOWN \u2014 The Penncrest turnover chain got a workout Friday night. It has for most of the season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,305,725,28,726,210,147,149,148,150],"class_list":{"0":"post-12976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upper-darby","8":"tag-delaware-county","9":"tag-high-school-sports","10":"tag-pa-prep-live","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-top-stories-dtd","14":"tag-upper-darby","15":"tag-upper-darby-headlines","16":"tag-upper-darby-news","17":"tag-upper-darby-township"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}