Football: It’s not pretty, but Upper Darby gets it done in rivalry game with Bonner & Prendergast

UPPER DARBY >> Trash talk on Twitter morphed into trash talk on the field, which morphed into 48 minutes of some fittingly sloppy late August football.

No, Upper Darby and Bonner & Prendergast did not light up the scoreboard Friday. The Royals, however, did enough. They came away with a 19-7 season-opening victory in the 14th iteration of this rivalry, dubbed the Upper Darby Bowl.

The series is now even at 7-7. Upper Darby has won two straight games. This one will quickly be lost from memory, but Royals coach Rich Gentile will take away the effort of his squad.

“It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, it really wasn’t,” the veteran coach explained. “But the constant that they had — they just played hard. And that’s what I’m excited about.”

Each team had more than 100 penalty yards. There were nine completed passes. There were four turnovers. It was ****. It took a while. Labor Day isn’t for another week-plus. It looked and felt every bit the part.

The game turned with a decision. Bonner & Prendergast led 7-0 with 23 seconds remaining in the first half. It was at its own 14. There was nothing to accomplish offensively, yet Friars coach Jack Muldoon elected to run a play.

The ball was snapped over the head of Shon Nelson, trickled into the end zone, and was recovered by Dezhan Peterson. Tie game.

“We handed the game to them,” Muldoon said. “We’re up 7-0, if we get out of the half, we get the ball back, who knows what happens.”

Bonner & Prendergast works exclusively out of the shotgun. They felt uncomfortable kneeling from under center. Thus, disaster ensued. Muldoon was adamant it wouldn’t happen again.

His team rebounded, drove down the field to open the second half, and were in position to score. Until, Michael Standen — who switched off with Nelson behind center — threw a two-handed shovel pass directly to Delva Jean-Baptiste.

The soft-spoken Upper Darby linebacker added another interception later in the third quarter after reading a screen pass. He was named the game’s MVP.

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Upper Darby quarterback Kevin Kerwood, left, throws a pass under pressure from Bonner & Prendergast’s Eddie Sullivan during the first half at Upper Darby Friday night. (ERIC HARTLINE/For Digital First Media)