Upper Moreland senior Jadon Cybok hit six threes and scored 26 points. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
By Owen McCue
Before Colson Campbell arrived at Upper Moreland High School, the Golden Bears boys basketball program had only been to the state playoffs three times.
Campbell was part of a team in 2022 that broke a nine-year state playoff drought. On Wednesday night, he and his senior teammates became the only group to be a part of two state playoff teams.
Senior Jadon Cybok caught fire and Campbell celebrated a milestone night as No. 4 Upper Moreland pulled away from No. 5 Marple Newtown for a 67-49 District 1 5A quarterfinal win.
The victory secures the fifth state playoff berth in program history for the Golden Bears (1983, 2006, 2013, 2022, 2025) and advances them to Saturday’s district semifinal against top seed Upper Dublin. The Tigers will host No. 9 Chichester in a state playback game.
“They showed me freshman year, I saw from those seniors how to lead the team,” Campbell said. “Upper Moreland doesn’t really go to states that often, so I knew it was special. And sophomore, junior year it was harder to get there, but this year it feels like it came all the way back around and all the hard work I put in finally paid off. For this team to make it to states is just incredible.”