By Brian Carroll
The start of a new high school football season at Strath Haven brings a ton of excitement, and also many questions: What will the Panthers do about all those talented linemen who graduated? Who’s going to run the ball? Do we have a new kicker? The defending District 1 5A champs answered all of these and more in a convincing 27-13 win over Interboro on opening night, and now plan for their first home game with another non-league opponent for a special Thursday night contest.
The Kensington Tigers will make their first-ever trip to George L. King Field to take on the Panthers for the first time and will be looking to bounce back after a Week 1 defeat. Head Coach Steven Quigley and the Tigers will be lamenting the 21-6 loss to Collingswood (NJ) and will be looking to bounce back quickly. A scoreless first half saw the Tigers playing effective and solid defense against Collingswood’s spread attack but had a couple breakdowns that were costly. And while the Tigers’ offense stalled for much of the night, they did put points on the board in the fourth quarter and saw two more second-half trips into the red zone which resulted in fumbles. Expect a shotgun spread attack from the Tigers this week, with #5 Jaden Perez calling the signals, with rushing and receiving options that includes #2 Jahiem Bennett, #3 Jelani Calloway, and #13 Abdiel Ramos working behind a large offensive line.
For Strath Haven, last Friday’s win followed the recipe of last year’s District 1 title season, with a heavy dose of running in their Wing-T offense, supported by a solid, gang-tackling defense. The new-look offensive line paved the way, as the Panthers averaged over seven yards per carry on their way to 358 rushing yards. Without a pass attempt amongst their 49 plays, a quintet of senior ballcarriers shared the load, including #34 Anthony Crawford (152 yds, 3 TDs), #40 Bob Fooskas (90 yds), #4 Sam Milligan (55yds, TD), #35 Austin Conner (42 yds) and #5 Chase Nangle (21 yds). Defensively, Haven did enough to keep Interboro’s standout running back Abu Kamara in check, and forced two timely turnovers. Crawford and Conner combined to force and recover a fumble, respectively, and Aiden Sutherland contributed 10 tackles and a game-sealing interception to squash the final Interboro drive. #84 Tim Styer was perfect on his three attempts at extra points, and the special teams kick coverage was outstanding.
With this week’s game scheduled for Thursday preparation for Kensington comes with less practice time than usual. Still, Coach Clancy’s 32nd season with the Panthers has them set up well to continue “business as usual,” so it is expected that the Panthers will stick with their ground-and-pound approach. If they can again limit turnovers and tackle well in their first look at a spread offense this year, the Panthers should be in a good position to start their Central League schedule at 2-0.
Along with the Thursday schedule, another new wrinkle this week will be the first attempt at a video broadcast at www.havenfootball.net. The broadcast team will continue producing and describing the game action as if it were audio-only but is excited to offer another enhancement to our terrific and loyal audience. Tune in at 6:45pm for pre-game comments, and a 7pm kickoff for what the Panthers hope is the start of a celebratory holiday weekend! You can catch the video broadcast on our havenfootball.net home page and on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/havenstatguys.
