By Mike Mayer, Webmaster
Other than the ending, we could not have asked for a more exciting playoff game than what we witnessed last Friday night. Two very evenly matched teams who found they could overpower the others defense in the first half and then both defenses came alive and wouldn’t other the other’s offense score again………until overtime. The Haven ‘D’ held the Blue Demon’s running back, Garrett Cox, to 99 yards (27 yards in one play) and strong passing quarterback, Sam Forte, to a 50% completion rate and only 75 yards. Our QB, Jack Ryder, threw for 65 yards and, John Prochniak, had a season high 146 yards! The stats look very similar but the one big difference was Kennett was able to force fumbles at key drives and that, in the end, forced the game into overtime. Heart breaker!
One of the good things about getting older is it doesn’t seem to be as long a wait from the time we broadcast the last game until the season begins again in August. Unfortunately, that same perception of time moving quickly, makes a 10 game season (although this year we had a 12 game season) seem to go by in a flash!
It is a lot of work keeping these pages up-to-date but we are fortunate to have people who love doing this and who make it not only easier, but a pleasure to produce these web pages and our broadcasts.
A big thank-you to the Strath Haven Athletic Director, Pat Clancy, who makes sure we have what we need in the booth. To Coach Clancy and the rest of the coaching staff who tolerates our Friday night intrusions onto the field so that Brian can get all the current information on the Panthers and their opponents for the evening.
For our newest member of the crew, Andrew Kauffman, who has taken on the stat responsibility and made my job so much easier during the broadcast. It’s only Andrew’s second year and his ability to understand the stat program we use, as well as help set-up the equipment, has been a blessing. Truth be told Pete and I are getting a little “long-in-the-tooth” to be lugging a 50 pound suitcase (containing our broadcast equipment) up 10 to 15 rows of bleachers into the booth every week. Andrew’s youth, determination, quick learning and dedication is so appreciated.
We love having Pete Fulginitti in the booth every week. He does the spotting, primarily to catch the tacklers, and that isn’t easy particularly with some of the jersey color combinations we see. His insight into the game during halftime as well as his fun comments on the Eagles, Phillies and anything we can think of always adds to the flavor of our broadcast.
Finally, we can’t say enough about our play-by-play guy, the voice of the Panthers, Brian Carroll. Always prepared. Always knowledgeable. He paints a picture so vivid that you can almost see the game as he works his magic. His ability to create the flow of the game is as good as anyone you will ever hear on radio. It is a true, special talent and we are so lucky to have him now and for these last 13 years.
I look forward to working with these guys for many years to come. We started this idea as a way to make the football sport experience a special one at Strath Haven. We hear from you, our readers and listeners, about how much you appreciate it. How great it is when caught out of town and being able to tune into the game on your laptop or smart phone and share the game experience. We love knowing that Saturday morning the boys in black and silver turn to our web pages to see if we gave them credit for the tackles or the punt return. How many yards they had. Which play was the Play-of-the-Game. Did they make Juli Kroon’s photo gallery of the game. All of this makes our efforts worth the time we spend.
Right now August seems so far away but we’ve learned that it will get here soon enough! Stay tuned because we are sure there are a great many games to watch in the years to come!
GO HAVEN!
