The 50 Yardline – Upper Darby

 

Two back-to-back games with the Panthers winning 44-7 in both games!  Another total dominating performance for Strath Haven on both sides of the ball.  Lots of great plays (reinforced by the longest Play-of-the-Game highlight we’ve ever produced). Just a great team night with 418 total yards (342 on the ground) with an average 7 yards gain per play!  Three sacks for -23 yards and two tackles for a loss. 

Homecoming is this Friday night and you can bet that the Upper Darby Royals (5-2) will be more than happy to break the two-game winning streak while continuing their four game winning streak.  The Royals have lost to Garnet Valley and Springfield and beaten Radnor, Lower Merion, Conestoga and Penncrest.  If all this sounds a bit familiar it’s because, with the exception of Radnor who we play next week, Upper Darby has beaten and lost to the same teams as the Panthers.  Similar to Conestoga’s matching the Panther’s record last week this week’s match-up will go a long way to determining the PIAA 5A seeding for the playoffs.  Currently the Panther’s are at the 9th seed.  A win against Upper Darby will shoot us to 7 or 8 and give us a home field for the first playoff game.

The Royals are led by all-everything quarterback #11 Josh Gouch who ran for 108 yards and threw for another 146 against Penncrest last week.  The UD defense is no slouch either and had eight sacks and allowed just 32 yards in the first half last week.  Look for #3 Na’Sir Greer to be on the receiving end of the air attack.  They have a powerful front four on both offense and defense.  They also believe they are destined to run the table in the Central League.  After their win over Penncrest last week Coach Gentile said, “I’ve been saying it since the Springfield game. Every team that we play against from now on in up until Middletown, we should beat. … Up until this point, I think we’ve played well defensively. We’ve given the ball to our offense and now our offense, in the past three weeks, has been scoring points. We’re coming together at the right time.”

Strath Haven’s offense and defense is firing on all cylinders but this Friday would be the wrong time to have a bad game.  Earlier issues have been resolved and the Four Horsemen in the backfield should give the Royal defense fits.  Add that to a potential passing attack and there is little doubt that Haven will score some points.  The key will be keeping Gouch in check and shutting down the passing game either through outstanding coverage and/or an aggressive pass rush.  Mistake free football will most likely be the key.  Show me the team that has the least penalties, fumbles and interceptions and I’ll show you the winner of the game.  Assuming both teams are in top form and play well this has all the makings of a barn burner!

Kick-off is at 7:30 PM at the George L. King Field. If you can’t make the game you can always listen to our broadcast right here at Havenfootball.net.  Our broadcast will begin at 7:15. The game will be available on our archives within a few hours after the game concludes.  You can also check in on Twitter for score updates.