By Harry Chakun
It was one of those rare instances at a football game in which the crowd noise had died down and a voice could be heard loud and clear from the stands.
“What are we doing out there?” was the lament of a Strath Haven fan at George L. King Field Friday night as the second-seeded Panthers hosted No. 15 Upper Merion in the opening round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs.
The Panthers, who picked up first downs on their first two plays from scrimmage, wound up punting four plays later, then surrendered a 12-play drive that lasted almost six minutes and concluded as UM’s Cyrus Palladino kicked a 26-yard field goal.
Strath Haven’s other first quarter possession ended with a punt, but the Panthers’ Austin Conner batted down a Zayd Etheridge pass in the second quarter and four minutes later the home team began its scoring blitz on its way to a 35-3 victory.
Strath Haven’s second-round opponent Friday night will be Central League rival Springfield, which cruised to a 42-7 win over Phoenixville in its playoff opener.
For a quarter and a half, Upper Merion was able to hold Haven in check.
“Their defense came out and played us tough,” Strath Haven coach Kevin Clancy explained. But in the final four minutes of the first half, the Panthers got three touchdowns, with Anthony Crawford (192 yards, 16 carries) scoring from the 1 at the end of an 11-play drive and on a 58-yard sprint 20 seconds before halftime after Conner sacked Etheridge on a fourthdown snap from the SH 28.
“That team had some physical players and came here and played hard,” Crawford said. “We know teams might be able to stop us sometimes, but not all the time. Coach Clancy talks about a two-yard gain leading to a four-yard gain, and that leads to a six-yard gain and a drive.”
Linebacker Ben Farabaugh’s batted down pass had forced a Vikings punt with 2:35 left in the second quarter, and Bob Fooskas (156 yards, 11 carries) ran 38 yards for a first down at the Upper Merion 11. He then carried it from there for a touchdown 1:50 before the break.
“On those plays the defense bites on a fake to Crawford and I get the ball,” Fooskas said. “We started slow tonight, then things started to happen.”
While the offensive unit as getting itself together, the Strath Haven defense, led by people such as Conner, Fooskas and Farabaugh, was limiting Upper Merion to minus-4 yards rushing. Only nine of Etheridge’s 22 completions for 209 yards were good for 10 yards or more.
“We might have started slow, but then the big plays started happening,” Fooskas said. “Coach (Jim) Connor knows everything (about defense) and puts us in the right places. We had some new guys in the lineup tonight, like (defensive tackles) Jahi Curtis, who recovered that fumble, and Cole Miller. They played great.”
Haven’s first possession of the second half resulted in Crawford’s 64-yard scoring run four plays after his sack had forced UM to punt. Curtis’s fumble recovery at the Haven 6 began the final scoring drive, on which Fooskas got six points, partly because Geremiah was ahead of him taking out Vikings defenders.
“They might have stopped us on the first (two) drives, but after that we scored each time we got the ball,” Farabaugh said. “The guys on our (offensive) line blocked and blocked. I’ll take them 1-on-1 against almost any linemen they’ll have to face.”
