Chase Barlow gaining yards in Friday night’s game again Imhotep. Photo by Jim Quinn, BQPictures.com
By Jack McCaffery
The offense was the same, the defense the same, the silver helmets classic, the situation so familiar Friday night, even if it was nearly two-plus decades later.
There was Strath Haven competing for a spot in a state championship football game, facing Imhotep of Philadelphia for a bus ride to Hershey. Once, that was something of an expectation, the Panthers having played for a PIAA championship in both 2002 and 2001, that after winning it all in 2000 and 1999. But enrollments changed and the state-bracket classifications morphed and the Central League grew and Philadelphia teams got involved and the charter schools were born and the natural cycle of high school sports whirled.
As for Kevin Clancy, the winningest coach in Southeastern Pennsylvania history, he just kept at it, running the Wing-T, rolling out big linemen, typically competing for league championships and winning playoff spots and expecting, always expecting, the Panthers to make those two state championship teams proud.
His 2021 Panthers would do that, finishing 13-2, losing only to Class 6A power Garnet Valley and then Friday, 36-0, to Imhotep Charter of Philadelphia at neutral-site Ridley in the PIAA Class 5A semifinal.
