Team Effort Propels Strath Haven Over Upper Moreland

Written by: Willie McGonigle on Saturday, September 5th, 2009. Follow Willie McGonigle on Twitter.

WALLINGFORD: It was built as meeting of powerhouses in one corner you had the traditional powerhouse Strath Haven Panthers and their potent wing t offense who has long been a force in AAA in the other corner you had the recent powerhouse Upper Moreland Golden Bears led by their 1000 yard rusher from a year ago Chris Smallwood. In the end, it was the Panthers who return to old form and left George L. King Field with the 10-6 victory in their non-league match-up Friday night. After the game, when asked about the perception that Panthers football has been down in the pass Head Coach Kevin Clancy said “We’re not worried about that we are worried about this team and getting better each week”

Right from the open kicking the Panthers quickly set the tone as on the first play from scrimmage Sr. RB Lonnie Richardson busted through the Bears defense for a 14 yard gain to kick start a 12 play 73 yard drive all on the ground thanks the power running of Richardson and fellow Sr RB Pat Fisher. Richardson would capped the drive with his 3 yard plunge to give the Panthers 7-0 lead with 6:47 left in the opening quarter. “The first drive was huge, we wanted to see how good we are and it allowed us to set the momentum for tonight and we just felt great after that” is how Fisher would describe the importance of the first drive.

After their defense forced the Bears to Punt the Panthers offense came and well let Richardson and Fisher do their driving down to the Bears 6 yard before Alex Hisey nailed a 24 yard field goal. In the first quarter the Panthers raked nine first down and Richardson would get 82 of his 120 yards. Fisher would finish with 51 yards of his on the ground. When asked about his role has the work horse of the Panthers Richardson responded “ I’m more of a team player I just got to play my role and my position. When asked about his performance Richardson said “ it was great I worked hard during the summer and just do see it unfold was amazing for me.

The Bears would respond late in the second quarter following a fumble Brendan Gunn with the Panthers on their own 21 yard line. Greg Adamson would fall on the ball at the Panthers 11 yard line and three plays later Smallwood wound punch it in from 4 yards out. Fisher would block the extra point giving the Panthers the 10-6 lead heading into the half.

In the second half the Panthers turned the game over to their defense after several missed chances to blow the game open and the defense respond well holding the Bears scoreless in the second half while holding Smallwood to 125 yards on 28 carries. Defensively Hisey led the Panthers. “ We just persevered, didn’t give in, our conditioning did well Coach (Jim) Conner did a great job with us during defensive practice this week.” After the game Fisher had nothing but praise for his defense saying “defensively we played a hell of a game,we were just gang tackling and our defense did the job tonight.” Clancy echoed Fisher comments saying “our defensive effort was great on a hot humid night against a bigger team, they hung in there and kept battling I’m proud of them”

Up next for the Panthers is the Harrition Rams while the Bears will take on the Pottstown Trojans

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