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Strath Haven defeats Rustin 34-33 in an instant classic for District 1 5A title

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

| November 27, 2021

3 yards. That was what separated Quarterback Sam Milligan and his Strath Haven team from glory. To say this championship game was dramatic would be an understatement. In a game where both teams threw gut punch after gut punch, it was time for Milligan to deliver the knockout blow for Strath Haven.

With his team down one point in the second overtime, it was decision time for Strath Haven head coach Kevin Clancy. Senior running back Chase Barlow had just scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on fourth and goal from the one, making the game one extra point away from a third overtime. But Clancy wasn’t thinking about going for the tie, he had already made up his mind about what he was going to do.

“We had talked about it, as soon as we got the ball, we said if we scored we were going to go for two,” Clancy Said. “We think we’re pretty good in short yardage and we were trying to see if we could get it right away.”

Clancy put the ball in the hands of his Senior Quarterback Sam Milligan. Strath Haven runs the wing T offense and don’t pass the ball a whole lot, but Milligan faked a hand off and rolled out to his right where he looked like he might pass the ball. Milligan had a handful of times where he could’ve thrown the ball throughout the game, but a lot of the time he kept the ball himself. He only threw 2 passes all game, completing one for 9 yards.

Milligan got outside the pocket, making a mad dash for the corner of the end zone and dove for the pylon. The rest is history. Milligan had gotten into the end zone, sending everyone on the Strath Haven sideline into a frenzy with everyone rushing onto the field in celebration.

“I’ve never felt anything like this, we had one for baseball and it was nothing like this,” Milligan Said. “This is the coolest experience of my life, far and away.”

For Clancy it was all about putting the ball in his best players hands with the game on the line, “The quarterback can do more things with the ball than anyone else cause he can throw it. We love our half backs, but you’re committed to run the ball at that point, but on this particular play it’s a run pass option.”

As crazy as this was, it almost didn’t happen. Strath Haven could’ve easily won and lost in regulation.

Milligan rushed up the middle for his first touchdown of the night to put Strath Haven up 19-6 with just over 4 minutes left in the third quarter. A drive where Strath Haven ate up two thirds of a quarter, which could’ve been the end for Rustin, but they fought back. Deshawn Jacobs, the single season record holder for rushing yards in a season for the Ches-Mont League, made a mad dash for a 38 yard score to get the game within one possession. It was an automatic answer from Rustin, only taking them four plays, all of which were Jacobs runs.

Strath Haven ate up clock with their next drive, but were stopped on a fourth and one, which gave Rustin the ball back on their own 35 with just over seven minutes remaining. Rustin drove down the field and got down to the two with 23 seconds remaining, before Deshawn Jacobs plowed through to tie the game for Rustin. Jacobs carried the ball 35 times for 190 yards and four touchdowns. The key was in this situation that the game was tied, Rustin still had to kick the extra point to win the game.

Kicker Grffin Strunk knocked through what seemed like the game winning kick, but the play was whistled dead because Strath Haven had jumped offsides. Strunk knocked through his second kick, but once again the play was whistled dead for offsides. Third time is supposed to be a charm, right? Well that was the case for Strath Haven because a bad snap prevented a final kick from being attempted, sending the game to overtime.

“We thought this is it, this is the end, if we don’t get it.” Said Chase Barlow

“It was not on purpose, guys were anxious to try and block the kick. I was actually screaming don’t jump offsides and they wound up doing it twice.” Said Kevin Clancy

The drama didn’t stop there though, on three straight plays to start overtime there was a touchdown. First it was Sam Milligan who went airborne to score on a ten yard scramble and then Deshawn Jacobs scored on back to back runs for Rustin. The Golden Knights actually lined up to go for two in the first overtime, but a false start penalty backed them up.

In the end, only one team could be victorious in a game that neither team deserved to lose.

“You’ve got to be good and you’ve got to be lucky, a little bit of luck and a little bit of hard work.” Said Clancy. “That’s what paid off for them at the end, all the things that they had did all year, they weren’t going to give in easily in overtime, we’re really proud of them”

For Clancy, he adds to his illustrious coaching career with his 12th District 1 championship in his 31st season. Clancy has an impressive 12-1 record in District Championships with the Panthers. This was Strath Haven’s first District championship in 10 years and Clancy will look to add to his two state championships in the next few weeks. Strath Haven will face the winner of Cathedral Prep and Imhotep in the state semi finals with a chance to play for a state championship on the line.

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