Fisher, Strath Haven hold off late charge to take down Upper Dublin
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs
Brendan Ricciardi | November 10, 2023
WALLINGFORD, PA — For the third consecutive season, the Strath Haven Panthers will be playing in the PIAA District 1 5A Semi-Finals.
#2 Strath Haven took down the defending champion #7 Upper Dublin Cardinals in a fantastic 26-21 game at George L. King field on a cold evening under the lights.
The game had some drama before the it even truly began as Upper Dublin was forced to call a timeout before they even ran their first play, a tribute to Penn State and Michigan in 2019 as those two teams will meet up again on Saturday.
Upper Dublin wasn’t able to get anything going offensively on that drive, and it would be the Panthers that would strike first when Jake Kitchin found James Fisher for a 66-yard touchdown to get the first scoring of the game.
The PAT was missed after the touchdown, and that would loom around for a little while during the game at times.
It led to Upper Dublin being able to take the lead after they scored their first touchdown of the game when Kevin Etkin found Benjy Ravitz in the back of the end zone for a four yard score. A Chris Kohlbrenner interception helped set the stage for the Flying Cardinals to jump ahead 7-6.
Strath Haven would respond to that with a long drive of their own, going 79 yards on the ground and capitalizing on a QB sneak from Jake Kitchin to take the lead back at 13-7.
The Panthers would take that 13-7 lead into halftime with the opportunity to get the ball back and add to their lead. Although he had a 66-yard receiving touchdown to his name, James Fisher had been quiet running the football as he had just one rushing yard on four carries in the first half.
The second half had a different script.
Fisher took his first carry in a loaded box and went untouched as he raced 59 yards to the house to jump ahead 20-7. It was some much needed breathing room, but that room wouldn’t last forever.
Upper Dublin would go down the field and cut the lead in half as Kevin Etkin picked up his second passing touchdown of the day when he found Chris Kohlbrenner WIDE open for a 16-yard touchdowns. There was no one within ten yards of him.
With a 20-14 lead, it was time for a classic Strath Haven drive to burn some time off the clock and punch another one. This time it was Shane Green, who ran one in from 12 yards out to make it 26-14 after a failed 2PC.
It looked like Strath Haven had this game in the bag, but Upper Dublin showed a tremendous amount of fight. They would get cut that lead to 26-21 after Kevin Etkin threw his third touchdown pass of the night, this time a five yarder to Ryan O’Sullivan.
Upper Dublin looked like they had a real shot in this game as they forced Strath Haven to punt on the ensuing possession. They had the opportunity to take the lead as they got the ball back with four minutes left.
A drive that started off promising ended in disaster for the Cardinals as Kevin Etkin’s pass ended up in the hands of Strath Haven’s Cole Miller, who saved his first career interception for the perfect time.
Still, the game was not quite over yet, as Upper Dublin would again get the ball back after a punt.
Same opportunity, same result as Etkin was intercepted once again with Ben Milligan making the big play this time to get the Panthers the ball back.
The Panthers just needed to run the clock out at this point, and James Fisher’s huge third down run to get a first down iced the game and sent the Panthers back to the semi-finals.
The Panthers will now take on #3 Springfield, who took down #6 Marple Newtown in a Delco on Delco matchup in Springfield. Strath Haven gave Springfield their only loss of the season in Week 2 when they came back to win a 19-15 thriller.
As for Upper Dublin, their title defense comes up short as they end the season at 7-5, but they earned a lot of respect for the way that they competed in this game.
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