NETHER PROVIDENCE — James Fisher went into the locker room Friday night with four carries to his name in the first half of Strath Haven’s District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal. The senior all-purpose star, though, knew it would only take one to get back on track and get the Panthers into a district semifinal.
Fisher’s 59-yard score on the first series of the second half added valuable cushion, and Strath Haven’s defense came up with two fourth-quarter turnovers to put down the resistance of seventh-seeded Upper Dublin, 26-21, in a bruising postseason affair.
Fisher wasn’t invisible in the first half. One of his five touches was a 66-yard touchdown catch from Jake Kitchin, the game’s first first-down play after the teams traded five punts.
But Fisher had been bottled up in the run game, with just two yards in the opening half. The No. 2 Panthers (11-1) carried a 13-7 lead into the break, but Fisher’s first-half frustration was emblematic of the job the Cardinals (7-5) did defensively.
Fisher quickly made the wait worthwhile, taking a third-down carry on the first series of the second half off right end, getting the authoritative seal block of end Sean Henry and jetting down the sideline.
“It was about being patient and waiting my turn,” Fisher said.
The win sends the Panthers into the District 1 semifinals for the third straight season. They take on third-seeded Springfield, which handled Marple Newtown, 20-7, on Friday. Strath Haven won at Springfield on Sept. 1, 19-15.
Fisher also applied his stamp defensively. Upper Dublin fought a battle of attrition in the second half, with its top two playmakers helped off the field on the same series. Chris Kohlbrenner, who fought cramps and was leveled in the ribs by Fisher later in the second half, would return. Feature back Shyne Roberts didn’t after his 14th and final carry went for 34 yards, taking him to 96 for the game.
“Shyne’s a great player, a great athlete, does a lot for this team,” Kohlbrenner said. “Him going down was very tough for our team. We know it’s going to be a lot harder to win, but we know we’ve got the guys that can step up and help make a play.”
Fisher delivered three punishing hits in the third, the last flagged for a questionable targeting call. The physicality would pay off in the fourth.
Without Roberts, Upper Dublin had to go to the air. Junior quarterback Kevin Etkin ably ran the possession passing game, if big plays were in short supply, going 17-for-29 for 112 yards. He found Ben Ravitz for a four-yard score on third-and-goal in the second quarter. He then hit Kohlbrenner in the back corner of the end zone on third-and-14 from the 15, coach Bret Stover dialing up a pre-snap audible.
When Shane Green barreled in for a 12-yard touchdown to restore the two-score bump with 9:39 left in regulation, Etkin answered within three minutes, tossing a six-yard quick slant TD to Ryan O’Sullivan.
Strath Haven would get to him eventually. Two of Etkin’s last three passes were picked off. The first came from a buildup of pressure, Jahi Curtis sacking Etkin on first down. Curtis, who deflected a pair of passes, was in the backfield again on second down. He had Etkin wrapped up, and the QB’s attempt to throw it away found lineman Cole Miller, who snapped up the interception.
“All the other guys have such a good pass rush, so I was able to stay back a little bit,” Miller said. “I was able to stay back, and I don’t think it was a screen, but he was just getting sacked and threw it. I saw the ball, I dove at it and got lucky.”
Taking over at the UD 42 with 4:18 left and up a score seemed to be the game for the Panthers. But Upper Dublin continued to do what it did all night in shackling Haven’s run game. The Panthers had 314 yards of offense, yet 125 of that came on two Fisher plays.
Kitchin capped a 14-play, 74-yard drive in the second quarter with a one-yard score, and Green’s dozen-yard drive ended a 15-play, 63-yard march. But otherwise, the Cardinals felt pretty good about holding Haven to 49 carries for 248 yards and forcing five punts.
“I think we did a solid job,” Kohlbrenner said. “It all starts with our game plan. There was just a few little things for us to clean up in order for us to win that game. I’m really proud of our guys’ effort. They didn’t quit against a bigger team. We’re a young team, and the fight in our team is unreal.”
“I think everyone was more confused,” Miller said. “Talking to them, everyone felt like they were getting their blocks, everyone had their man. We had wide open holes, but we didn’t know what was happening. It was really confusing mostly.”
The running game’s unusual fallibility meant Upper Dublin got the ball back with 2:10 left, with no timeouts left and the ball at the Cardinals’ 5-yard line. Etkin fired incomplete, then tried a deep ball that Haven’s Ben Milligan, whose missed first-quarter PAT made the one-score edge more tenuous, leapt to haul in.
Even then, the Cardinals forced Haven into fourth and 11 with 50 seconds left, a predicament not resolved until Fisher took a carry, trucked a defender in the secondary and ran 27 yards to the 5 to go over 100 yards (10 carries for 113) and clinch the win.
“He’s always got us with a big play,” Miller said of Fisher. “We’re so lucky to have him. It really fires the team up and gets us playing better. It re-energizes us.”
