NETHER PROVIDENCE — Jalen Starr lined up to field the kickoff at the 10-yard line of a George L. King Field that felt like it had the air sucked out of it.
Starr’s Strath Haven was trailing Upper Moreland by two touchdowns in the third quarter of its District 1 Class 5A playoff game. The Panthers were looking for a spark, for some verification that they were an eight-win team and the fourth seed of a tournament in which it has enjoyed deep runs the last few autumns. It was looking for a wakeup call.
Starr fielded the kick at the 18, bobbled once, hit his stride and delivered.
Starr’s 72-yard kick return set up a short field and jolted a ripe-for-upset Strath Haven from its doldrums. It triggered four unanswered rushing touchdowns – two from Ryan Mudrick, then two from Yosif Ali – in surviving the 13th-seeded Bears, 35-21.
“That was just so surreal for me,” Starr said. “When I tell you, when I saw that hole, I just ran for my life. I didn’t look left, right. I just ran straight, and then I said, I’ve got to go get this.”
The sideline that Starr left was a world away from the electrified version he returned to.
“Everyone knew … we just needed a big play to come out and get some momentum,” Haven lineman Zach Milligan said. “And Jalen did that. He brought it all the way down to the 10-yard line. Everyone on the sideline was sprinting up and down, jumping up and down. It was amazing. It really re-energized our team. It was really amazing.”
Strath Haven (9-2) was dead in the water. It trailed 14-7 at half, then thought it had gotten the ball back on the first series of the third quarter by forcing an Upper Moreland punt. But Luke Sword’s boot hit an unawares gunner, in a fitting illustration of the Panthers’ lackadaisical early execution, and was recovered by lineman Michael Maglio.
Five snaps later, David Adamski hit Larry Hughes for their second touchdown of the day, a 10-yard slant. The Bears led 21-7, and a team that had lost at home to Interboro, which Strath Haven throttled in Week 1, had the Panthers on the ropes.
Before a somnolent King Field had time to panic, Starr intervened, bursting through the blocks and into daylight, chased down only at the 10 and just nudged out of bounds.
Two Mudrick carries later and Strath Haven was within a score, the fullback’s TD covering six yards.
Upper Moreland followed with one of a small handful of mistakes. It came via Elijah Davis, who fumbled on the first play of the next series, Quinn Kell recovering at the 21.
Mudrick again toted the load, a 1-yard TD tying the game at 21 with 4:57 left in the third. Just like that, two and a half quarters of work by Upper Moreland was undone in two and a half minutes.
For the first time, the game seemed on even footing. Upper Moreland (6-5) dominated defensively in the opening 24 minutes, forcing four Strath Haven punts. The Panthers had 11 yards on their first 10 plays, unfathomable for its vaunted ground game.
“We loaded the box, and we were fundamentally sound,” Upper Moreland linebacker/fullback Justin Valetin said. “The big thing about this season is that we weren’t really fundamentally sound. And the way that they run the ball is they run through the inside and they run sharp. So what we had to do, and our coaches did a great, amazing job, we got in and we stopped to run pretty well.”
The defense backed Davis’ 1-yard touchdown on the opening drive, a nine-play, 49-yard march. Davis’ first fumble – forced by Paul Oblek, recovered by Landon Barlow – gave Strath Haven its first plus field position. Barlow cashed in with a 31-yard dash to tie the game at 7 at 9:37 of the second quarter.
Upper Moreland went back ahead on a 58-yard slant between Adamski and Hughes with 2:15 left to half.
After a first half that featured just 108 yards of offense and an uncharacteristic six passing attempts from Luke Mulhern trying to spark something, the Strath Haven locker room was not a joyous place.
“We were furious,” Starr said. “All the coaches said, calm down, this is not us. Once we just get our blocks down and just don’t be afraid to hit, we will get right.”
It got worse before it got better. But it did get better, thanks to Starr.
Tied at 21, Upper Moreland went to the air, and Adamski was buried on back-to-back snaps, first by Milligan, then the combination of Nick Farabaugh and Oblek. A well-handled punt put Haven at the 41; 11 plays later, Ali punched in a 6-yarder. The drive was kept alive by Derrick Bradley taking an inside counter 13 yards on third-and-9, then Ali striding through traffic for five on fourth-and-2.
Cole Haly stepped to the fore with three straight tackles on the next series as Upper Moreland reached the Haven 36, then a fourth down stop coming when Patrick Burke buried a receiver in coverage.
“I think it was just a great job to get off the field,” Milligan said. “Our goal, was second half, keep them on their side of the 50. We did that after they scored that first touchdown.”
Ali came up with two third-down conversions on the next drive, the last a game-sealing 37-yard score with 1:02 left, the game over once he made it past the sticks.