By Laura Wiseley, Delaware County Daily Times
October 09, 2010
The Panthers were on from the opening drive, marching 69 yards downfield on their way to scoring on a 1-yard run by quarterback Bryan Downs. Fortune followed that on the Panthers’ next possession with that long rushing TD that put Strath Haven up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“It was a big moment,” he said. “It feels good.”
It’s a feeling that Fortune is getting used to. Going into the season, he didn’t expect he’d be called on as the Panther’s featured back.
“I didn’t think I’d be the guy who carried the ball a lot,” he said. “Now I’m just trying to get better every week.”
Fortune’s 171 rushing yards Friday night put him at 1,003 for the season, which leads the county in rushing.
Marple Newtown got on the board late in the second quarter, with Ryan White scoring on a 24-yard pass from James Ridinger. But Haven answered back on the next possession, scoring on Downs’ 8-yard pass to Chazz Fisher.
“We really felt the need to score early,” Clancy said. “These guys are very efficient offensively, but our offensive line created the holes that allowed us to control the ball and hold on to the lead.”
Marple would score again in the third on a 1-yard run by Ridinger, but Haven broke the game wide open on the next possession. In a run that mirrored Fortune’s TD in the first quarter, James Griffin ran for 43 yards to put the Panthers up 28-13.
“We were trying to get them to bite in on a couple of plays, and then we got the sweep going, I saw an opening and I went for it,” Griffin said. “It worked out. The O-line really created a lot of opportunities like that for us.”
One final touchdown – a 3-yard run by Fortune – was all the Panthers needed to put it away.
Griffin called the matchup “a statement game.”
“Marple is a great team,” he said. “They beat us last year, so this was a revenge game for us. It was nice to come back and beat them.”