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By Nate Oxman
FORT WASHINGTON - Damin Finley dashed around right end and raced 42 yards untouched before being run out of bounds at the Upper Dublin 12-yard line.
Two plays later the Cheltenham senior running back bashed his way into the end zone from six yards out.
It was a familiar sequence for Finley on Friday night at Upper Dublin’s Cardinal Stadium as he repeatedly slashed through the Cardinals’ battered defense, chalking up big chunks of yardage and piling up touchdowns.
But those three runs – although they may have blended in with a whole bunch of highlight-reel plays on the night - curtailed the Cardinals’ valiant comeback attempt and powered the Panthers to a 32-28 Suburban One American Conference road win.After the Cardinals, who trailed 20-0 midway through the second quarter, pulled within 26-21 late in the third on an Anthony Williams 5-yard touchdown run, Finley galloped 42 yards on the Panthers’ first play on the ensuing possession to set up his fourth touchdown run of the night.
“I just give credit to my receivers blocking for me and my offensive line opening up holes,” said Finley. “Without them I wouldn’t be able to do any of this so the credit basically goes to them. After that it’s just me reading the blocks and running.”
The Cardinals, who during the game lost starting defensive backs Shaun Battle and Tyler Marks to injuries, failed to ever find an answer for Finley, who carried 32 times for 276 yards, and repeatedly reeled off big, drive-sustaining runs in the second half to fight off the pesky Cards (3-4, 3-1), who entered the game perched atop the conference at 3-0.
“We knew it was an important league game,” said Finley, whose Panthers improved to 3-5 overall, 2-2 in league play. “We’re still trying to make a playoff run even though we had a bad start at the beginning of the year.
“We didn’t take them lightly. We knew we were going to be in for a tough game, and we just had to fight until the end. Some games we lost because we didn’t finish. Tonight we were determined to come out and finish them.”
The Panthers took advantage of two first-half Cardinals turnovers to take a 20-0 lead.The first came on the opening kickoff when a fumble rolled into the awaiting arms of Cheltenham kicker Alex Winter at the Upper Dublin 37. Five plays later sophomore quarterback Kenneth Cropper took an option keeper 20 yards for a 6-0 edge.
After Finley scored on a 35-yard scamper by bouncing outside and streaking down the sideline to stretch the lead to 14-0, the Cardinals answered with what appeared to be exactly the type of momentum-shifting play they needed to claw back into the ball game.
It came via a blocked punt from junior Ryan Hopkins, who gave the Cardinals possession at the Cheltenham 41.
But three plays later, Williams fumbled the football, Panthers defensive back Christopher Stevens recovered, and Finley went back to work, outracing the Cardinals’ secondary for a 57-yard score that made it 20-0.
“We couldn’t stop Finley,” said Upper Dublin coach Bret Stover. “We got a little banged up in the secondary and to their credit – Joe and his staff – they went right at it. That’s a veteran coach there.”
The Cardinals cut the margin to 20-7 at the half courtesy of a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown from senior Evan Saltzman that helped them seize a sliver of the momentum entering the break.
They stole a bigger chunk less than two minutes into the third quarter when another blocked punt – this time by junior Zach Borgman – set up an 8-yard Williams score to pull to within 20-14.
“From there, I’ve been here and we’ve folded and lost 55-0 to Cheltenham, but our guys up front did a nice job offensively and that allowed us to move the ball,” said Stover on his team’s comeback from three scores down. “And Anthony has just been a warrior for us the last three weeks.”
The Cardinals then had a chance to tie or pull ahead with a score plus an extra point after sophomore Andrew Derr intercepted Cropper. But the Panthers’ defense held tough and handed the ball back to Finley, who responded once again.
He opened with a 26-yard run and two plays later closed with a 25-yarder for a score to extend the lead to 26-14.
He finally doused the Cardinals for good after they cut the Panthers’ lead to 32-28 on a gutsy 12-play, 65-yard scoring drive that Derr capped with a 12-yard strike to Williams with one minute, 43 seconds to play.
Desperately needing a three-and-out to get the ball back and a shot for a potential game-winning drive, the Cardinals just could not stop Finley. He zipped up the far sideline for 24 yards on first down and then scooted for 13 more on second, emphatically slamming the door shut.
“Damin is a very good football player,” said Cheltenham coach Joe Gro. “He got hurt early and missed a couple games and it took a couple games for him to come back after that, but in the last three games he’s played very serious football.”
Finley’s fine performance may have spoiled the Cardinals’ homecoming celebration, but it didn’t fully overshadow the effort of Williams, who worked tirelessly for 182 yards on 25 carries, including two for touchdowns.
“We just didn’t have anyone to spell him with,” said Stover. “Our other two running backs – Battle and Marks who are also our d-backs – got hurt. But he never asked to come out once. He knew that he had to play for 48 minutes and he did.”
Cheltenham 14 6 12 0—32
Upper Dublin 0 7 14 7—28
First quarter
CH—Cropper 20 run (kick failed), 9:41
CH—Finley 35 run (Rouse pass from Cropper), 4:01
Second quarter
CH—Finley 57 run (kick failed), 5:46
UD—Saltzman 53 punt return (Boyer kick), 2:26
Third quarter
UD—Williams 8 run (Boyer kick), 10:06
CH—Finley 25 run (pass failed), 6:20
UD—Williams 5 run (Boyer kick), 1:45
CH—Finley 6 run (pass failed), 0:17
Fourth quarter
UD—Williams 8 pass from Derr (McAneney kick), 1:43
Cheltenham Upper Dublin
Team rushing 310 198
Team passing 40 111
Total offense 350 309
Passing 4-8-1 7-23-2
Penalties-yds 8-70 5-40
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Punts-avg 5-20.4 3-22.6
Rushing
Cheltenham: Finley 32-276, 4 TDs; Rouse 1-23; Cropper 2-14, TD; Gary 1-5; Lester 4-2; Elijah 1-(-3); Waters 1-(-7); Total 42-310
Upper Dublin: Williams 25-182, 2 TDs; Derr 5-9; Battles 2-5; Marks 1-2 Total 33-198
Passing
Cheltenham: Cropper 4-8-1 40; Waters 0-0-0 0
Upper Dublin: Derr 7-23-2 111, TD
Receiving
Cheltenham: Rouse 3-30; Finley 1-10
Upper Dublin: Buchanan 5-86; Williams 2-25, TD
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