HAVERTOWN: Prior to the 2023 season Haverford High School Head Coach Luke Doughtery decided to change the type of offense that his Fords would run so he brought in someone that came from a pedigree of winning football. Doughtery brought in Kevin Clancy to be his offensive Coordinator. Yes, Clancy is the son of Strath Haven Head Coach Kevin Clancy. The younger Clancy brought in a triple offense a far cry from the Spread that the Fords traditionally ran. 2023 saw the Fords struggle going 1-9. 2024 however has been the complete opposite the Fords rolled to 9 wins in the regular season and, entered the District 1 6A Playoffs has the 5th earning them just their second home playoff in school history. On Friday night the Fords continued their turnaround by rolling up 386 rushing yards and 413 yards of total offense in a 56-0 dismantling of the visiting Quakertown, earning the Fords their first home playoff victory in school history.
“I think it was little growing pains when you go from being a spread team to under center triple option there’s obviously going to be a lot of struggle with guys taking new positions you’re taking slot receivers and asking them to running backs for the first time,” Dougherty said of the struggles that occurred during the 2023 season. He added, “I think our weight room preparations and our kids being a year in the system they started to realize what it takes to be successful in this.”
One of the guys who moved positions is Liam Taylor. Taylor went from being a Quarterback to a running back and has found nothing but success in the Fords’ offensive scheme. Entering Friday’s game, Taylor already had rushed for 2286 yards this season and 3043 yards for his career, both of which are school records. Taylor added 200 more yards to his totals and 4 touchdowns in only a half of work Friday.
“Moving Liam from QB to RB was a huge risk for us but the beauty of it only works out because Liam trusts it and does what he’s asked,” Dougherty said of Taylor who is a relative of Cleveland Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski.
Taylor admitted that at first, he was unsure about the position change but now he’s happy he did “I thought being a Quarterback was cool being the leader of the team but running back is a lot fun much more fun than last year.”
Paving the way for Taylor and the Fords’ offense was the offensive line of Sean Leahy, Quinn McGloin, Emmett Gillespie, Alex Klee, and Chase Russell.
After the Fords and Panthers traded three and-outs on their opening possessions the Fords started scoring on the game’s third drive with the Fords going 56 yards on five plays ending with Taylor finding the endzone from 14 yards out.
On their ensuing drive, the Panthers appeared poised to possibly tie the game driving down to the Fords 14-yard line before Jimmy Fusaro intercepted Panthers QB Brady Martin giving the Fords the ball on their 9. On the very next play from scrimmage, Taylor got some excellent blocking from his line and downfield from Fusaro and Jake Lisicki and was off to the races going 91 yards extending the Fords’ lead to 14-0.
After the game, Taylor praised Fusaro saying “He’s a great player.”
In the second quarter, the Fords exploded for 28 points with Taylor scoring on runs of 12 and 9 yards. Fusaro added an electrifying 75-yard punt return for a touchdown while Shane Durkin added a 49-yard scoring run.
With the Fords leading by 42 at halftime, the second half was played with the running clock mercy rule and Taylor got the enjoy his understudy Nils McCallion get some reps McCallion made the most of it rushing for 80 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns.
The Fords will now wait for the winner of Saturday’s North Penn Ridley contest. If Ridley wins the Fords will host the Green Raiders. If North Penn wins the Knights will host the Fords. Either way, the kickoff will be next Friday at 7 pm.
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