Pennsbury defeated Abington in a key National Conference football battle on Saturday night.
By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
FAIRLESS HILLS – When Abington and Pennsbury meet on the football field, it isn’t always pretty. In their most recent meeting on Saturday night, the Falcons led the Ghosts in the penalty category, committed more personal fouls and lost the turnover battle 3-1, but the Falcons also finished higher than the Ghosts in the spot where it mattered the most.
The Falcons won on the scoreboard – defeating Abington by a score of 35-9 in a Suburban One National Conference meeting at Pennsbury High School.
After falling behind 3-0 early in the first quarter, Pennsbury (4-2, 3-0) went on to score 35 of the game’s final 41 points and easily ran the table until the final minutes of the game.
“I think it was Homecoming and it was a big game and it’s become a good rivalry,” Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder said. “We had too many mistakes and too many penalties, but they played with a lot of heart and our guys did a good job.”
The Falcons especially did a great job on the ground attack, which was led by senior Shawn Pepper, who ran only 12 times for a whopping 179 yards (14.92 YPC) and two scores.
“Pepper is pretty good,” Snyder said. “He does a lot of great out things out there. He’s a great guy to have on your team.”
Pennsbury’s offensive surge started with a 28-yard TD pass from Breon Clark to Tommy Hose, which put the Falcons on top 7-3. In the second quarter, after Pennsbury got the ball back after a fumble recovery, it took one play and a 29-yard run for Pepper to find the end zone for his first touchdown of the day.
“We were excited for this game,” Pepper said. “This has become a real big rivalry over the last couple years and it’s been great. Every single game has been great. They got us in the regular season last year, but we got them in the playoffs and got them tonight and it’s becoming a bigger rivalry every year.”
After the Ghosts cut the Pennsbury lead to only one possession following a four-yard touchdown run by Abington quarter Dylan Collins, Pennsbury would go on to score the final three touchdowns of the game.
Pepper ran it in from 54 yards out late in the third quarter to put Pennsbury back up by two scores. In the fourth quarter, Ryan Muse intercepted a Collins pass along the left sideline and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown. With less than a minute to play, Quinn Pfender ran in a six-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.
“Not being able to continue with our great start, that was the bottom line,” Abington coach Tim Sorber said. “The defense did a great job of producing turnovers, but there were too many times in the red zone when we came out without any points. That’s unfortunate, but I thought for the most part, we played very well defensively, but we just missed a couple opportunities offensively.”
Abington’s offense was led by the rushing attack of Collins and junior tailback Craig Reynolds. Besides throwing for 50 yards, Collins ran 21 times for 95 yards and one score. Reynolds carried the ball 24 times for 112 yards, while also catching one pass for 10 yards.
The Ghosts had a problem with penalties, committing nine for 65 yards. Still, Abington’s offense managed to produce 19 first downs while racking up 198 yards of total offense.
“I threw a costly pick in their territory which really wasn’t what we needed at the time,” Collins said. “But we were all dying to win and we all wanted it so bad. We needed to play better than we did.”
The win drops the Ghosts to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league play while the Falcons improved to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the league, the only National Conference team without an in-league loss.
“This rivalry has become huge,” Collins said. “Obviously, they don’t seem to like us too much. I wanted it so bad.”
The Falcons, who will visit William Tennent next Friday, were led by Pepper’s 179 yards and two scores, but Clark played a big role in the offense as well, completing a 28-yard touchdown pass. Daquan Mack wasn’t able to catch any passes, but he did run 12 times for 84 yards and was a big part of several Pennsbury touchdown drives with his hard work on the ground.
Abington 3 0 6 0—9
Pennsbury 7 7 7 14—35
Scoring
A – Carraba 23 FG
P – Hose 28 pass from Clark (Kniaziewicz kick)
P – Pepper 29 run (Kniaziewicz kick)
A – Collins 4 run (run failed)
P – Pepper 54 run (Kniaziewicz kick)
P – Muse 77 interception return (Kniaziewicz kick)
P – Pfender 6 run (Kniaziewicz kick)
Team statistics
Abington Pennsbury
First downs 18 14
Rushing yards 248 336
Passing yards 50 28
Total yards 298 364
Passing 3-16-1 1-2-0
Fumbles-lost 3-0 3-3
Penalties-yards 9-65 12-102
Punts-avg. 3-37.0 1-37.0
Individual statistics
Rushing –
Abington: Reynolds 24-121; Collins 21-95, TD; Sowell 1-(-10); Boggi 1-20; Neely 1-4; Schreiner 2-1.
Pennsbury: Pepper 12-179, 2 TD; Clark 2-3; Mack 12-84; Hose 2-(-4); Pfender 1-6, TD; Steward 2-60; Donovan 1-3; Snorweah 2-5.
Passing –
Abington: Collins 3-15-1, 50; Boggi 0-1-0.
Pennsbury: Clark 1-2-0, 28, TD.
Receiving –
Abington: Stewart 1-20; Boggi 1-10; Reynolds 1-10.
Pennsbury: Hose 1-28, TD.
Interceptions –
Abington: None.
Pennsbury: Muse.
Sacks –
Abington: None.
Pennsbury: Kovin 1, Pepper 1
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