Ghosts' Defense Rises to the Occasion

Abington improved to 3-1 after Friday’s 19-17 win over Council Rock North. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery. To read Rick Woelfel’s complete game story, please click on the following PhillyBurbs.com link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/newtown/collins-leads-abington-past-cr-north/article_025ff642-67ae-561c-9563-56c16e0d473d.html

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ABINGTON – Intensity.

That was Dustyn Collins’ one-word response when asked the difference between winning and losing in Abington’s 19-17 win over Council Rock North on Friday night.

Then, after a brief pause, Collins rethought his answer.

“Intensity and the will to win,” the senior strong side linebacker said.

In no area was that intensity and will to win more apparent than on the defensive side of the football where the Ghosts forced four Rock North turnovers.

“That changes the game,” Collins said. “That’s a good team, but sometimes the ball comes loose. It deflated them.”

“It’s really huge in the game plan,” added senior outside linebacker Josh Jones. “It picks up the team’s momentum.”

Collins and Jones are first-year starters in a Ghost defensive unit that boasts more than a few new faces.

“As seniors, we encourage everyone to go hard at every practice,” Collins said. “We can’t have a bad practice.”
“We lost a lot of big names,” Jones added. “We just tell ourselves that since we lost the big names, we have to pick it back up for ourselves. We know that we’re still good.”

Collins and Jones are just two examples of players stepping up to fill their roles on this year’s Abington squad.

“Dustyn was a defensive lineman for us last year, and we moved him to linebacker,” Abington coach Tim Sorber said. “He’s done a phenomenal job.

“Josh Jones is a kid who has really done a great job the entire year. He’s been extremely consistent. The thing I like about Josh more than anything else is the fact that his work ethic and his attitude have improved dramatically. He’s a good teammate, and he makes plays. He’s matured and definitely stepped up and played extremely well for us.”

How good was Abington’s defense in Friday’s win? Good enough to limit the Indians to 165 yards of total offense. Appropriately, the Ghosts iced the win when senior Chanan Scott came up with an interception. Scott is another player who has bided his time and stepped up when asked to contribute.

“That’s the second interception he had to seal a game,” Sorber said of Scott. “He’s a kid that really has waited his turn.

“He’s a senior, and he got his opportunity two weeks ago and has played phenomenally. I’m happy for him because he’s a great kid. He works extremely hard. That’s what this program is about – you wait your turn and you make plays at the opportune times.”

The Indians managed just 86 yards on the ground and 79 yards in the air in the contest, but despite their offensive woes, the Indians took a 10-7 lead into halftime.

“Pretty much we just told everybody to keep their heads up,” Collins said. “We play two halves of football. It’s never just one half.

“The seniors really took leadership tonight and went after it.”

The Indians mishandled a long snap on fourth-and-long on their opening possession of the second half, and the Ghosts – who took over on Rock North’s 28-yard line - capitalized on their field position to score a touchdown when quarterback Dylan Collins took it in from 10 yards out. The Ghosts had a lead they would not lose (13-10).

In addition to applauding the defensive performance of his players, Sorber was quick to credit Kevin Conlin, the Ghosts’ defensive coordinator for 13 years.

“I’m very fortunate,” Sorber said. “I have the utmost trust and respect for him. He does a great job with our kids.

“During the week, our kids give up their lunches to go in and watch film. He’s there with them, and he does a great job of preparing our teams in the film room and on the field. He gives up a lot of time to that, and that’s why he’s successful in what he does. The kids are feeding off of it, so that’s great to see.”

Sorber added one note of caution, acknowledging that his team can ill afford the penalties it amassed on Friday night – 12 in all for 84 yards.

“We did a great job of forcing turnovers,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “What was unfortunate was – our defense did a great job of creating turnovers for us, but we penalized ourselves and weren’t able to put the ball in the end zone when we needed to.

“When you have those opportunities and your defense does a great job of forcing turnovers and puts your offense in position to score, you’ve got to score and put the game away, and we didn’t do that offensively.”

Fortunately for the Ghosts, the defense more than made up for those shortcomings with a standout effort.

“I think we’re maturing as a team,” Collins said. “We have a lot of new players playing on varsity, and everyone is getting the feel for varsity. I’m not saying we’re there, but we’re getting better.”

“We improving,” Jones said. “Improvement is definitely a big part.”

Friday’s win came two short weeks after a 45-17 loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh. The Ghosts followed that with a convincing 21-6 win over Central Bucks East.

“We said, ‘We have a lot more games to go. Let’s put that (PW loss) in the past and keep working,’” Jones said.

“One game doesn’t define a season,” Collins said. “We just had to tell everybody to keep going.”

The Ghosts kept on going, and they are 3-1 heading into the second week of their league season.

*Stats used in this article were provided courtesy of PhillyBurbs.com.

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