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ABINGTON – It seemed like an eternity.
Abington quarterback Sam Kind, a moving target in the Ghosts’ backfield, deftly eluded one would-be tackler after another, all the while determined to find an open target. The first-quarter play appeared to be heading for certain disaster when the junior quarterback somehow found teammate Cassio Harris for a 42-yard completion.
“Coach Sorber isn’t going to be very happy with that,” Kind said of a play that had the sidelines screaming for him to get rid of the ball. “During the week when we do team offense and team defense, sometimes we get pressure from the middle, and we do a good of scouting out teams and knowing what they’re going to do.
“I guess I was just used to rolling around. I should have thrown the ball away around seven times, but I didn’t, and it paid off. I don’t know. I was just out there having fun.”
In reality, Kind’s version of ‘catch me if you can’ with East’s defense effectively summed up the night for both squads. While East kept coming up just a little bit short, the Ghosts always seemed to deliver the big play when it mattered most in a 28-13 win over the Patriots in Friday’s non-league opener.
It was Kind, brilliant in his varsity debut, who stole the spotlight. All told, the junior QB connected on 11-of-14 passes for 279 yards and no interceptions.
“I’m really happy with Sam Kind,” Abington coach Tim Sorber said. “He showed some composure in the second half. If he plays with composure – he’s going to learn, and we’ll be in good shape.
Junior Anthony Hensley was the Ghosts’ big-play receiver, hauling in three passes for 159 yards and a touchdown – all in the second half and all with dazzling over-the-shoulder catches.
“The big thing was we didn’t turn the ball over, and we didn’t have too many penalties,” Sorber said.
The same wasn’t true for the Patriots. They turned the ball over three times – twice on interceptions, and a bad snap took sure points off the board for East in the opening half.
“We simply weren’t making the plays when we had to,” East coach Tim Michael said “This is part of the learning process.
“We have installed a new offense and a new defense, and they’re learning. It was a tough opponent to have to face. They have great, talented kids.”
A bright spot in East’s loss was the brilliant 144-yard rushing performance of senior captain Devon Passman, who did all of that damage on just 14 carries. He also had an 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Passman was anything but satisfied.
“I missed some tackles, I didn’t score when I should have,” he said. “It was like a roller coaster. One point we’re on top, we’re moving the ball, and we’re stuffing them.
“Then their quarterback on third down – we had him, and he completed a pass, and now we’re back on the bottom. It’s just tough. You’re winning the game at one point and the next you just feel hopeless.”
The mistakes started early for the Patriots when – on the second play from scrimmage – Mike Duffy intercepted a pass and ran it 49 yards to East’s one-yard line.
“Really all through camp - Mike’s a converted defensive end, so he’s not really comfortable in coverage,” Sorber said. “He worked and he worked and he worked, and he did a great job picking the ball off.”
It took one play for Alex Eaton to punch it in and, after Ian MacMillan’s extra point, give Abington a quick 7-0 lead.
That lead held up for all of 13 seconds – the time it took Passman to turn the ensuing kickoff into an electrifying 81-yard touchdown run as the Patriots came right back to knot the score.
The Ghosts were unfazed, and on their ensuing drive – which included Kind’s heroic escape act in the backfield – marched 72 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead in a drive that included Kind’s highlight reel connection to Harris.
Then came a sequence that turned the tide in Abington’s favor. Passman willed his team to the Ghosts’ two-yard line with a superb 54-yard run, but three plays later, a high snap from center forced Passman to fall on the football at the 13-yard line. The Patriots came up empty.
“We didn’t feel good being down 14-7, but we definitely felt we could come back,” Passman said. “When we came out in the second half, we gave up too many big plays, and I think they wanted it more.”
East had a chance to get back in the game when – after Kind found Hensley with a stellar 79-yard touchdown strike that put the Ghosts on top 21-7 – Passman found his way into the end zone with a fiercely determined 18-yard run. A missed extra point left the Patriots trailing 21-13.
That miss became a moot point when the Ghosts – buoyed by a 41-yard completion to Hensley – marched 71 yards to a touchdown to go on top 28-13.
“The coaching staff saw some things that East was doing in the first half,” Sorber said. “What basically was happening was Anthony Hensley was getting one-on-one coverage, and we thought we could take advantage of that with some play actions.
“Kudos to my coaching staff, especially my QB coach Terence Tolbert, who saw it and relayed it down. We had the confidence to do that. We struggled a little offensively in the first half, but in the second half, we showed a lot more composure.”
Abington 28, Central Bucks East 13
Central Bucks East 7 0 0 6-13
Abington 14 0 7 7-28
A-Eaton 1 run (MacMillan kick)
CBE-Passman 81 kickoff return (Benz kick)
A-Eaton 3 run (MacMillan kick)
A-Hensley 79 pass from Kind (MacMillan kick
CBE-Passman 18 run (kick failed)
A-Rozniakowski 2 pass from Kind (MacMillan kick)
CBE A
First Downs 10 13
Rushing Yards 218 100
Passing Yards 29 279
Total Yards 247 379
Passing (C-A-I) 3-8-2 11-14-0
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 5-33 2-10
Punts-Avg. 1-36.0 3-22.3
RUSHING:
Central Bucks East-Devon Passman, 14-144, TD; Nick Miller, 4-34; Klein, 10-24; Whittington, 1-16.
Abington-Julien Ireland, 20-53; Alex Eaton, 10-31, 2 TDs; Sam Kind, 15-16.
PASSING:
Central Bucks East-Corey Klein, 3-8-29, 2 INTs.
Abington-Sam Kind, 11-14-279, 2 TDs.
RECEIVING:
Central Bucks East-Scott Schneider, 1-15; Nick Miller, 1-8; Chris Harmon, 1-6.
Abington-Anthony Hensley 3-159, TD; Cassio Harris, 1—42; Nate O’Hannon, 2-37; Galiano Presta, 2-18; Julien Ireland, 1-11; Dom Massey, 1-10; Ryan Rozniakowski, 1-2.
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