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Non-league
ABINGTON 45, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 13
There are bounce-back wins and then there are bounce-back wins.
The Ghosts – showing absolutely no ill effects from their season-opening loss to neighboring Cheltenham – owned Thursday’s contest from the outset, opening up a 42-7 halftime lead on their way to the decisive win.
“The big thing for us was to try and get out early on them because I think a lot of our kids were a little bit down about that (loss),” said Abington coach Kevin Conlin, whose team had not lost to Cheltenham since 2015. “These kids had never lost to Cheltenham. That was a tough game. A couple plays special teams-wise really put us in a bad position.
“We worked pretty hard on that. We found a new kicker this week, and I thought we did a really good job with our kickoff coverage, so that was really good. We had a couple of goals going into the game, and one of them was to fix our special teams, and I think we did a nice job with that. It was a short week, we knew what we were getting into. We didn’t put anything new in. We kind of wanted to be good at what we’re good at, so that was our big deal.”
The Ghosts capped their opening drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge by Jaime Rivera, and they upped their lead to 14-0 when quarterback Anthony Pronsati delivered his first of three touchdown passes – this one for 31 yards to Ryan Smith after the Ghosts recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff.
“They kicked off to us, we had pretty good, scripted plays, and we went right down and did what we needed to do, and then they fumbled on the next kickoff,” Conlin said. “I think it was 14-0 before their offense even got on the field. It was a great start obviously. It’s exactly what we wanted to do.”
The Indians made it a 14-7 game at the end of one quarter after Julian Matera connected with Will Scibona for an 11-yard touchdown, but Abington answered with a nine-yard TD run by Pronsati. Josh Young delivered a play that cut the heart out of the Indians – returning an interception 19 yards for a touchdown and a 28-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Ghosts weren’t finished yet as Pronsati connected with Young for a short touchdown, and then delivered another touchdown pass to Young – this one for eight yards – to put the Ghosts on top 42-7 at halftime.
“We practiced pretty good this week – we had a pretty good game plan,” Conlin said. “The kids went out and executed it really well, and that’s a plus for us.
“The biggest thing was – (Rock North) had a huge emotional win last week. I thought it was a great win for their program, and I thought they’d be coming in pretty high, so we wanted to get on them early.”
Anthony Richardson’s 29-yard field goal accounted for the Ghosts’ only score of the second half before the Indians tacked on a late touchdown.
Conlin had plenty of praise to go around after Thursday’s win.
“Jaime Rivera had a really good game running the ball,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “He also made a lot of tackles and put the defense in the right place.
“Josh Young as a wide receiver had two touchdowns, and as an outside linebacker, he had an interception that he ran for a touchdown.
“Ryan Smith had a touchdown catch, and that was a really good play after a turnover. Anthony Pronsati threw three touchdown passes, so it was a really good game all the way around.
“We ran the ball really well – Brooklyn Brown and Josh Brown both ran the ball really well. Those two are pretty small, but they’re very quick. They’re electric when they have the ball, which is what we were hoping to do, maybe capitalize on some big runs.”
Playing no small role in the Ghosts’ success was an offensive line comprised of seniors Xavier Glemser, Darrian Johnson and Luke Myslinski as well as junior Basil Walters, Connor Penderghest and tight end Dan Holaman.
“Those six are the key to our offense,” Conlin said. “Our offense is predicated on our offensive line – we have two good offensive line coaches, and they’re the hardest working guys on the team, so it revolves around them.”
Abington (1-1) will host Harry S Truman next Friday, and Council Rock North (1-1) will be on the road for next Friday’s SOL opener.
Abington 14-28-3-0 45
Council Rock North 7-0-0-6 13
NORTHEAST 24, CHELTENHAM 20
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