Abington’s win over Central Bucks East highlights Thursday night’s football wrap. To view photos of the CB East/Abington game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
Doylestown – The skies over Doylestown yielded a terrific lightening and thunder performance prior to the scheduled 7 pm. game time between host Central Bucks East and Abington. The start of the game was pushed back a little over two hours, and the faithful who hung around War Memorial Field for the 9:03 pm kickoff surely expected the same fireworks on the turf as both the Patriots and Ghosts had featured explosive offenses in the first two games of the season.
However, both teams were scoreboard challenged offensively with Abington clinging to a scant 7-0 halftime lead and a slight 14-0 advantage going into the fourth period. Both the Ghosts and the Patriots were able to generate a lot of offense in terms of first downs (combined 35) and total offense (combined 786 yards). But each team missed two makeable field goal attempts – each team had a touchdown called back – and the teams combined for 14 drive-killing penalties for 140 yards.
“I guess we played the old ‘bend-not-break’ defense against a very good offensive football team,” said Abington head coach Tom Sorber. “We gave up a ton of yards, and we have a lot of work to do with our pass defense.
“But this was a tough night to play for everyone with the delay in the start of the game,” added Sorber. “Really, I have been around for a while and I never remember starting a game this late.”
“We were able to move the football, except over the goal line,” said Central Bucks East head coach John Donnelly. “We missed out on some opportunities to score, and a play here or there changes things. We prepared hard and played hard, but we just seem to be a little snake bitten.”
Abington opened the scoring on its first offensive series. After an 88-yard touchdown run by senior speedster Craig Reynolds was called back due to a holding penalty against the Ghosts, Abington scored on an 84-yard scoring play from quarterback Anthony Lee to wide out Jordan Neely. Place kicker Tim Seydel booted the first of his four successful extra points.
“Anthony seems to have improved each week and has a better and better understanding of the offense,” said Sorber. “When he has command of the offense the way he does now, good things happen.”
Reynolds – who finished with a game-high 146 yards – showcased his big-play capabilities with an electric 50-yard touchdown burst late in the third period to give the Ghosts some breathing room.
“We knew coming into the game that Reynolds had that ability,” said Donnelly. “He is one of the most explosive backs in the area.”
Abington would score two more touchdowns in the final period to ice the win. Lee would score on a nifty 32-yard run, while Reynolds concluded the scoring on the night for the Ghosts with a 12-yard run. Lee would finish the night with 9 completions for 190 yards and a touchdown, while Neely would snare 5 passes for 150 yards and his touchdown.
CB East – which collected 21 first downs – would score its only touchdown late in the game when quarterback Zach Nelsen fired a 74-yard scoring strike to Connor O’Keefe. Oliver Boucher would complete the scoring math for the evening with the extra point. Nelsen completed 18 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown, while O’Keefe caught five balls for 124 yards and his touchdown.
“We are 3-0 right now, and we can’t do better than that record-wise,” said Sorber. “We have some things to improve on, and we have a tough (SOL) National Conference schedule coming up.”
“We are 1-2, but I feel that we are really better than our record,” said Donnelly. “We will have our hands full with North Penn next week to open our (SOL Continental) conference, but we’ll be ready.”
Both Sorber and Donnelly slowly led their respective teams to the team busses parked outside War Memorial Field.
It was 11:43 pm. – and for Abington, it ended up as a very long but very good night.
Abington Ghosts 7 0 7 14 * 28
Central Bucks East Patriots 0 0 0 7 * 7
A: Jordan Neely 84 pass from Anthony Lee (Tim Seydel kick)
A: Craig Reynolds 50 run (Seydel kick)
A: Lee 32 run (Seydel kick)
A: Reynolds 12 run (Seydel kick)
CBE: Connor O’Keefe 74 pass from Zach Nelsen (Oliver Boucher kick)
Abington Central Bucks East
14 First Downs 21
216 Rushing Yards 115
190 Passing Yards 265
406 Total Offense 380
0-0 Punts / Avg 3-33
8-85 Penalties / Yds 6-55
Abington
Rushing: Craig Reynolds 12-146 2 TD; Anthony Lee 10-47 TD; Tyler Schreiner 4-27; Steve Dell 2-0; Brett Guagliona 2- (minus 4). Totals 30-216 – 3 TD.
Passing: Lee 9-17-1; 190 yards-TD.
Receiving: Jordan Neely 5-150-TD; Reynolds 4-40. Totals 9-190-TD.
Central Bucks East
Rushing: Brian Passman 17-96; Luke Warren 14-19; Chris Krier 2-17; Jack Lamb 1-2; Zach Nelsen 6 (minus-19). Totals 40-115
Passing: Nelsen 18-33-0, 265 yards and TD; Connor O;Keefe 0-1-0; 0; Brandon Ilkiw 0-1-0. Totals 18-35-0; 265 yards and TD.
Receiving: O’Keefe 5-124 & TD; Geoff Feiler 4-48; Ryan Kronmiller 4-41; Jeff Circuit 1-22; Brandon Ilkiw 2-11; Passman 1-11; Ryan Bryne 1-8.
Interceptions: Bryne.
(Stats used in the wraps below are courtesy of Calkins Media.)
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 31, WISSAHICKON 28
Mike Miller connected on a 37-yard field goal with no time showing on the scoreboard clock to propel the Bucks to the dramatic come-from-behind win. Miller's game winner was set up by a Matt Kilkenny interception. Quarterback John Fitz accounted for more than 250 yards of total offense with 190 of those yards coming on the ground in a game that saw the Bucks score 17 fourth-quarter points to erase the 21-14 lead the Trojans took into the final frame. Fitz accounted for both of his team's fourth quarter touchdowns.
Wissahickon generated plenty of offense of its own, led by the 119-yard rushing effort of Dave Stellato, who also had two touchdowns. Jonathan Laracuente had 87 yards and two TDs on 16 carries while Jared Reed had five catches for 128 yards. Defensively, Colin Williams had 7.5 tackles while Jimmy Gorman had six tackles and one sack.
Central Bucks West 0-7-7-17 31
Wissahickon7-0-14-7 28
PENNRIDGE 49, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 20
A 70-minute delay didn’t slow down the streaking Rams, who sprinted to a 35-0 lead and took a 42-7 advantage into halftime. All told, the Rams accumulated close to 400 yards of total offense. Mike Class had another big night, scoring on a 76-yard touchdown run to put the Rams on the board and finishing the night with three touchdowns on the ground and one in the air. He had 124 yards rushing. Matt Pasquale was almost perfect behind center, completing 8-of-9 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Mike Tatarowicz was his favorite receiver, hauling in two passes for 82 yards and a TD.
Thomas McGovern led the Golden Hawks with 65 yards on the ground.
The Rams enter the SOL season with a 3-0 record while the Golden Hawks fall to 0-3.
Council Rock South 0-7-7-6 20
Pennridge 21-21-0-7 49
PENNSBURY 26, DOWNINGTOWN EAST 14
The Falcons head into the league season with an impressive 2-1 record after three tough non-league games. In Friday’s win, they accumulated close to 450 yards on the ground. Ronquay Smith led an impressive ground game for the Falcons with 112 yards while Charles Snorweah, who had TD runs of eight and 15 yards, had 105 yards on the ground and 84 more in the air. Raheem Thompson added 88 yards for the Falcons, who led 14-7 at halftime and never looked back.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 47, NOTRE DAME (NJ) 37
The Titans responded to their 46-13 loss to district powerhouse Coatesville by exploding for 47 points in Thursday’s non-league win. Junior Josh Adams had over 100 yards before leaving the game in the first half with an injury. He put the Titans on the scoreboard with a 50-yard run. Quarterback Matt Radwanski threw a 50-yard TD pass to Kevin Moran and also ran 61 yards for a touchdown to close out the scoring for the Titans, who upped their record to 2-1.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 36, DOWNINGTOWN WEST 34
ARCHBISHOP RYAN 53, BENSALEM 0
The Owls managed just 133 yards of total offense while Ryan – sprinted to a 27-0 halftime lead – had more than 400 yards. Alex Archangeli led Bensalem with 59 yards on the ground. The Owls fall to 0-3 on the season.
Archbishop Ryan13-14-7-19 53
Bensalem 0-0-0-0 0
NESHAMINY at SOUDERTON (Postponed until Friday, Sept. 13, 3 p.m.)
HATBORO-HORSHAM at COUNCIL ROCK NORTH (Postponed until Monday, Sept. 16, 6 p.m.)
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