Council Rock South and Abington should be forgiven if they feel as though they’re looking in the mirror when they look across the field at each other in Friday night’s SOL National Conference showdown.
“South and Abington are kind of on the same page,” Rock South captain Justin Pugh said. “We both came into the season wanting to get our names in the mix with the Pennsburys and Neshaminys.
“We both came out against Pennsbury and Neshaminy to open up conference play, and we both played real good games and ended up losing by seven points. There are a lot of parallels between us and Abington.
“We lost our best player (running back Ryan Phares), and they lost their best play (quarterback Kevin Morton). Our teams match up real well, and it’s just going to be a real good game.”
Friday’s game – at 7 p.m. at Council Rock Stadium – is huge for both sides. The winner will have a leg up in the battle for one of the top three spots in the tough National Conference.
“This is probably our second biggest game of the year after Neshaminy,” Abington captain Tim Clark said. “I see us, Neshaminy, South and Pennsbury as the top teams in the league. I see the three games against those three teams as our biggest tests of the year.”
While some point to the Ghosts’ 7-0 loss to Neshaminy in their conference opener as proof they could play with the ‘big boys,’ Clark doesn’t see it that way.
“I don’t think it proved much to our team,” he said. “We knew we could have won that game. I think it proved something to the rest of the league and to the people who underestimated us.”
Despite the loss of Morton to graduation, the Ghosts – behind the strong arm of junior quarterback Sam Kind – are still an offensive juggernaut. Kind served notice in Abington’s season-opening 28-13 win over Central Bucks East that he was the real deal, finishing the night 11-for-14 for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
In last week’s 37-0 rout over William Tennent, Kind had four touchdowns – two rushing and two throwing.
“Their quarterback had big shoes to fill, but I’ll tell you what – I think he’s already filled them,” Rock South coach Vince Bedesem said. “Morton is gone, and not that they’ve forgotten about him already, but this kid will make them forget about him.
“He is a very, very good quarterback. He has a great arm, and he’s not afraid to run with the ball when he sees an opportunity. It just seems he’s a real good field general. He’s very impressive, and he has great receivers to throw to. We have to bring our ‘A’ game Friday night, not only to combat them but to come out on top against them.”
Pugh, who plays offensive guard and defensive end, also points to containing Kind as a key.
“We’re going to have to get after him, send 11 kids to the ball,” the Syracuse-bound senior said. “If we do that, maybe we’ll be able to slow him down enough for our offense to put some points on the board.”
Kind isn’t Abington’s only weapon. Julien Ireland rushed for over 100 yards last week against Tennent.
“Abington has very good team speed,” Bedesem said. “They’re very physical, and defensively, they just fly all around the ball. When you watch them, it’s a bittersweet thing. I’m really impressed, and I love the way they have coached them up, but going against them – oh boy!
“I’m very, very impressed with how they are overall as a team.”
While the Ghosts have shown they can put points on the board, it is their defense that just might be the story of their season so far.
Through five games, the Ghosts (4-1) have allowed just 40 points. Last year, they allowed more than 40 points in a game on two occasions.
“Last year our defense was our Achilles Heel,” Abington coach Tim Sorber said. “Coach Kevin Conlin put a tremendous amount of work in the offseason improving the defense.
“The kids have bought into the system and are going to the football. This will be a big test on Friday night.”
The Golden Hawks (4-1) are coming off a 16-12 win over Bensalem. Rush Chichkin was the team’s leading rusher with 90 yards.
One week earlier, in their conference opening 27-20 loss to Pennsbury, the Golden Hawks had 25 first downs and accumulated 350 yards of total offense – 329 yards on the ground, led by quarterback Terence McGovern’s 118 yards.
Sorber, for one, is not looking forward to facing Rock South’s option offense.
“They cause a tremendous amount of problems for us with the style of offense they run,” he said. “They run an option, and we haven’t seen that in a long time.
“They’re a team that does a really great job of running the football and running it with the quarterback, the fullback and the tailback. They’re probably one of the more physical teams we’ve faced. They and Neshaminy are very strong up front. It will be a big test for our defense.”
While Neshaminy put just seven points on the board in its win over Abington, Tennent managed only 27 yards of total offense against the Ghosts.
“We changed our defensive alignment from a 4-4 to a 3-5, which brings in more linebackers and less D-linemen,” said Clark, the Ghosts’ noseguard. “Everyone has stepped up, and our defense is a lot better this year.
“The alignment changed some of it, but it’s mostly just the hard work and everything we put into it.”
Friday night’s game marks the beginning of a new rivalry as Rock South – a transplant from the Continental Conference – faces Abington for the first time.
“This means everything to our team,” Pugh said. “Whoever wins this game is the third team in the conference and is the team to beat.
“I’m pretty excited about it. I feel we can beat any team in the league, and everyone on our team wants to go out and prove it on Friday.”
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