By Scott Huff
The Abington-Council Rock South Suburban One League National Conference game appeared to be the Big Ticket. Both the Ghosts and the host Hawks entered the game with impressive 4-1 records, and the winner would surely have to sweat out a victory.
Wrong!
Abington took Rock South to the proverbial woodshed and gave the Golden Hawks a 42-21 spanking. The final score was much closer than the play on the field as Ghost quarterback Sam Kind fired a career high five touchdown passes.
“Sure I was a little surprised, but they just played better than we did,” said Rock South head coach Vince Bedesem. “We made some coaching errors tonight, but they are a good football team.
“I would argue that this quarterback might be better than the one they had last year (Kevin Morton),” added Bedesem. “Not only can he throw the football, but he can tuck the ball and run with it as well.”
At the outset of the game, it looked like Rock South would be able to compete. The Hawks pieced together an impressive 13-play, 86-yard touchdown drive on their initial possession that was capped by a three-yard bolt by B.J. Deola. Rich Bruno’s point after touchdown gave Rock South a 7-0 lead.
“They (CR South) showed us something on that first drive that we hadn’t seen from them on film all season,” said Abington coach Tim Sorber. “But we made some adjustments after that first series, and we came up with some defensive stops.”
Indeed.
The Ghost defense limited the Hawk offense to NO first downs and only 18 yards of offense the remainder of the first half.
It didn’t take Abington long to respond to the Hawk touchdown drive.
Kind – who opened the scoring drive with a 30-yard pass completion to Anthony Hensley – culminated the drive with a 15-yard TD pass to Dom Massey. Ian Macmillan added the extra point, and the game was deadlocked at 7-7.
The second Ghost touchdown came on the initial play of the second period when Kind tossed a nine-yard TD strike to running back Julien Ireland.
Abington would stretch the lead to 21-7 as it pieced together a superb 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. It was another Kind-to-Massey TD connection – this one a five-yard scoring pass – that capped the drive.
The Ghosts would score still another touchdown before the close of the first half. Kind floated his fourth touchdown pass of the half to Alex Eaton with just 13 seconds remaining before intermission.
Abington scored its 35th unanswered point on its initial drive of the second half when Kind connected with Hensley on a gorgeous 52-yard scoring strike for his fifth TD pass of the game.
“We wanted to come out tonight and show that we were a better team than the one that lost to Neshaminy,” said Kind in reference to Abington’s 7-0 loss to the Redskins two weeks ago. “That was a frustrating loss, and we wanted to play well against a good team.”
The Ghosts scored their 42nd unanswered point later in the period. Ireland – who finished with a game-high 164 yards on 15 carries – dashed 62-yards for the score.
And when the scoreboard flashed 42-7 – the ‘mercy-rule’ went into effect.
“I don’t think anyone expected that,” said Sorber. “And I don’t think that too many people thought that Abington would be 5-1 six games into the season.”
Council Rock South scored a pair of fourth period touchdowns to make the final score more respectable. Billy Flemming scored on a seven-yard run, and Andrew Haviland caught a 20-yard TD strike from Terrence McGovern.
This game might have huge implications on possible playoff invitations, but Sorber isn’t looking too far down that road.
“It’s way too early to project that far ahead,” said Sorber. “I hope to be talking about that on October 31st.”
You can bet that Sorber will have that conversation.
Abington 7 21 14 0-42
CR South 7 0 0 14-21
CRS: Deola 3 run (Bruno kick)
A: Massey 15 pass from Kind (Macmillan kick)
A: Ireland 9 pass from Kind (Macmillan kick)
A: Massey 5 pass from Kind (Macmillan kick)
A: Eaton 5 pass from Kind (Macmillan kick)
A: Hensley 52 pass from Kind (Macmillan kick)
A: Ireland 62 run (Macmillan kick)
CRS: Flemming 7 run (Bruno kick)
CRS: Haviland 20 pass from McGovern (Macmillan kick)
Abington Rock South
15 First Downs 11
186 Yards/Rush 138
180 Yards/Pass 80
366 Total Offense 218
2-29 Punts/Avg. 5-29
3-20 Pen./Yds. 1-5
Abington
RUSHING: Ireland 15-164-TD; Kind 6-43; Eaton 1-4; Rines 1-0; Deal 5-(minus 2); Sparhawk 1-(minus 10); Konway 1-(minus 13). Totals: 30-86-1 TD.
PASSING: Kind 13-21-0; 180 yards – 5 TD.
RECEIVING: Hensley 4-97-TD; Presta 3-39; Massey 2-20- 2 TD; Ireland 2-17-TD; Eaton 1-5-TD; O’Hannon 1-2. Totals 13-180-0; 5 TD.
Council Rock South
RUSHING: Chichkin 12-67; Flemming 7-25-TD; Deola 8-24-TD; Ambrose 2-15; McGovern 2-5; Welch 1-2. Totals 32-138- 2 TD.
PASSING: McGovern 5-10-1; 62 yards – TD; Flemming 2-2-0; 18 yards. Totals 7-12-1; 80 yards – TD.
RECEIVING: Haviland 3-28-TD; DeLuca 2-24; Damigian 1-15; Chichkin 1-13. Totals 7-80- TD.
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