SuburbanOneSports.com will also provide coverage of the SOL American Conference showdown between Upper Moreland and Cheltenham.
The Pennsbury Falcons have gone about their business with almost methodical precision, outscoring their opponents 284-40 en route to an 8-0 record.
Still, the players don’t believe their team gets the respect it deserves.
“People are always saying, ‘Oh, they haven’t beaten anyone yet,’ which is not true,” Pennsbury senior Dante Devine said. “Council Rock North and South are good teams. They’ve been winning games, and we played both of them.
“This is a game that can show that we are good and we can beat a good team.”
The game Devine believes could silence the Falcons’ critics will take place on Friday night when Pennsbury travels to Schwarzman Stadium for a key National Conference showdown against Abington.
“This is just another game we have to step up, come up to the plate big and play hard,” Devine said. “These are big rivalry games.
“We have been playing them for a long time – they know how we play, and we know how they play. We know the kids on their team, and they know us. We know what their weaknesses and strengths are. They know what ours are too, so we’re going to have to come up big and see if we can stop them.”
In other words, it’s business as usual for the undefeated Falcons.
For the Ghosts, it’s a chance to prove they’ve bounced back from a pair of setbacks to Council Rock South (41-38) and Council Rock North (34-3).
The Ghosts (3-2 SOL, 5-2) might have been able to write off their loss to South as just ‘one of those games.’ The thrashing they took at the hands of North was another story.
“After Council Rock North, we were kind of like, ‘What happened?’” Abington senior Giuliano Presta said. “That game took all of us (by surprise) – did we really play today? What was going on?
“We weren’t ourselves. We didn’t play Abington football. That game was a blur for all of us. We weren’t clicking in any way possible, but we had to push forward.”
A tough week of practice included a meeting of the team’s seniors.
“We talked and got everything out that needed to be out,” Presta said. “We came back and beat Bensalem.”
The Ghosts rolled to a 33-7 win over the Owls, and coach Tim Sorber credited his seniors for pulling the team together.
“The way we lost against South – we had an emotional hangover the week after,” he said. “What was lost is that Council Rock North is a very good football team that – up until our game – played their best game against us. They did a lot of nice things. Against South we played the should’ve, would’ve, could’ve game. Against North, I thought we got thoroughly defeated.
“Our seniors - after the Rock North game, we said, ‘Let’s put this behind us and move on.’”
There are only 17 seniors on Abington’s roster, and all 17 are starters on offense, defense or special teams.
“I thought the entire senior class did a really nice job of getting the rest of the team to move on and get our focus back,” Sorber said. “These upperclassmen have been through some ups and downs when they were sophomores and juniors, so that helped out also.”
Sorber knows it will be no easy task for his team to contain a Falcon offense that has been averaging 35.5 points a game, but he is most impressed by a defense that has allowed an average of just five points a game.
“Everybody talks about their offense, but they’re extremely physical on defense,” Sorber said. “They rotate four or five guys in on their defensive line, and they’re athletic, they’re big, strong kids, and they do a very nice job of taking away your run game.
“Their D-ends funnel everything into their linebackers, and their linebackers run real well, and they’re strong kids too.”
Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder acknowledged that his linebacking corps anchored by Chris Liccione, Diamond Ruffin and Kevin Bree have been rock solid.
“They have done a nice job,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Maybe they don’t get the interceptions that the D-backs do or the sacks the D-ends do, but they do a solid job for us.”
If the Falcons’ linebackers and D-line weren’t enough to contend with, the Falcons also boast outstanding defensive backs.
“What makes their defense really good this year compared to years past is that they have very good defensive backs,” Sorber said. “Their four defensive backs do a good job.
“The Williams kid (Eric Williams) runs extremely well, tackles and defends extremely well. That’s what impresses me most.”
The Falcons' defense will be assigned the not-so-easy task of containing a high-flying Ghost passing attack featuring senior quarterback Sam Kind and wide receiver Anthony Hensley. Kind has already thrown for 1,243 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. Hensley has 561 yards and seven TDs. Running back Julien Ireland has 663 yards on the ground and seven TDs.
"Like most teams, you look for their formations," Snyder said. "You look at their big plays, which I'm sure they're doing for us."
The Ghosts' defense, meanwhile, will have to contend with the Falcons’ ground and pound attack that features Devine and quarterback Brandon Pepper. Devine, who is coming off a 236-yard, 3-touchdown effort against William Tennent, is zeroing in on the 1,000-yard mark. Through eight games he has 974 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Devine is averaging 7.1 yards a carry and Pepper 5.5.
“Devine is a really tough runner that has breakaway speed,” Sorber said. “He’s a two-dimensional kind of runner. He’s a physical kid that can get the four or five yards when you need him to, or he can break the long one.
“The Pepper kid can do a lot of things running the football, and when they put Williams out there at wide receiver, he’s a threat to make the big play too. Year after year, it’s kind of a carbon copy. Galen does a great job of building the program up and making it a consistent winner year after year. It’s a credit to him and his coaching staff.”
Ask Presta the key to Friday’s game, and he has an immediate answer.
“Special teams, like our coaches say, win and lose games,” the senior tight end said. “Our coaches emphasize it tremendously.
“We also need our defense to force turnovers, and I know we will get turnovers, and our offense will go on the field and score and score as many times as they can.”
In Abington’s win over the Owls, junior defensive lineman Jon Konway returned a fumble for a touchdown.
“He has been playing very well,” Sorber said.
The Ghosts received a strong performance from Tim Salley, who led the ground attack with 79 yards on 13 carries.
“I don’t want to say he came out of nowhere – not for us, but he sparked us,” Sorber said. “Our offensive line played a solid game, and we were able to run the football and control the clock.”
The Falcons are coming off a 43-12 win over Tennent – a game that, according to Devine, taught the team a valuable lesson.
“Practices have to stay at a high level, and we have to stay focused all week for the games,” he said. “We can’t look on to next week because that’s what we did a little bit against Tennent, and we kind of slipped up, and they scored two touchdowns.
“We had to get focused again at halftime.”
Focus doesn’t figure to be a problem for either team on Friday night. This contest promises to have fans rocking the house at Schwarzman Stadium.
“It’s a fun time right now,” Sorber said. “The kids realize that the games we have had in the past against Pennsbury have always been battles.
“Two years ago, we beat them. Last year, we lost to them. I think our kids have some pretty good confidence that if they play well they’ll have a chance to win.”
“I love this,” Presta said. “It’s all-out. There’s no tomorrow. This is the last home game for us. You never know.
“We had Neshaminy earlier this year, and that was great, but this week is going to be bigger, and we know it is.”
And perhaps it’s time people stop suggesting that Pennsbury hasn’t played anybody yet.
“We played the two Rock teams, who were very good teams,” Snyder said. “We have Abington and Neshaminy. We have five teams in the league that have the potential to be in the playoffs, and probably three or four are going to be there.
“Our league – I can’t speak for any others – has been pretty competitive. There are a couple of teams that are down – no question about it, but the bottom line is you’re always trying to get better, so that’s motivation. You try and keep improving. You don’t always do that, but that is the motivation.”
That and winning football games.
Last year: Pennsbury 24, Abington 14
Last week: Pennsbury 43, William Tennent 12 (Dante Devine rushed for 236 yards and three touchdowns on a night that saw the Falcons accumulate 450 yards on the ground and close to 500 yards overall.)
Abington 33, Bensalem 7 (Tim Salley led Abington’s ground game with 79 yards on 13 carries on a night that saw the Ghosts collect 161 yards rushing. Sam Kind threw for 97 yards and three touchdowns. Anthony Hensley was the Ghosts’ top receiver, hauling in four passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.)
On the air…
This week’s Pennsbury at Abington game will be broadcast live of WBCB, 1490 AM, beginning with the pregame show at 6 p.m. and followed by the game at 7 p.m. The Bensalem at Neshaminy game will be broadcast live on the internet at www.wbcb1490.com with the pregame show beginning at 6:45 and kickoff at 7 p.m. The Pennsbury/Abington game will be replayed on the internet following the Bensalem/Neshaminy game, and at the same time, the Bensalem/Neshaminy game will be replayed on WBCB 1490 AM.
On WNPV 1440 AM, the Central Bucks East at Souderton game will be broadcast live, beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. The Hatboro-Horsham at North Penn game will be broadcast live on the internet at www.wnpv1440.com, beginning with the pregame show at 7:25.
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