Council Rock South can’t catch up to Abington
For BucksLocalSports Council Rock South played Abington to a 1313 draw in the second half of last Friday’s road duel with the Ghosts. Trouble was Abington outscored the Golden Hawks, 17-0, in the first half and went on to a 30-13 triumph, registering its fourth league win of the season.
CR South has but one conference win, a 32-13 victory over winless Truman (2-6, 0-5).
“We know we’re better than our record shows,” said CR South receiver Cameron Crosley, who scored both touchdowns against the Ghosts. “We just got to start playing with some consistency.
“We just got to get our tempo back.”
The Hawks played Abington to the second-half draw, despite fumbling the ball away on the first play from scrimmage after the inter- mission.
“Stuff like that – we can’t get down. We keep playing and we come back,” commented Crosley.
“We’re just not catching any breaks but we’re still gonna fight, no matter what.”
Still, it cost South six points as it took the Ghosts just two plays to capitalize on the mistake as they registered their third touchdown of the night.
*** There was a lot going on Oct. 19 at Abington’s Schwarzman Stadium, also known as The Graveyard.
The Ghosts were hosting a Breast Cancer Awareness night and it seemed everyone in the stadium had on something in many shades of pink.
It was Homecoming, so it was a big crowd, not to mention the extended halftime to introduce the Homecoming court.
Finally, Comcast
(CN8) was on hand to broadcast the duel, not a normal occurrence for a high school football game.
It could have been easy for the Abington players to overlook the business at hand – facing Rock South in a Suburban One National Conference battle.
Not a chance. The Ghosts strung together three firsthalf drives that netted 17 points, then stopped CR South on fourth down at the Abington 1-yard line 33 seconds before halftime.
Abington quarterback Dylan Collins got things going in the Ghosts’ direction when he capped an eightplay, 27-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring plunge. The drive was set up by 33-yard punt return by senior hendall Stewart.
Sean Treacy made it 10-0 with a 25-yard field goal less than a minute into the second period when a drive stalled at the CR South 8-yard line.
Craig Reynolds, the Ghosts’ leading rusher, then bulled in from four yards out midway through the second quarter to make it 17-0.
The defense stopped the South offense just before half, then it stepped up on the first play of the third quarter when Dustyn Collins scooped up a Hawks fumble and returned it 17 yards to the 6-yard line. Collins capitalized on the turnover with a 4-yard touchdown run.
South broke up the shutout when quarterback Greg Paprocki connected with Crosley on a 57-yard scoring pass midway through the third quarter.
“We got a couple hitches – two in a row,” said Crosley. “I knew that on a hitchand-go, I can beat [the defender] deep.”
“[Paprocki] had a good throw and I went up and got it and just took it in.”
The Hawks threatened again, but on the second play of the fourth quarter, heith Boggi stopped Paprocki on fourth-and-one at the Abington 20. The Ghosts turned it around and marched 80 yards on nine plays. Reynolds picked up 38 of the yards on five carries before Collins hit Cage Gormley with an 8-yard touchdown pass to seal the victory.
Crosley made things closer when he took an endaround 16 yards for his second score of the game, but the Ghosts took care of running out the clock.
Reynolds led all ballcarriers with 115 yards on 21 carries, while Tyler Schreiner added 60 yards on four carries for the Ghosts.
Christian Crane led the Hawks with 39 yards on five carries. Rocco Spaddacino added 34 yards on 12 rushes. Paprocki tallied 34 more on 13 keepers. Anthony Aliment registered nine yards on two totes.
South needs to regroup in order to regain the momentum it gathered after defeating the Tigers Oct. 5 and taking a 14-0 halftime lead Oct. 12 at Neshaminy. Crosley looks at the task as doable.
“We feel good every week because we know we work harder than any team to
come out and get a win,” he said. “Sometimes, it doesn’t go your way.
“We’ll keep working hard no matter what. Tomorrow, we’re going to come out and work even harder.”
The loss drops South to 1-4 in the SOL National Conference, 1-7 overall on the season. The Hawks travel to William Tennent Friday then wrap things up against CR North Nov. 2 in Newtown.
The Ghosts, now 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the SONL, travel to Neshaminy Friday, face Tennent Nov. 2 and host Cheltenham in their annual Thanksgiving tilt. BucksLocalSports Editor Steve Sherman contributed to this newspiece