Abington topples Plymouth Whitemarsh

WHITEMARSH >> After spending the offseason talking about turning the page, the Plymouth Whitemarsh and Abington football teams spent the last week just trying to make an opening week loss a distant memory.

The quickest way to forget the week one setback was to open the Suburban One schedule with a win on Friday night. The scoring started when Ghosts’ quarterback Tamir Berthau scampered down the sideline in the second quarter and they never looked back, capturing a 16-7 win.

“This is a new year for us,” Colonials coach Dan Chang said. “We can do some good things. We are getting closer each week. We were ready to go today and it is going to be the same this upcoming week. They are not feeling sorry for themselves. They know what it is going to take.”

Drearier than the weather itself, was the self-inflicted wounds by the Colonials (0-2). First, penalties put halts to early drives. Then fumbles forced the game to go in Coach Kevin Conlin’s club’s favor. The Colonials were going in for the tying score right before halftime, but a fumble on the one yard line kept the home team out of the end zone.

“We are going to try and build off this win,” Conlin said. “That is a tough team with tough kids. We are trying to build our program with that same type of toughness and that is why it is a great win.”

Sometimes the game tilts depending on what you do with opportunity. Capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes can swing the score in a team’s favor. The Colonials recovered a muffed punt in the red-zone on the drive that eventually stalled out when the running back put the ball on the ground.

“We have to eliminate the big mistakes,” Chang said. “It could have been a different ball game. We fumbled the ball going in and had big penalties. We are going to be okay.”

Resting on a one score lead, the Ghosts (1-1) defensive line continued to get pressure on the Colonials junior quarterback Larry McLaughlin. The signal caller was sacked an astounding six times on the night. It was hard to get any momentum going from his backside.

“Defense is playing really well,” Conlin said. “They are really flying to the ball and working hard all week. This week you have to play a veer offense and last week was a spread. Our kids have seen a lot of different fronts, but have taken to it.”

The Colonials best pushback came when they came back from the locker room after the half. Brian Dresnin dropped his shoulder and plowed into the end zone from seven yards out to bring the score back to even at one score a piece. That momentum never carried over to the following drives.

“We did a lot of good things tonight,” Chang said. “We have to be more consistent. We are family and play for each and we never quit. We get stopped, but we show up, and stick together.”

Ghosts Andrick Wesh welcomed the fourth quarter with a 47 yard touchdown. He emerged from a pile of tacklers yards off the line of scrimmage and had plenty of room to run after doing so. The sophomore carried 16 times for 92 yards in the first of hopefully several wins this season.

“We have been having trouble finding our rhythm on offense,” Conlin said. “We had to bounce back (from Northeast) against a tough Dan Chang coached team and that is what we did.”

Abington 0 7 3 6 – 16

P.W. 0 0 7 0 – 7

First Quarter

Second Quarter

ABI – Tamir Berthau 15 yard run (Antonio Ditri kick good)

Third Quarter

PW – Brian Dresnin seven yard run (Nicholas Choi kick good)

ABI – Reece Gibbs 30 yard field goal

Fourth Quarter

ABI – Wesh 47 yard run (kick blocked)

ABI PW

First downs 8 10

Rushing yards 180 132

Passing yards 5 37

Total yards 185 169

Punts-avg. 3-37 2-14

Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-2

Penalties-yards 7-45 9-60

RUSHING

Abington – Wesh – 16-92, TD; Canada 3-3; Berthau 9-88, TD; Watts 1-(-3)

P.W. – Matin 17-70; Dresnin 11-62, TD; McLaughlin 11-(-15); Trioli 3-23; Choi 1-(-8)

PASSING

Abington – Berthau 3-7-0 – 5;

P.W. – McLaughlin 6-11-1 – 37;

RECEIVING

Abington – Frazier 1-3; Pearson 2-2;

P.W. – Dresnin 3-19; Trioli 1-11; Gillespie 1-6; Matin 1-1;

INTERCEPTIONS

Abington – Pearson

P.W. – none

SACKS

Abington – Allen (2); Lukens (2); Jones; Baker

Sacks – Paciello (2), McLaughlin