Brian Dresnin, Plymouth Whitemarsh run all over Abington in District 1-6A first round
ABINGTON >> Last week Brian Dresnin said reaching the 1,000-yard milestone was the best moment of his life.
Little did he know, he would be topping that feeling just a week later.
Plymouth Whitemarsh’s senior running back ran for 299 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries in the Colonials first playoff win in 20 years — a 56-42 victory over Abington Friday night at Abington Senior High School.
“It’s surreal to me,” Dresnin said after the District 1-6A opening-round triumph. “I never expected to come out here and do that. I expect every game — I want to do as best as possible and I tell people, ‘I’m going to have so-and-so touchdowns,’ but I don’t know if I really believe it. To just come out here and do that, it was surreal.
“The offensive line all season has been so dominant and I can’t thank them enough — I tell them everyday how thankful I am for them.”
Dresnin went on to credit linemen Jake Davis, Zach Davis, Tim McNally, Dylan Duran and Dan Kahley and wide receiver Josh Lynch for opening running lanes and quarterback Larry McLaughlin for making the right reads in the option-based attack.
It was clear from the start it was going to be a special night for Dresnin. The 11th-seeded Colonials opened the game with a six-play scoring drive. Dresnin handled four of the carries, including a 10-yard touchdown.
Later in the first quarter he converted a 4th-and-1 to setup a touchdown and caught a 13-yard pass — PW’s only completion of the night — on a 4th-and-9 to setup another score.
His highlight of the night came in the second quarter. After an Abington punt pinned the Colonials back inside their own five, Dresnin had back-to-back carries — the second a 93-yard touchdown run.
He added an 11-yard score in the second quarter and a 16-yard trip to the end zone in the fourth — both increasing 14-point leads to 21.
“There were a couple times where we felt like maybe (Abington) was getting the momentum back,” Dresnin said, “but then we just took it right back with another great offensive possession.”
It wasn’t just Dresnin doing damage on the ground. As a team the Colonials posted 477 rushing yards against the sixth-seeded Ghosts.
Michael Paciello rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns on four carries, Christopher Pierce posted 38 yards and a touchdown and McLaughlin 19 yards.
“Those are the guys we’ve been riding all year,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “Brian, Mike, the Pierce twins (Christopher and Christian), Ben Felgoise and Larry — he’s the orchestrator of everything.”
“It’s like a four- or five-headed monster,” Abington head coach Kevin Conlin said. “The quarterback does a great job reading the plays. They do a great job reading the defenses. It starts with (Dresnin). He had an unbelievable game. There’s nothing more I can say about him. He was just up and down the field — ran a speed option for a great play, everything. It was unbelievable.”
Fast start
Plymouth Whitemarsh scored the game’s first 28 points. Dresnin sandwiched two scores around a pair of Paciello touchdowns to give the Colonials complete control from the start.
“Normally we like to kick the ball off in the beginning of the game and start on defense,” Dresnin said, “but we started on offense this game. It was huge scoring, but then getting the defensive stops after that — I just think our momentum was through the roof.”
The Colonials forced three-and-outs on Abington’s two first-quarter possessions. On those possessions the Ghosts totalled negative yardage on six plays plus three false start penalties.
“We struggled in the first quarter,” Conlin said. “(PW was) really well-prepared. They outplayed us tremendously. They did a great job scouting us, doing all the different things. We tried to make a couple adjustments, obviously, but hats off to them.”
“That first quarter,” Chang said, “going up three scores was huge. Abington — credit to them they did a great job moving the ball there end of the second half and they have a lot of good players on that team an they’re well-coached. It was a good win for us.”
Abington had a promising start to its first drive in the second quarter, but a 15-yard penalty negated a first down and put the hosts in a 2nd-and-21 hole they couldn’t get out of. The next time they got the ball back it was 28-0.
Berthau’s big night
Abington senior quarterback Tamir Berthau finished his high school career with a dominant performance.
He completed 21-of-30 passes for 249 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 74 yards and another score.
During the game he reached a milestone no other Abington player has ever achieved — 1,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a single season.
“He’s a kid who’s worked hard his whole career here,” Conlin said. “He’s done everything he’s supposed to do this year. He’s had an unbelievable year, everything. It’s just been awesome. I can’t say anything more about him, either. He’s just been a great person for us.”
End of the line
The loss brings an end to Abington’s season.
The Ghosts went 8-2 during the regular season and won the Suburban One League National Conference championship.
“It was a great season,” Conlin said. “It’s the first time we won the title in 30 years. All that stuff is unbelievable what we were able to accomplish with the group that we had, the seniors that we had. Mix in a couple sophomores, mix in a couple juniors — it’s really great efforts. It’s tough to look back on it, but it’s a season we’re going to remember forever.”
