TOWAMENCIN — Inexperience and injuries weren’t enough to derail North Penn’s season.
Instead, all-purpose running back Amir Major scored four touchdowns as North Penn rolled past Abington 35-18 for its fourth straight victory in Friday’s regular-season finale at Crawford Stadium.
The Knights (6-4, 5-2 SOL National) have overcome key injuries to their linebacking corps, cornerbacks, wide receivers and quarterback this year.
Now, they’re in the playoffs.
No. 13 North Penn likely will face No. 4 Central Bucks South (9-1) on the road this coming Friday, once official seedings are set.
“We’re 2-4 and getting ready to play CB East (earlier in the year), and the kids gutted it out, stopped them at the end of the game to win 14-7,” North Penn coach Dick Beck told suburbanonesports.com after Friday’s win. “We go and play Pennsbury, and we get down 21-7 at halftime. The kids battled back, and we win 24-21.
“Last week, against Pennridge, we get up 17-7, we let them come back. They missed the extra point, the game ends on the 20-yard line, and they just need a field goal to win.
“Tonight was a little more comfortable, we got some young guys in, but to win four in a row from where we came from, I give the senior leadership a lot of credit,” Beck said. “A lot of the seniors have given us some great leadership and kept these guys going. We were down and out.”
Major put the Knights up early on Friday, before Abington (1-9, 0-7) got on the board.
North Penn re-took the lead when quarterback Matt Bucksar connected with tight end Aidan Eves — Bucksar’s replacement at QB a few weeks ago, when Bucksar was in concussion protocol — from four yards out in the second quarter.
The Knights added three more scores before halftime to go up 28-6 on the struggling Ghosts, who have suffered one of their most difficult seasons in recent memory.
In that second quarter, an Owen Harris interception led to another Major touchdown, which he soon followed up with his third of the game.
Major, just for good measure, scored again in the fourth period to make it 35-6. Abington scored a pair of late TDs to close the gap, but the game was already decided by then.
“We played a bend-but-don’t-break defense,” Beck said. “We had a couple of turnovers, which was nice.”
Beck’s teams have a history of overcoming early-season adversity. CB South’s only loss this year was to Central Bucks West. Friday’s matchup against North Penn will be must-watch.
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NORTH PENN 35, ABINGTON 18
Abington 6 0 0 12 — 18
North Penn 7 21 7 0 — 35
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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or visit ChrisDeFranco.com.
