Abington blanks Plymouth Whitemarsh
ABINGTON >> The Abington defense made Plymouth Whitemarsh fight for each and every yard it gained Friday night — and that wasn’t many in a 30-0 Galloping Ghosts victory.
Abington held the Colonials to just 96 total yards of offense.
The Ghosts defense totaled two sacks by TJ Allen and Cameron Mitchell, an interception by Keith Hudoka and a safety by KJ Drummond. That doesn’t include a number of plays made by middle linebacker Jackson Taylor.
“We just had to bounce back after last week (38-6 loss to Central Bucks South),” Taylor said. “We had a poor performance. I knew we had the pieces, we just have to make them all click and have everybody on the same page. We had great practices all week.
“We had to bring intensity. I feel like halfway through (CB South loss), we died down. I’m trying to bring the whole team up, have everybody up making plays left and right. I think we did that tonight.”
Best chance
The Colonials offense did not do much in the first half. They missed a field goal on their opening possession, threw an interception and punted a few times, but only trailed 14-0 at the break.
They needed a spark and it looked like they got it.
Dontae Wilson return the second half kickoff from his own five-yard line to the Abington 10. The Plymouth Whitemarsh bench went wild congratulating Wilson on an electric return.
But a block in the back penalty bought the Colonials back to their own 11-yard line.
“That one hurt,” PW coach Dan Chang said. “We got a break there and broke one, having that come back was tough but it wasn’t an end-all thing. We’ve got to be able to rebound from those. We’ve got to be able to sustain drives and chew up some clock. We just didn’t do a great job of that tonight.”
They had two false starts on the next four plays, punted and Abington scored in just four plays to extend their lead to 21-0 early in the third quarter.
Pound the rock
Abington had success throwing the ball against PW — quarterback Billy Griffenburg went 9-for-16 for 83 yards and two touchdowns — but they didn’t really need to air it out.
The Ghosts dominated running the ball. Darryl Davis-McNeil carried 18 times for 148 yards and two touchdowns and Andrick Wesh totaled 70 yards on six carries. As a team, they ran for 236 yards on 35 carries — a 6.74-yard average.
“Offensive line did really great tonight,” Taylor, a fullback who took his only carry for 34 yards on a 2nd-and-36 situation, said. “We sharpened up on a few things on offense. It was really easy for Darryl to run tonight.”
“(Abington) was physical tonight and I think we got hurt up front a little bit,” Chang said. “They just wore us down as the game went on. We’re undersized but that’s not an excuse. We’ve got to be able to grind there with anybody.”
Looking for an answer
Plymouth Whitemarsh is off to an 0-2 start after losses to Downingtown East and Abington. The defending SOL American champs return home next week against long-time rival Norristown.
“The senior leadership here is going to dictate how the rest of the season goes,” Chang said. “We’ve had 0-2 teams in the past — a couple of them — run eight straight, win the league title and get into the playoffs. It’s going to be up to our guys to see where they lead this team in terms of their attitude in practice and work ethic in practice.
“Cross-town rivals,” Chang added about next week. “Everyone knows each other. It’s our first game after entering school so we’re going to have a big student body there. We have to get ready to prepare this week and get ready for Norristown.”
Abington 30, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Plymouth Whitemarh 0 0 0 0 — 0
Abington 7 7 14 2 — 30
A – Davis-McNeil 16-yard run (Gibbs kick)
A – Taylor 1-yard catch from Griffenburg (Gibbs kick)
A – Davis-McNeil 5-yard run (Gibbs kick)
A – Hudoka 16-yard catch from Griffenburg (Gibbs kick)
A – Drummond safety
Passing
A: Griffenburg 9-16-83-2-0.
PW: McLaughlin 8-15-44-0-1.
Rushing
A: Davis-McNeil 18-148-2, Wesh 6-70-0, Taylor 1-34-0, Griffenburg 3-(-19)-0, Hudoka 1-5-0, Berthau 2-(-5)-0, Canada 2-20-0, Jones 3-8-0.
PW: McLaughlin 9-18-0, Wilson 8-2-0, Bell 8-32-0, Iannarelli 1-(-2)-0, Smeltzer 11-2-0.
Receiving
A: Hudoka 6-69-1, Allen 1-(-1)-0, Taylor 2-15-1.
PW: Iannarelli 5-41-0, Bell 1-(-8)-0, Wilson 1-5-0, Rocchino 1-6-0.
Interceptions
A: Hudoka.
