Abington seeks to restore luster in 2015

ABINGTON — After spending his freshman year in private school, Luke Werner wasn’t sure what kind of football program he was joining when he transferred to Abington as a sophomore.

Now a senior two-way lineman, Werner is among the many Galloping Ghosts hoping to restore the shine to the tradition-rich program he joined a few years ago. After a 6-5 season that saw the Ghosts go 2-5 in SOL National play and miss the District 1-AAAA playoffs, its pretty clear what this group is after.

“I didn’t think it was going to be a good program but there’s a lot of tradition here and a lot of good coaches,” Werner said. “That’s what the atmosphere is. Everyone wants to work, everyone wants to get better and that’s all you can ask for.”

Werner, who plays offensive tackle and defensive end, is a prime example of that. After the second practice on the third day of camp, the senior stayed to work with a younger lineman that wanted to improve his technique.

The Ghosts do have their work cut out for them, as the SOL National remains one of the toughest conferences in eastern Pennsylvania and Abington has its share of positions to fill. Quarterback David Kretschman is back for his third year as a starter, two years removed from a campaign that saw him win two playoff games.

“We have a lot of young guys this year that look good out there,” Kretschman. “I feel comfortable, I know the offense a lot more and I can help out the other guys when they have questions.”

Things look promising for Abington at the start of last year after a 3-0 start before it fell apart over the final seven weeks. For whatever reason, that team was never able to snap out of it, something the returning players and coach Tim Sorber think about.

“It’s the ultimate coach’s cliche but it’s one week at a time,” Sorber said. “You have to prepare, every week is a one week season and I don’t think I did that well enough. We got into a rut and we stayed in that rut. I have a long memory, these kids have short memories and I think I need to do a better job of having a short memory and say we just have to worry about this Friday coming up.”

Top Photo: Abington’s Taji Redd breaks up a pass at practice on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. (Bob Raines/Montgomery Media)