Berthau powers Abington past Bensalem in SOL National opener

ABINGTON >> In the opener of Suburban One League National Confernece season, the Abington Galloping Ghosts dominated from the first play to the end in a 49-15 victory against the Bensalem Owls.

Abington (3-1, 1-0 conference) took a 7-0 lead on the very first play of the game when Tamir Berthau launched a 70-yard pass to Chris Kretchman.

Berthau eventually finished the game with four total touchdowns, all of them in the first half.

“We were looking at Bensalem’s defense all week and we knew that we had to go deep early in the game,” said Berthau. “We wanted to come out and make a statement in our first league game and that’s what we did.”

With a rare full moon in the sky on Friday the 13th, the Galloping Ghosts held a strong 34-7 lead at halftime before putting its second team in for most of the second half.

Berthau had two passing and two rushing touchdowns in the victory to lift Abington to a 1-0 start in SOL National action.

Abington head coach Kevin Conlin was thrilled for his team’s performance to start the league season.

“We had six guys making a reception tonight and that’s what we want,” said Conlin. “Berthau has been working hard for a good passer rating and tonight he did outstanding.”

Berthau was 10-of-12 only having one incomplete pass in the first half as well as the second half.

“One of our goals was to make easy completions on first and second downs and we did that today,” said Conlin. “We have been working on the short passing game since the summer and today we focused on being very efficient.”

“We worked on the deep passing game all week and getting the mod in a little early,” added Conlin. “We thought this was a good game to start that stuff and this might be something to look at more as the season roles on.”

After losing the first game of the season, Abington has now won three straight games including a tough 19-7 win at Cheltenham last week.

The Abington football squad looks for its fourth straight win next Friday when it travels to Council Rock South for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

The Bensalem Owls (2-2, 0-1) will look to bounce back from a two-game losing streak when they host Central Bucks South next Friday with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.