CB West rides all-around effort to shut out Abington
DOYLESTOWN >> The intensity of Central Bucks West’s practices this week showed on the field Friday night.
The Bucks went after it this week, including a couple of live tackle practices but it definitely seemed to spark something in the defense, which came out flying against visiting Abington. Bolstered by a couple key returning players, the Bucks defense made life miserable for the Ghosts all night at War Memorial Field and extended their shutout streak to six quarters.
Behind a fired-up defense and another stout running effort, West handled Abington 21-0 to win its second straight game.
“We had a really hard week of practice, but it definitely helped us pick up the tempo,” West senior defensive back Trot Lare said. “We got some key guys back, started executing and started believing in ourselves. We got out there and just executed.”
Lare was one of those key returners, coming back off an injury and getting right back into the mix alongside his hard-hitting teammates. Before he and the rest of the defense even had a chance to take the field, they were playing with the lead thanks to a strong opening drive off the kickoff.
A week ago, the Bucks run game pounded its way past Central Bucks South after a back-and-forth first half behind a big effort from Donte Mancini. Mancini was still a force, picking up 70 yards on the ground while also laying out a few big hits at safety but he wasn’t the top runner on the night.
Friday, that distinction fell to Eli Boehm, who was electric rushing for 147 yards on just 15 carries. Boehm and Vinny Cherubini were the catalysts on a 5:45 minute drive out of the gates that ended with Ganz Cooper pushing in from two yards out.
“Last week, we ran really strong and just looked to continue it this week,” Boehm said. “We have three strong runners, so we’re just doing what we have to do in order to win. Our mentality coming in was to start off the game strong and I’d say we did it.”
West’s first drive took 13 plays and saw the Bucks pick up five first downs as they sauntered down the field. Abington’s first drive featured two flags on the Ghosts and a three-and-out.
It would be a theme through most of the first half, where the home side ran 35 plays to just 19 for the visiting Ghosts.
“We stink offensively and that’s on me,” Ghosts coach Kevin Conlin said. “There will be some changes, something’s got to be different.”
Conlin felt his team’s defense played well and the Ghosts did post a second half shutout but with the offense unable to sustain drives, the Abington defense was on the field quite a bit.
“They played as hard as they possibly could have,” Conlin said of his defenders. “We gave them seven points at the end when we should have punted it and decided to go for it. We put (West) in good field position and they capitalized on it, credit to them and bad job by me.”
West took a 7-0 lead into the second quarter then doubled its lead on its second possession of the second quarter. Cooper put one in the air for Cherubini, who made a fantastic over-the-should grab in the end zone down the right sideline with 3:18 to play in the half.
Abington started to move the ball, but found itself facing a 4th-and-6 on the Bucks’ 43 when Conlin opted to go for it. The Ghosts couldn’t convert and West marched right down the field, using two strong runs by Boehm and a 15-yard flag on Abington to set up a one-yard Cooper score with eight seconds left to make it a three-score game.
“We definitely wanted to score before halftime and try to put the game away early,” Boehm said. “We have three great runners, we feel like our passing game is amazing, so we put them all to work.”
Lare had a busy night, but that would have been a fair statement about any of his teammates on the defensive side too. Cooper Taylor, Austin Hahn, Sean Blue, Casey Smith and Jeremy Goldrick were among the Bucks on the back end of the defense flying to the ball and limiting Abington’s receivers to minimal gain while all but stifling the Ghosts to just 55 rushing yards.
“We locked in, stopped goofing around and got after it. We started playing football like we know how to,” Lare said. “Everyone is an athlete on our team. We feel like it’s 11 athletes and 11 heads going after the ball every time.”
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 7 14 0 0 – 21
ABINGTON 0 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
CBW -Ganz Cooper 2 run (kick good) 6:51
2nd Quarter
CBW – Ganz Cooper 39 pass to Vinny Cherubini (kick good) 3:18
CBW – Cooper 2 run (kick good) :08
Team Stats
CBW A
First Downs 19 10
Rushing 47-263 16-59
Passing 4-8-1-0 18-24-0-0
Passing Yards 75 144
Total Yards 338 203
Penalties-Yards 7-60 8-76
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Individual Stats
Rushing: CBW – EliBoehm 15-147, Donte Mancini 17-70, Vinny Cherubini 8-33, Ganz Cooper 3-10, Jack Wierzbowski 1-0, Michael O’Hanlon 2-0, Joey Hance 1-3; A – Zahmir Lee 5-13, Johnny Dzielawa 11-45
Passing: CBW – Cooper 4-8-1-0-75; A – Dzielawa 18-24-0-0-144
Receiving: CBW – Boehm 1-9, Conor McFadden 2-27, Cherubini 1-39; A – Danny Moynihan 2-35, Ryan Smith 5-30, Saud Salhuddin 5-34, Josh Young 6-45
