Young stands tall, scores three touchdowns to lead Abington past Council Rock North

NEWTOWN >> It was a game of firsts for Abington’s Joshua Young, whose versatility paved the way for Abington’s first win of the young season.

“That was the thing I was stressing most in the locker room, that we could not go down to 0-2,” said Young, whose 6-foot-4 presence loomed large on Thursday night against Council Rock North. “We had to get some momentum going into the rest of the season.”

Young lit the fire and also fanned the flames, his three touchdowns – two on receptions and the other on an interception return – powering the way to a 45-13 victory over the Indians in a Suburban One League non-conference contest.

“It was real fun playing on defense,” said Young, who returned a deflected pass 15 yards for a score, breaking the game open in the second quarter. “We were just playing loose. We just played our game and it worked.”

The victory raised Abington’s record to 1-1, with a home game against Truman up next. Rock North, now 1-1 on the season, is at Central Bucks South next week.

“They’re a very good team,” Indians coach John Greiner said of the Ghosts. “We beat a very game Wissahickon team last week and we came out prepared and ready to rock and roll, but sometimes things don’t go your way. And just like I told my players, how we respond this week will be a true test of their character, having to fight back out of a corner, and I guarantee you they will.”

Abington took the ball away three times in the first half, and all three takeaways led to touchdowns.

In the game’s opening moments, a fumble by Rock North set the Ghosts up at the Rock North 36.

Abington called eight straight runs, the final of which was a two-yard burst by Jaime Rivera for a 7-0 lead.

A second fumble by the Indians gave Abington possession at the Rock North 31.

On the very next play, quarterback Anthony Pronsati lofted a perfect strike to Ryan Smith for a quick touchdown and a 14-0 Ghost lead.

“We tried to jump on them after the turnover,” said Ghosts coach Kevin Conlin. “(Rock North) had a big, spirited win last week and we wanted to jump on that as soon as we possibly could. That was a huge victory for them last week so we didn’t want them to (continue that into this week).”

The Indians got within 14-7 on a sustained march, capped off by William Scibona’s 11-yard touchdown reception from Julian Matera.

But it was all Abington for the remained of the first half.

Pronsati scored on an 8-yard sneak to boost the lead to 21-7, as the ground game began to churn up big yards for the Ghosts.

“We’re trying to do a four- or five-headed monster at this point,” Conlin said. “It’s not one guy getting all the carries.”

Joshua Brown (52 yards), Pronsati (56 yds) and Rivera (54 yds) all made key gains for the Ghosts in a dominant first half.

After Young’s defensive score made it 28-7, he hauled in a two-yard TD pass from Pronsati and capped off the second quarter with another touchdown reception – this one for 8 yards – to make it 42-7 at the half and enforce a running clock after the break.

Said Conlin of Young: “He’s a very tall kid. He’s worked very hard. He came out for us last year – he had never played football before. He’s a big target and he worked extremely hard this entire offseason. He’s a great kid and it’s good to have him.”

After the intermission, Anthony Richardson booted a 29-yard field goal for Abington and Rock North capped the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run by Jackson Farley.

Abington’s defense was a force all night.

“The defense played great,” Conlin said. “Our two d-ends (Connor Penderghest and Young) are very tall kids, and they were getting their hands in the air, deflecting passes.”

Abington 45, Council Rock North 13

Abington 14 28 3 – 45

CR North 7 0 6 0 – 13

First Quarter

A-Jaime Rivera 2 run (Anthony Richardson kick), 6:13.

A-Ryan Smith 31 pass from Anthony Pronsati (Richardson kick), 6:59.

CRN-William Scibona 11 pass from Julian Matera (James McCafferty kick), 1:20.

Second Quarter

A-Pronsati 9 run (Richardson kick), 8:27.

A-Joshua Young 15 interception return (Richardson kick), 8:07.

A-Young 2 pass from Pronsati (Richardson kick), 5:56.

A-Young 8 pass from Pronsati (Richardson kick), 1:08.

Third Quarter

A-Richardson 29 field goal, 3:36.

CRN-Jackson Farley 2 run (kick failed), :07.

A                   CRN

First Downs            16          8

Rushes-yards         43-226   18-31

Passing (c-a-i)        5-7-0     10-19-1

Passing yards         51         122

Total yards              277       135

Punts                      0           1

Penalties                 0           1-5

Fumbles-lost           2-0        4-3

Rushing

A: Joshua Brown 9-52; Pronsati 7-56, TD; Rivera 10-54, TD; Brooklyn Browne 3-37; Alton Bullock 3-18; Michael Moynihan 2-(-3); Luke Delzingaro 3-16; Brandon Maisonet 1-2; Andrew Ramirez 1-1; Aidan Molina 1-(-8); Braeden Leissner 1-(-3); Damian Mager 2-4.

CRN: Gavin Papp 8-4; Julian Matera 1-0; William Scibona 2-5; Avi Patel 1-9; James Paessler 3-(-4); Jackson Farley 2-15; Peyton Niefer 1-2.

Passing

A: Pronsati 5-6-51-3-0; Moynihan 0-1-0-0-0.

CRN: Matera 8-14-89-0-1; Farley 2-5-33-0-0.

Receiving

A: Ryan Smith 2-36, TD; Young 2-10, 2 TD; Rivera 1-5.

CRN: Vaughn Vanderslice 1-22; Scibona 5-58; Papp 1-10; Paessler 2-18; Michael Zarutskie 1-14.

Interceptions

A: Young.