Council Rock South Ends Abington’s Perfect Season

Abington, Pa., The Council Rock South Golden Hawks quarterback Brian Donnelly executed the triple option scheme to perfection spoiling Abington’s homecoming night and undefeated season with a 30-22 win over the Ghosts at Schwartzman stadium. The Hawks victory created a three way tie between these two teams and Pennsbury in District One’s Suburban One National Conference.

If Hawks coach Vince Bedesem’s plan was to get out quick it worked beautifully when they scored touchdowns on their first two offensive series. Donnelly scored on a nine yard run to start the game. Then with the ball on their own 10 yard line the quarterback took in most of the Abington line with a great play fake to fullback Ryan Whiteley and a pitch to Anthony Alimenti, who found himself all alone on the sideline. Alimenti outraced the Ghost defensive backs ninety yards to pay dirt and what appeared to be a route in the making and a 14-0 lead with time still left in the first quarter.

The Hawks had a chance to increase their lead in the second quarter but the Ghosts Phil Gore intercepted a Donnelly pass at the Abington 23. The Ghosts responded quickly in two plays with Ray Schreiner’s 43 yard run followed by quarterback Ken Cropper’s 39 yard touchdown pass to Josh Lee. The two teams exchanged scores before halftime on another long Alimenti run (53 yards) followed by another Cropper TD pass to Myles Grasty (7 yards) and a 20-14 Hawk halftime lead.

Council Rock South appeared to take control in the second half with a Benjamin Solis 34 yard field goal then a Christian Crane 40 yard touchdown run. Down by 30-14 to start the 4^th quarter, Abington coach Tim Sorber decided to roll the dice and ran a halfback lateral to Schreiner whose pass to a wide open Lee 58 yards later  brought the Ghosts back into a game they appeared to be losing control of. Cropper’s two point conversion pass to Chris Ruhl brought them back to an eight point deficit and in position to have a chance to tie the game.

Abington had three more chances to score and each time Bedesem’s group held their own. The Ghosts made a last minute push starting at their own 33 and two key Cropper completions got them in position at the Rock 24 yard line. They got no further as time ran out with three straight incompletions and an end to a very entertaining football game.

Donnelly basically put the running backs in position all night to make plays as a result of his ball control in the triple option.  Whiteley (18-85), Crane (4-66), Alimenti (10-150) as well as Donnelly (16-79) all served as a well balanced quartet of weapons in their offensive assault. The Hawk offensive line (Tom Trampe, Andrew Cohen, Mike Yost, Justin Flor and P.J. and Eric Gallo) was very instrumental as well with the 400 total offensive yards they produced.

Donnelly felt that this was a total team effort. “First, the coaches put us in position to make the right plays. We have no stars here, we all play together. The defense made great plays down the stretch when we needed them. Our offensive line put forth a great effort as a result of our run production. We wouldn’t be nearly as successful without their push”.

With the win Council Rock South goes to 8-1 (their only blemish a 13-10 loss to Pennsbury). They close out their regular season next week versus neighborhood rival Council Rock North. Abington falls to 8-1 and will play at William Tennant.

Notes: Whiteley’s 85 yards were of the pure ground and pound variety. The Hawks only attempted two passes (one was intercepted). Cropper is a transfer from Cheltenham. He was held to 11 yards on 16 carries. Cohen spent a lot of time in the Ghost backfield. He had three tackles for losses. The Ghosts committed nine penalties (90 yards) as opposed to only three (15 yards) for Council Rock. There were no lead changes as the Hawks led the entire way. Many of the Hawk runs were to the right side causing Abington to overload to their left defensively in the second half.