Abington Stumbles in Road Opener: Colonials Size and Strength To Much For Ghosts To Handle
Barry F. Hess
September 10, 2006
PLYMOUTH MEETING-There are dozens of individual battles that take place on a football field on any given play, the most important of which has to be the battle at the line of scrimmage.
Control the line of scrimmage and you have the ability to control the entire football game, a lesson the Abington Ghosts learned first hand Friday night in their 26-9 loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh.
With an offensive line that neared 6-foot-3 and 260 lbs across the board and a defensive line that was almost exactly the same the Colonials took advantage of their distinct size advantage to control the line of scrimmage and dictate the tempo of the game right from their very first drive.
The Colonials’ three play, 42-yard touchdown drive within the first two minutes of the game and the ease of which they appeared to do it was a startling precursor to a long night head coach Tim Sorber and his players would like to forget.
They really did a nice job of controlling the line of scrimmage, I really tip my hat to them because they played a great game,” said Sorber. “You try to combat size with speed and technique but they did a very good job of nullifying our speed and made plays out there that we couldn’t.”
Down seven points the Ghosts’ offense that was so very potent and efficient against Central Bucks East one week ago stumbled somewhat in their road opener.
Though junior quarterback Kevin Morton, who was forced to leave the game after the first half due to a separated shoulder that will likely keep him out of next week’s game against Northeast High if not longer, was able to drive his team down the field several key dropped passes and missed opportunities left Abington with just three points after a quarter and a half of play.
As the Ghosts offense stuttered the Colonials offense ran like a well tuned machine, averaging nearly four-yards a down and scoring on three of their four first half drives.
Down 20-3 with three minutes and change remaining in the first half Morton, as he’s done so many times in the past, refused to go down without a fight.
After failing to get into any sort of rhythm prior to their last drive of the first half Morton and the Ghosts finally came to life and a steady dose of senior running back Kahlil Pitman combined with well timed Morton passes set up a 15-play, 64-yard touchdown drive capped by a 15-yard TD pass from to Morton to senior receiver Jarret Eaton.
A missed extra point made the score 20-9 at the half and the Ghosts went into the half feeling good about their chances… and then the news about Morton hit like a ton of bricks.
Somewhere on the impressive touchdown drive, most likely a designed QB sneak, Morton’s shoulder was separated and though he stayed in the game and threw a beautiful touch pass for a touchdown he was unable to compete in the second half, leaving the daunting task to combat a bigger and seemingly stronger PW team to senior Trevor Grasso.
It was weird because I thought he threw a pretty good pass for the touchdown but then he came over to the sidelines and said it [his right shoulder] was out,” Sorber said.
New quarterback aside the turning point of the game was the Ghosts opening possession of the second half and a fourth down and short they were unable to convert, giving PW a short field, which they used to score a fourth and crippling touchdown.
The killer was that forth and one and not getting it,” said Sorber. “If we get that first down, hey, we have the ball at the 50-yard line, we’ve got momentum going and if we score going in there it’s a whole new ball game but we lost a lot of that momentum when we couldn’t convert.”
Ultimately Sorber credits his team’s first loss of the season to its inability to run the ball with the success they believed they could.
They really did a nice job of putting us in bad field position all night…as a result they just sat back in their cover-2 and refused to give up any big plays and really shut down our running game. Our offense is predicated on our ability to run the ball to set up the pass and they did a nice job of taking that away from us tonight.”
While the Ghosts’ offense couldn’t get the running game going their defense couldn’t stop the running game of PW, who ran the ball 40 times for 165 yards and four touchdowns.
That goes back to controlling the line of scrimmage and making plays,” Sorber said. “They made plays through the running game and we didn’t and that was a big reason why we lost.”
The Ghosts return home to the friendly confines of Schwartzman Stadium next week to host Northeast Philadelphia High School, their third straight opponent that qualified for the post-season one year ago and their last before beginning league play against Neshaminy in two weeks.
Control the line of scrimmage and you have the ability to control the entire football game, a lesson the Abington Ghosts learned first hand Friday night in their 26-9 loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh.
With an offensive line that neared 6-foot-3 and 260 lbs across the board and a defensive line that was almost exactly the same the Colonials took advantage of their distinct size advantage to control the line of scrimmage and dictate the tempo of the game right from their very first drive.
The Colonials’ three play, 42-yard touchdown drive within the first two minutes of the game and the ease of which they appeared to do it was a startling precursor to a long night head coach Tim Sorber and his players would like to forget.
They really did a nice job of controlling the line of scrimmage, I really tip my hat to them because they played a great game,” said Sorber. “You try to combat size with speed and technique but they did a very good job of nullifying our speed and made plays out there that we couldn’t.”
Down seven points the Ghosts’ offense that was so very potent and efficient against Central Bucks East one week ago stumbled somewhat in their road opener.
Though junior quarterback Kevin Morton, who was forced to leave the game after the first half due to a separated shoulder that will likely keep him out of next week’s game against Northeast High if not longer, was able to drive his team down the field several key dropped passes and missed opportunities left Abington with just three points after a quarter and a half of play.
As the Ghosts offense stuttered the Colonials offense ran like a well tuned machine, averaging nearly four-yards a down and scoring on three of their four first half drives.
Down 20-3 with three minutes and change remaining in the first half Morton, as he’s done so many times in the past, refused to go down without a fight.
After failing to get into any sort of rhythm prior to their last drive of the first half Morton and the Ghosts finally came to life and a steady dose of senior running back Kahlil Pitman combined with well timed Morton passes set up a 15-play, 64-yard touchdown drive capped by a 15-yard TD pass from to Morton to senior receiver Jarret Eaton.
A missed extra point made the score 20-9 at the half and the Ghosts went into the half feeling good about their chances… and then the news about Morton hit like a ton of bricks.
Somewhere on the impressive touchdown drive, most likely a designed QB sneak, Morton’s shoulder was separated and though he stayed in the game and threw a beautiful touch pass for a touchdown he was unable to compete in the second half, leaving the daunting task to combat a bigger and seemingly stronger PW team to senior Trevor Grasso.
It was weird because I thought he threw a pretty good pass for the touchdown but then he came over to the sidelines and said it [his right shoulder] was out,” Sorber said.
New quarterback aside the turning point of the game was the Ghosts opening possession of the second half and a fourth down and short they were unable to convert, giving PW a short field, which they used to score a fourth and crippling touchdown.
The killer was that forth and one and not getting it,” said Sorber. “If we get that first down, hey, we have the ball at the 50-yard line, we’ve got momentum going and if we score going in there it’s a whole new ball game but we lost a lot of that momentum when we couldn’t convert.”
Ultimately Sorber credits his team’s first loss of the season to its inability to run the ball with the success they believed they could.
They really did a nice job of putting us in bad field position all night…as a result they just sat back in their cover-2 and refused to give up any big plays and really shut down our running game. Our offense is predicated on our ability to run the ball to set up the pass and they did a nice job of taking that away from us tonight.”
While the Ghosts’ offense couldn’t get the running game going their defense couldn’t stop the running game of PW, who ran the ball 40 times for 165 yards and four touchdowns.
That goes back to controlling the line of scrimmage and making plays,” Sorber said. “They made plays through the running game and we didn’t and that was a big reason why we lost.”
The Ghosts return home to the friendly confines of Schwartzman Stadium next week to host Northeast Philadelphia High School, their third straight opponent that qualified for the post-season one year ago and their last before beginning league play against Neshaminy in two weeks.
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