PAYBACK: Ghosts Avenge Last Year's Loss to Pennridge in Dominating Fashion
Barry F. Hess
October 02, 2006
ABINGTON, Pa- Kevin Morton waited 12 months for the opportunity to vindicate himself and the rest of an Abington Ghost team that watched a 10-point halftime lead against Pennridge helplessly slip into a 28-10 loss last season.
Four touchdown passes later and Morton, fresh off a separated shoulder that sidelined him for two games, walked off the field of Schwartzman Stadium last Friday night with the sweet look of payback gleaming in his eyes and a 44-23 victory.
After being forced to leave the Ghosts’ week two contest against Plymouth Whitemarsh Morton sat out consecutive games against Northeast High and Neshaminy before returning last Friday night in what appeared to be mid-season form.
There was no way I was going to miss this game,” said the junior QB. “This was a game that we all had circled on the calendar since we started training for the season. After what happened to us last year there was no way we were going to forget and let another lead slip away.”
Though he was admittedly worried about his shoulder before the game Morton took the field on the Ghosts’ opening drive and orchestrated a beautiful five play, 46 yard touchdown drive capped by a 21-yard pass to sophomore wideout Matt Lancaster.
He would only get better as the night went on.
A play action TD pass to Jon Natter midway through the second quarter and a 25-yard TD pass to Jarret Eaton with less than a minute to play in the first half sandwiched a Kahlil Pittman 20-yard touchdown run that gave Abington a comfortable 31-7 halftime lead.
Though the Ghosts typically run a methodical offensive package with a balanced running and passing attack last Friday night the play calling was noticeably more aggressive.
We were more aggressive than we have been this season at times,” Morton said. “But we were also following our game plan and our guys just did a great job to make some big plays that just sort of made us look aggressive as well. My receivers did an awesome job at getting open and all I had to do was get them the ball and they did the rest.”
With the numbers "28" written on the dry erase board of the Ghosts’ locker room during the half there was no way Morton and company would allow a collapse similar to last year.
Two touchdowns, including Morton’s fourth of the night, this time of the 15-yard variety to Natter, within the last two minutes of the third quarter cemented Abington’s third win of the season, maintained the team’s undefeated mark at home this year and put them in a strong position to make the type of run necessary for a team that wants to make a post-season berth.
But while Morton finished the game with a season high 236 yards through the air, the aforementioned four TD tosses and the largest point total the Ghosts’ have scored all year he was quick to recognize it wasn’t all his doing.
To be honest I really wasn’t sure how my shoulder was going to feel once the game started and to have an offensive line that gave me not just good but great protection all night long was the real difference I think,” said Morton. “The guys on the line just did a great job and then our defense really stepped up on the other side of the ball and never let up once. It was a real team effort tonight it wasn’t just anything that I did individually, that isn’t how we play.”
Morton’s description of his stingy defensive teammates was more than accurate.
The Ghosts defenders allowed just 14 points, before second team players began to file in during the later stages of the game, forced three fumbles of which one was recovered and turned into seven points and intercepted an arrant Ram’s pass.
Overall, it was exactly the dominating performance the Ghosts were looking for to wash to the bad taste of a heartbreaking defeat in Neshaminy from their mouths.
This was a great win for us for so many reasons,” Morton said. “We wanted to win this game so badly after what happened last year and besides that we can use this to build momentum and get things rolling over the next few weeks too.”
The Ghosts will now prepare for a stretch of three winnable but by no means easy games against Central Bucks South, a pedestrian North Penn team compared to years past and Bensalem before traveling to Pennsbury for perhaps their toughest remaining test of the regular season.
After thier largest margin of victory in 2006 a formidable winning streak over the next several weeks would all but lock the Ghosts into one of the 16 slots available for the PIAA District 1 playoffs.
Content Note* Due to technical difficulties last week’s game story of the Neshaminy loss was unable to be posted…all future game stories will continue to be posted as originally scheduled with feature stories coming every Wednesday.
Four touchdown passes later and Morton, fresh off a separated shoulder that sidelined him for two games, walked off the field of Schwartzman Stadium last Friday night with the sweet look of payback gleaming in his eyes and a 44-23 victory.
After being forced to leave the Ghosts’ week two contest against Plymouth Whitemarsh Morton sat out consecutive games against Northeast High and Neshaminy before returning last Friday night in what appeared to be mid-season form.
There was no way I was going to miss this game,” said the junior QB. “This was a game that we all had circled on the calendar since we started training for the season. After what happened to us last year there was no way we were going to forget and let another lead slip away.”
Though he was admittedly worried about his shoulder before the game Morton took the field on the Ghosts’ opening drive and orchestrated a beautiful five play, 46 yard touchdown drive capped by a 21-yard pass to sophomore wideout Matt Lancaster.
He would only get better as the night went on.
A play action TD pass to Jon Natter midway through the second quarter and a 25-yard TD pass to Jarret Eaton with less than a minute to play in the first half sandwiched a Kahlil Pittman 20-yard touchdown run that gave Abington a comfortable 31-7 halftime lead.
Though the Ghosts typically run a methodical offensive package with a balanced running and passing attack last Friday night the play calling was noticeably more aggressive.
We were more aggressive than we have been this season at times,” Morton said. “But we were also following our game plan and our guys just did a great job to make some big plays that just sort of made us look aggressive as well. My receivers did an awesome job at getting open and all I had to do was get them the ball and they did the rest.”
With the numbers "28" written on the dry erase board of the Ghosts’ locker room during the half there was no way Morton and company would allow a collapse similar to last year.
Two touchdowns, including Morton’s fourth of the night, this time of the 15-yard variety to Natter, within the last two minutes of the third quarter cemented Abington’s third win of the season, maintained the team’s undefeated mark at home this year and put them in a strong position to make the type of run necessary for a team that wants to make a post-season berth.
But while Morton finished the game with a season high 236 yards through the air, the aforementioned four TD tosses and the largest point total the Ghosts’ have scored all year he was quick to recognize it wasn’t all his doing.
To be honest I really wasn’t sure how my shoulder was going to feel once the game started and to have an offensive line that gave me not just good but great protection all night long was the real difference I think,” said Morton. “The guys on the line just did a great job and then our defense really stepped up on the other side of the ball and never let up once. It was a real team effort tonight it wasn’t just anything that I did individually, that isn’t how we play.”
Morton’s description of his stingy defensive teammates was more than accurate.
The Ghosts defenders allowed just 14 points, before second team players began to file in during the later stages of the game, forced three fumbles of which one was recovered and turned into seven points and intercepted an arrant Ram’s pass.
Overall, it was exactly the dominating performance the Ghosts were looking for to wash to the bad taste of a heartbreaking defeat in Neshaminy from their mouths.
This was a great win for us for so many reasons,” Morton said. “We wanted to win this game so badly after what happened last year and besides that we can use this to build momentum and get things rolling over the next few weeks too.”
The Ghosts will now prepare for a stretch of three winnable but by no means easy games against Central Bucks South, a pedestrian North Penn team compared to years past and Bensalem before traveling to Pennsbury for perhaps their toughest remaining test of the regular season.
After thier largest margin of victory in 2006 a formidable winning streak over the next several weeks would all but lock the Ghosts into one of the 16 slots available for the PIAA District 1 playoffs.
Content Note* Due to technical difficulties last week’s game story of the Neshaminy loss was unable to be posted…all future game stories will continue to be posted as originally scheduled with feature stories coming every Wednesday.
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