Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10
1. North Penn (3-0. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 2)
2. LaSalle (3-0. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 1)
3. Pennsbury (3-0. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 4)
4. St. Joseph’s Prep (2-1. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 3)
5. Quakertown (3-0. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 5)
6. Neshaminy (3-0. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 6)
7. Abington (2-0. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 7)
8. Downingtown West (3-0. Weeks rated: 3. Last week: 8)
9. George Washington (2-1. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 9)
10. Pottsgrove (3-0. Weeks rated: 1. Last week: Unrated)
Sam Kind, Abington
Photos courtesy of Abington football
The young Ghosts weren’t supposed to play Neshaminy so tough, and battle Pennsbury so hard, and beat Glen Mills in the opening round of the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA playoffs. They didn’t know they were that good.
They do now.
Abington will find out something more Friday night at 7 p.m., when District 1 powerhouse Neshaminy comes to visit. The Redskins will take in a 3-0 record, outscoring their opponents 90-26 and averaging 30 points a game.
The Ghosts will counter with 2-0 record, a nice week off and a offense that posted 69 points themselves in their first two games.
Last season, Neshaminy beat Abington 7-0, scoring in the last 90 seconds of the game. The Ghosts have not beaten Neshaminy since 2003. But it’s a streak that could end, if senior quarterback Sam Kind, junior tailback Julien Ireland and senior receiver Anthony Hensley have anything to say about it. They’ve benefited greatly from the great protection they’ve received up front from tackles Nick Disandro, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound senior, Phil Hagstotz, center Ethan Maxey, guards Tyler Kennedy and Tyler Conroy and tight end Giuliano Presta.
"So far, I’ve found this year that we’re a team that seizes momentum pretty well and takes advantage by putting points up on the board quickly," Abington coach Tim Sorber said. "I thought we played our best defensive game last year against Neshaminy, to hold them down to zero points until the final minutes. We’ll need that kind of effort again.
"We had some success last year. I showed a film of last year’s Neshaminy game and some of the kids who weren’t playing last year, I wanted to show them we had opportunities to win that game. Now we have to take advantage of those opportunities. It’s what we’ve been stressing all week. With senior leaders like Kind and Hensley, two vocal guys during every practice, they understand what we need to do to be very successful on Friday night."
Anthony Hensley, Abington
Ireland could be the key. He rushed for a season-high 117 yards in Abington’s 31-10 victory over Central Bucks East in the season opener, but was pulled early in Abington’s 38-0 victory over Plymouth-Whitemarsh, a game in which the starters appeared once after halftime. Under Sorber, the Ghosts run a multiple offense, sometimes coming on in three-wide looks. Sorber stresses his offense is not pass-first, but rather a balanced attack that depends equally on Ireland and the big-play capabilities of Hensley to stretch a defense.
"With Ireland and Hensley, we can score points in bunches and we can come back, if we have to, but hopefully we won’t have that problem," Sorber said. "Neshaminy is a very, very good team, and a great test. Year-in and year-out, they’re a great team. We’re excited because it will be a good indication of how good of a team we have."
Stepping up to No. 1
The first three games would tell — and they have. It looks as if there is no question that through the first month of the season, North Penn is the best team in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The Knights opened with defending PIAA Class AAAA state champion Liberty, and then had Lansdale Catholic before finishing their non-league schedule up with Philadelphia Catholic League power St. Joseph’s Prep.
A 2-1 mark after the three games would have been acceptable, maybe even a 1-2 mark, if the Knights played well in their two losses. But after going 3-0, and outscoring Liberty, Lansdale Catholic and Prep by a combined 98-31, it’s become very obvious the Knights could once again go deep into the state playoffs.
North Penn could go 10-0, since the only real threat on its Continental Conference Suburban One League schedule is Quakertown on Oct. 16, at Quakertown. So the Knights leaped ahead of undefeated LaSalle, which is struggling with the injury bug, based solely on strength of schedule.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
