Abington Heights at East Stroudsburg-South

Recap

ABINGTON HEIGHTS 21, EAST STROUDSBURG SOUTH 13

Abington Heights managed a hard-fought victory on the road over the Cavaliers of East Stroudsburg South, 21-13 in the opener for both teams. In a game featuring outstanding signal-callers, Nick Bradley of Abington Heights and Ivan Laubach of South, the Comets were able to manage one more big play to come out on top.

The Comets took the opening kick and marched to their initial score aided by two big plays. Bradley hit his favorite target, Gavin Anders, on 3^rd and long down the seam for 25 yards to the South 45. On the very next play, junior tailback, Jayden Anglin, broke tackles and made it down the right sideline for the score. Jack Hartshorn’s extra point made it 7-0 Comets with less than 3 minutes gone in the football game.

South answered with a drive that took them from their own 13 all the way to the Comets’ 1-yard line where they had 1^st and goal. After three unsuccessful running attempts, the Cavaliers were flagged for procedure and were unable to score, an occurrence that would certainly come back to haunt them later in the game.

Bradley was intercepted by his counterpart, Laubach, on the next drive and South took over deep in Comet territory at the 13-yard line. After another procedure penalty, a mistake that plagued South all night long, Laubach was able to find the swift Lyric Parkins in the end zone for an 18-yard scoring strike. The extra point tied the game at 7 with just 13 seconds remaining in the quarter.

The next Comet scoring drive was simply a virtuoso by Bradley as he made four plays on 3^rd down to keep the drive alive and to score. A 17-yard screen pass to Anglin, a 22-yard bullet to tight end, Cayd Sespico, a 10-yard scramble, and finally a 28-yard pass over the head of a defender to Anders put the Comets ahead to stay. With 6:36 left before halftime, Hartshorn converted on another point after to make the score 14-7.

The teams traded turnovers on their next drives. The Cavaliers fumbled an attempted option pass at their own 39-yard line. That was followed by a Bradley fumble as he was hit from behind, setting South up with good field position at their own 41. After a 25-yard pass from Laubach to Perkins set the Cavaliers up deep in Comet territory, the drive stalled with a missed field goal to end the half.

After the Cavaliers punted on their first drive of the second half, Bradley was intercepted for the second time, this after his pass deflected off the hands of Anders. South took over on their own 15 and, with great running by Gianni Gonnella, moved the ball well into the red zone. Laubach was then intercepted by Comet linebacker, Chris Bohn. The Comets would then go on their most impressive drive of the evening. The key to the drive was a 55-yard burst by fullback, Thatcher Loss, on a trap play. Anglin then followed with his second long scoring run of the evening, sprinting 23 yards up the middle to paydirt. Hartshorn’s kick was true once again, and the Comets led 21-7 with seconds remaining in the 3^rd quarter.

The Cavaliers tightened the ballgame on the next drive as they marched 53 yards to score, culminating on a 4-yard sprint from Parkins off the left side. The attempted 2-point conversion failed, keeping the Comet lead at 8 points, 21-13, with nearly 9 minutes left in the contest.

It looked as though Abington Heights would put the game away on their next drive. Another long run of 22-yards by Thatcher Loss and Anglin’s sprint of 29 yards set the Comets up with a first and goal at the 1-yard line. Bradley mishandled the exchange from center and the Cavaliers had life as they took over on their own 3-yard line.

The running and passing of Laubach moved the Cavaliers to the Abington 35 with under two minutes to play and without any timeouts remaining. On 4^th and 5, Laubach lofted a pass into double coverage to his top playmaker, Parkins, but the pass was broken up. The Comets then were able to kneel on the football to run out the rest of the clock.

Abington Heights will look to go 2-0 next weekend when they travel to Valor Field at Memorial Stadium to face the Invaders of West Scranton High School.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST QUARTER

AH – Jayden Anglin 45-yd run (Jack Hartshorn kick) – Abington Heights 7-0

ESS – Lyric Parkins 19-yd pass from Ivan Laubach (Mayata Ndiaye kick) – Tied 7-7

2ND QUARTER

AH – Gavin Anders 28-yd pass from Nick Bradley (Hartshorn kick) – Abington Heights 14-7

3RD QUARTER

AH – Anglin 23-yd run (Hartshorn kick) – Abington Heights 21-7

4TH QUARTER

ESS – Parkins 3-yd pass from Laubach (Kick failed) – Abington Heights 21-13