The Green Wave football team continued its recent domination of longtime Thanksgiving Day rival Whitman- Hanson,, cruising to a 43-7 victory before a sizeable crowd at Dennis O’Brien Field.
Abington ran, passed, and kicked its way to victory, moving the ball quickly and effectively all morning.
“We have a lot of good football players, that’s what it comes down to,” said Head Coach Ed Reilly. “I think the coaches do a good job preparing these guys, but ultimately, they’re smart kids, they’re good kids, and they’re good football players. We’re lucky.”
The tone was set immediately on the opening kickoff when the Green Wave perfectly executed a surprise onside kick to take control of the ball on the Panther 48-yard line. Abington’s receivers dropped a couple passes in the early moments of the game to give Whitman-Hanson the ball back on its own 45. But on the Panthers’ first offensive play, senior back Ryan Solimini intercepted a Jack Martin pass to reclaim possession for the Green Wave.
This time the Green Wave kept the ball on the ground, racking up 68 yards on seven plays. Senior back Lee Spry bulldozed his way up the middle for 28 yards of rushing on the drive. And Solimini finished the drive off with an 18-yard rush and then an 11-yard, end-around dash that snuck inside the left pylon. Junior quarterback Jack Reilly then pulled up a low snap and found tight end Reily Pease in the corner of the endzone for a two-point conversion to put Abington up 8-0 in the first quarter.
Whitman-Hanson went three-and-out, giving Abington the ball on its own 33. The Green Wave this time needed only five plays to move 67 yards, the key play being a 35-yard pass from Reilly to senior captain Kris Patterson who made a sprawling catch on the 1-yard-line and then held the ball high to make sure everyone knew he had held on. Solimini took an inside handoff on the next play into the endzone for his second touchdown in five game minutes. The two-point try was not good, but Abington was still up 14-0 with 2:50 left in the first quarter.
Whitman-Hanson started to get its feet under them, with a 12-play drive that featured Panther quarterback Martin connecting with receivers up the middle. However the drive stalled on the Abington 20. The Green Wave needed just six plays to move the ball 80 yards and build on its lead. Reilly connected on a 22-yard pass to Spry, and a 17-yard pass to senior receiver Kingston Maxwell, before finding Solimini again, this time along the left side of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown. Junior back Nazir Paulding also had a 14-yard run down the sideline on the drive.
On the two-point conversion, Reilly found Brendan Ward all alone in the right corner, pushing the Abington lead up to 22-0 with 6:11 left in the first half.
Panther quarterback Martin made sure his team ended the half on a high note, completing six passes on the ensuing drive, as well as scrambling for a 15-yard gain at one point. Whitman-Hanson back Thiago Magalhaes slipped into the end zone from five yards out. The extra point was good and Whitman-Hanson cut their deficit to 22-7 shortly before halftime.
Fans were barely back in the seats before Abington was moving the ball. One the first play of the half, the Green Wave ran a reverse flea flicker that resulted in Reilly connecting with senior captain Kris Patterson at the 7-yard line for a 31-yard gain. Three plays later, senior Nick Vachon got the handoff and punched the ball in for 1-yard out for the touchdown. Nate Eriksen’s point after was good, giving Abington a 29-7 lead early in the third.
Two plays into the Panthers’ series, Ward jumped a passing route and picked off Martin’s pass at the 42-yard line. Abington moved back 10 yards on a holding call on its first play, but Paulding regained all the lost yardage and then some with a 38-yard scamper down the right sideline. Only a last-second tackle Magalhaes cutting across the field kept Paulding from the endzone. Abington called the number of senior captain lineman Gino Micele who carried the ball into the end zone for his first touchdown of the year. Eriksen’s point after kick was good, and opened the Abington lead up to 36-7.
Three of Abington’s 10 graduating seniors –Solimini, Vachon, and Micele — scored on Thanksgiving Day with others leaving their mark.
“They’re awesome,” Coach Reilly said after the game. “All 10 of them had a role in a different way. Some kids were more involved with touchdowns. Some kids were on the offensive line. Some kids were on special teams. But they all accepted their roles and individually were awesome.”
The next Panther drive stalled after 11 plays, giving Abington the ball back on their own 43. The Green Wave needed eight plays to overcome a pair of upsportsmanlike conduct penalties, but ultimately ended up again in the endzone. This time it was Reilly finding Pease in the left corner for an 18-yard touchdown throw. Eriksen, who was a perfect 11-11 on point after kicks over the final three games of the season, made it a 43-7 Green Wave lead.
Whitman-Hanson then chewed up the remaining 9:55 of clocktime looking for one more touchdown. But Martin’s pass into the endzone from 13 yards out fell incomplete as time expired and Abington was able to start celebrating.
Solimini, who finished the year with 17 touchdowns, was named the rivalry game’s MVP for Abington and the recipient of the Jim Kelliher MVP trophy. Magalhaes was awarded the Bob Bancroft MVP trophy for Whitman-Hanson.
Abington has won six of the last eight rivalry games, including the last five played at Whitman- Hanson. The Panthers continue to lead the overall series with a 62-49-3 record, but the Green Wave has won 16 of the last 22 games played since 2002. (Game records are courtesy of the voice of Abington football, Shawn Reilly.)
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