HS FOOTBALL: Berwick starts fast, rolls over Abington Heights
Sep. 11—CLARKS SUMMIT — Berwick got a spark from its special teams and then the offense caught fire.
The Bulldogs turned a blocked punt into an early lead and scored on four of their first five possessions to roll to a 49-0 win over Abington Heights in a nonleague football game at Comets Stadium on Saturday.
Abington Heights (0-3) was forced to punt on its first possession and Alex Hacker broke through and blocked the kick, giving Berwick the ball at the Comets 23. Five plays later, Matt Lonczynski hit Spencer Kishbaugh in the right corner of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.
The Comets were forced to punt on their next possession, too, but the snap went over the punter's head and Berwick (1-2) took over at the Abington Heights 20. On their first play, Drey Wilk ran a sweep around the right end and broke free for a touchdown.
"When we get a short field like that and we can score one or two plays in, it's a great advantage to us," Berwick coach Mike Bennett said. "We always preach to our kids 'Let's start fast' and you can't start much faster than the way we started."
Wilk intercepted a pass late in the first quarter to again give Berwick the ball deep in Abington Heights territory. Then Lonczynski hit Kishbaugh for a 20-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 21-0.
Nick Bradley and Nico Bossi connected for a 25-yard gain on Abington Heights' next possession but the drive stalled at the Berwick 36. Three plays later, Lonczynski and Kishbaugh connected again as the quarterback found the senior deep down the middle of the field for a 52-yard touchdown.
"He got behind the coverage and it was just like in practice; just pitch and catch," Lonczynski said.
Kishbaugh finished with three catches for 79 yards and three touchdowns.
"I think we got the ball to our playmakers a little bit more today," Bennett said. "We made a concerted effort to get the ball to Spencer a little bit more in the passing game."
Wilk returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter to give the Bulldogs a 35-0 lead. Bradley completed three passes for 53 yards on the Comets' next drive but Abington Heights was stopped again on fourth down at the Berwick 23. The Bulldogs punted on their next possession but Ethan Lear then intercepted a pass at midfield and returned it for a touchdown and a 42-0 lead with 46 seconds left in the first half.
"This is a huge confidence booster for our team," Lonczynski said. "Now we're just going to put our heads down and get through it."
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