By: Edward Kiesendahl
The Buckhorns were looking to recoup this past week after coming off three straight losses to Lackawanna Conference opponents. Facing Abington Heights would be no easy challenge with the Comets having the top passing attack in the area. Some other factors for Paupack were the game being on Thursday night, and the loss of their two starting guards as well as a linebacker. The Buckhorns would need some players to step up into some major roles, and they had little time to prepare due to the Thursday game.
Paupack started the game with the ball and began driving quickly looking to score. However, they stalled out and were forced to punt on the opponents forty. Abington had a similar start moving the ball downfield fast, but Paupack’s Senior safety, Drew Kiesendahl, tipped a pass up in the air which was intercepted by Senior Linebacker Logan Downey. The offense couldn’t make anything of the turnover and Abington was right back on offense to start the second quarter. The Comets then put together a long drive to put six on the board with Nick Bradley rushing for his first touchdown of the night. From there Abington didn’t look back getting two straight defensive stops and scoring two touchdowns off these stops to end the half. Nick Bradley rushed for both of these touchdowns.
The second half was much of the same with Abington shutting down Wallenpaupack’s run heavy offense. With these stops came three second half touchdowns for the Comets. These were scored by Gavin Anders, Shawn Theadore, and Tyler Sacks. This loss drops the Buckhorns to 3-5 on the season, and it creates more tension between them, North Pocono, and Honesdale for a spot in the 4-A district playoffs. If Wallenpaupack wants in on this season’s playoffs they have to win at least one of their last two games. They hope to do it this Friday in an inter-conference game against Pittston.