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Quakertown defeats Abington, remains unbeaten

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This was their biggest challenge of the season to date.
And the Panthers came through.
Quakertown survived a surge by host Abington to defeat the Galloping Ghosts, 36-20, on Friday night at Abington’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Stadium.
Things started out innocently enough for the Panthers, as they scored an opening drive touchdown capped by a 38-yard pass from Will Steich to Vincent Micucci. The extra point attempt failed, but Quakertown still had a 6-0 lead early in the game.
It was short-lived, as Abington’s Saud Salahuddin returned the kickoff 80 yards for a score. The extra point was good and suddenly, the Panthers found themselves behind, 7-6.
Quakertown grabbed back the lead late in the quarter on an 11-yard run by Tyler Woodman, who also ran in the two-point conversion to put the Panthers ahead, 14-6, at the end of the frame.
Woodman extended the lead to 22-6 in the second quarter on a 10-yard score, followed by a repeat performance on the two-point attempt, but the Ghosts countered with a pair of touchdowns, failing one two-point attempt and making an extra point kick, and by halftime the Quakertown lead was down to 22-20.
The Panthers regained command in the second half, outscoring Abington 14-0 on a 63-yard touchdown run by Woodman and a 12-yard TD pass from Steich to Zach Fondl.
Steich ended the evening with eight completions on 16 attempts for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
“Coming into this game we knew they were going to be tougher than our first couple of games,” said Woodman, a senior who ended the night with 26 carries and 231 yards. “This was their first home game and we knew they’d be fired up so we really wanted to be the ones who set the tempo.”
The Panthers are now 4-0.
“We’re undefeated and that’s a good place to be, but we feel the pressure,” Woodman said. “We know the next three or four games are the most important games of our season. They’re going to be our toughest opponents, and we’re ready for it. We’re building up to that. We execute in practice the right way and I think it’s going to work out really well.”

He thinks this will be a big year for the Panthers.
“We’ve all been together since Pop Warner and we’ve been successful together.” He said. “The senior class that we have has been so close. We have 17 returning starters and we all know each other so well. I feel that we’re definitely built to win this year.”
Last season was also a good one for the Panthers, but it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Quakertown ended the season ranked seventh in the District One Class 6A power rankings. In a normal season, that would have been more than enough to earn a first-round home game in the playoffs, but due to a COVID-shortened draw, the Panthers didn’t even make the postseason.

“Last year I thought we had a good team but there were some unfortunate circumstances,” Quakertown coach George Banas said. “It was unfortunate that we lost in the first week to Souderton and then because they took so few teams, we were out of the playoff picture when in a normal year we would have been right in the mix.
“It’s really coming together for us, but we’re taking it week by week. We preached this year that we want to be the standard and we want to live up to that standard on the field, in the classroom, in the community. It’s starting to come around again. We’ve had a couple of good runs.
“Tonight was a learning experience. This is a good ball club. This is absolutely the toughest team we’ve seen this year and hats off to them. Their record doesn’t show what kind of team they are.”
The heart of the Panthers’ schedule is coming up. In the next four weeks they face Upper Dublin, Souderton, Neshaminy and Hatboro-Horsham.
“We got out of here with a win and now we’ve got four games in a row that are going to tell us who we are,” Banas said. “This is not an easy four-game stretch for us and it will show us how good we are. That’s what you want in football. You want to play meaningful games and I think we have a lot to look forward to.
“We have a lot of returners back and they’re so personable. They’re nice kids. They’re fun to be around. Practices are fun. I want this season to go as far as possible.”
Woodman is eying the playoffs as well.
“We had a really good season last year but they only took four teams so we didn’t get in,” he said. “It’s so important to get a good seed because we want those two home games in the playoffs. That will help us immensely. I think we have the best crowd, the best fans in the league and that means so much to us when we have the fans behind us.”
The Panthers are back in action on Friday, when they play host to SOL Continental rival Upper Dublin at 7 p.m.


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