With ease, Comets avenge D2 loss to Dawgs

CLARKS SUMMIT – When Abington Heights scored two touchdowns in less than two minutes to begin Saturday’s District 2 Class 3A football playoff game, the Berwick Bulldogs fought back.

When the Comets repeated the scenario two more times in the third quarter, the Bulldogs were out of answers.

Abington Heights (10-1) used 27 third-quarter points to run away with a 53-19 victory.

The Abington Heights win avenges a 3-0 loss to Berwick in last year’s District 2 final and sends the Comets into the championship game next week against Dallas.

“Let’s face it, that’s been burning in their belly for a year now,” Berwick coach Gary Campbell said. “Matching their emotion is something we didn’t do too well in the first three plays when they scored two touchdowns.”

The Comets scored touchdowns 1:06 apart to take a 13-0 lead with 10:38 left in the first quarter.

Paul Gallagher ran 44 yards on the game’s first play to set up a 21-yard touchdown run by James Fruehan on the second play.

Morgan Craig sacked Berwick quarterback Jared Pierce, forcing a fumble that his brother, Evan Craig, wrestled away from a crowd. Gallagher went 14 yards for the score on the next play.

“For me, at least, that 3-0 stuck in my heart. It was a terrible loss,” Morgan Craig said. “ … I knew we had a ton of energy coming in.”

The Bulldogs closed within 13-7 with 4:53 left in the quarter when Pierce completed two passes for 60 yards to set up his 1-yard touchdown run.

Berwick stopped one Abington Heights drive at the 5 and threatened before an interception at the Comets 6 sent the Bulldogs to the locker room trailing, 19-7.

“I was proud of the kids and the way they settled into the football game,” Campbell said. “But they wore us down. They’re a tough football team.”

Abington Heights held Berwick to less than a yard per carry in the first half, and in the second half had its way offensively, piling up more than 10 yards per carry.

“There’s no doubt they’re more physical up front and get downhill on you,” Campbell said. “They forced us to a pure passing game.

“When you don’t win the war in the trenches, you don’t win the game too often.”

Abington Heights scored two touchdowns in 1:35 midway through the third quarter and two more touchdowns in 1:21 later in the quarter for the 46-13 lead.

Pierce finished 17-for-36 for 238 yards, but relying so much on the pass put Berwick into some bad situations.

Abington Heights had possessions where it needed to cover just 14, 40, 1, 33 and 28 yards for touchdowns. The Comets needed just one play twice and two plays two other times to convert on the short field.

Gallagher recovered a botched shot gun snap at the 1 to set up Mike Beamish’s touchdown on the next play, starting the third-quarter onslaught.

Fruehan’s 41-yard interception return to the 33 led to two Gallagher runs and another score.

Pierce went 3-for-3 passing for 53 yards and Abington Heights was called for three pass interference penalties on a 79-yard Berwick drive that resulted in a 3-yard Alec Ladonis touchdown. The drive brought the Bulldogs within, 33-13, with 2:33 left in the third quarter but led to the last flurry from the Comets.

Fruehan bounced out of a collision 5 yards into his run to race 55 yards for a touchdown. He then broke up a pass on a fake punt to set up a 28-yard touchdown run by Gallagher, who picked up 188 yards on 19 carries.