Image courtesy of Bill Marquardt
By Tyler Amaral
NEFJ Staff
NORWELL – Coming into Friday night’s showdown between Norwell and Abington, most people expected fireworks.
The Clippers and Green Wave were ranked first and second, respectively, in Friday morning’s batch of MIAA Division 6 power rankings. Both offenses entered the game averaging over 40 points per game.
Instead, the game featured 35 combined points as Abington held on for 21-14 road win with major implications in the division and in the league standings.
The game had shootout potential early, as Abington (5-1) received the opening kickoff and drove down the field for a touchdown.
Junior quarterback Jack Reilly picked up 14 yards with his legs on one third and long play to extend the drive.
Senior Ryan Solimini (17 carries, 85 yards) capped the drive off with a two-yard plunge to put the Green Wave up 7-0.
Norwell (4-2) was able to respond to each of Abington’s first two scores.
Eight minutes after Solimini’s score, Norwell star quarterback Jack Luccarelli scored from 20 yards out on fourth down and 10 yards to go. Luccarelli did not see any open receivers and decided to improvise, showing off his impressive athleticism after hitting the second level of the Abington defense.
Abington scored next in the back-and-forth affair. Solimini returned a punt 55 yards to position the Green Wave at the Norwell 10 yard line.
Two plays later, Solimini scored his second of three touchdowns from two-yards out to out Abington back in front 14-7.
“We’re a gritty team” said Solimini. “We know how to win hard games.”
The Abington defense held strong twice in the final minutes of the first half when Norwell possessed the ball inside the Green Wave 20.
Two and a half minutes into the third quarter, Luccarelli (20 carries, 222 yards) scored from 45 yards out to tie the game at 14. Luccarelli got into space and was able to outrun the entire Abington defense.
On Abington’s next possession, the Green Wave was able to take the lead for good. Solimini completed the hat trick with a one-yard score to put Abington ahead 21-14 with three and a half minutes to play in the third quarter.
“We stuck to the game plan” said Abington head coach Ed Reilly. “We thought we could do a few things on the ground. We knew it was going to be a battle. It was just one of those games.”
Abington ran for 201 yards as a team and did not complete a pass on offense.
Norwell was moving the ball in the fourth quarter, but the drive came to a screeching halt when Luccarelli was intercepted by linebacker Jake Tikonoff.
Abington would posses the ball for nearly seven minutes on its next offensive possession, leaving little time and no timeouts for Norwell to compete the comeback.
With just under three minutes left in the game and Abington facing a fourth down and one, the Green Wave hurried to the line. Rather than attempt a quarterback sneak with the Norwell defense scrambling, the Green Wave opted to go with a hard count. Norwell jumped offsides giving Abington a new set of downs.
“[The hurry up and hard count] is something we work on” said Reilly. “The kids obviously executed the play.”
On the next play, Solimini picked up 10 to keep the clock ticking. The Green Wave ended up turning the ball over on downs, but with only 28 seconds left on the clock.
With 70 yards to go and one second on the clock, Norwell called a quarterback draw. Luccarelli picked up 20 yards but was tackled at the 50 with no teammates around to lateral to.
“I thought our defense was great tonight” said Reilly. “This was more about trying to grind one out and keep the ball away from [Norwell] a little bit.”
Image courtesy of Bill Marquardt
