HANSON – Everyone has their every day routine for the Thanksgiving Day vacation. The heat morning beverage and the odor of turkey and fixings within the oven. But whereas some issues stay fixed, the day for Abington head coach Jim Kelliher won’t ever be the identical.
Kelliher left the sphere for the ultimate time in his fiftieth season on the helm as his Green Wave rolled out the inexperienced carpet in his finale with a 46-6 resounding victory over rival Whitman-Hanson. Abington (8-3) upended the Panthers with six unanswered touchdowns, 5 within the second half, within the 112th assembly of the rivals.
“You might see me mowing my lawn,” stated Kelliher, who finishes his profession on the sidelines at 313-209-8, fourth all-time on the listing of All-Time Winningest Coaches in state historical past. “I don’t know if I’m going to be sleeping, might sit up all night and think about all the years. It’s going to be different but at the same time I’m going to be happy. Kids were mentally ready for this game and ready to handle anything that was going to go on.”
A.J Nash put issues away for Kelliher with three touchdowns together with 123 yards on the bottom and tossed in a fumble restoration on protection to hoist the annual Thanksgiving Day Victory Award for the third time within the final 4 conferences between the rivals. The senior halfback scored on 50-, 8-, and 46-yard runs from scrimmage.
“That’s all we were focused on the whole game. He was mainly saying ‘finish the job’ as the game wasn’t close to over yet,” stated Nash. “He’s meant so much to me. All the memories are flooding back, specifically practicing special teams and I’m back doing punt returns and everyday he would ask how my day at school was. It just shows that he cares about what we do on the field but more importantly what we do off the field.”
Abington scored on their first possession on a three-play drive completed off with a 47-yard cross to Ryan Simonetti from quarterback Michael Reilly on a third-and-nine damaged scramble.
Whitman-Hanson (4-8) drove the sphere on their subsequent run at it however stalled contained in the 10-yard line because the Abington protection jammed a fourth-and-goal try on the three-yard line for the turnover on downs.
But the Panthers had been in a position to get nice discipline place on the following collection after forcing a three-and-out and scored on a two-yard quarterback keeper by Ryan Nash to tie issues up 6-6 with 6:55 left within the second quarter.
That was the top of any probability of a Panthers win on their dwelling turf as Abington rattled off six straight touchdowns.
“I’m just very thankful to my teammates and coaches. They pushed me through some tough times with a couple of years being injured but I had so much fun my senior year and a lot of memories with my teammates,” stated Whitman-Hanson operating again Cam Beltramini. “Kelliher is a legend, I give all the props to him, and (Panthers’ Athletic Director) Mr. Bob Rodgers is such a great guy giving all the love to Kelliher. Abington is a good team but maybe not the outcome we want but I have a lot of love for (Kelliher).”
The tsunami of scores began with Nash’s first rating from 50 yards out off sort out to offer the Green Wave the 14-6 halftime lead, after Connor Pease hauled within the two-point conversion. William LeBlanc scored from 9 yards out and bookended the scoring within the second half with a 30-yard interception return for a landing. Simonetti added his second landing seize from Reilly because the Green Wave protection shutout the Panthers after permitting 155 yards of offense within the first half.
The Panthers had their probabilities within the first two quarters however a complete of 4 turnovers, together with an interception within the crimson zone that ended the primary half doomed Whitman-Hanson. Also, a fumble on what would have been the Panthers first collection of the second half on an Abington kickoff resulted in one other Green Wave landing.
“There is nothing but respect between the communities and with no league title on the line, no playoffs on the line, it’s really about pride,” stated Whitman-Hanson head coach, Zack Botelho, in his third yr with the Panthers. “As a public-school team on the South Shore, that’s the model over there. Kids learn the system; they buy into their core values, and they do it the Abington way. I told (Kelliher) after the game – let me give you a call about program stuff and how to stop the trap. He’s been nothing but great to us and is an outstanding coach. We look to Abington for a lot of things.”
While Whitman-Hanson owns the 61-48-3 benefit within the collection, win or lose, this one was all concerning the illustrious profession of Kelliher, who walks away after 5 a long time on the sidelines for Abington.
“When you can have something like this and appreciate the efforts of both teams, continue it, you just look forward to it and I looked forward to the last game here and not because it was my last game, but I love playing Whitman-Hanson,” stated Kelliher.
Source: www.bostonherald.com