BERWICK — The recipe was there for an inspiring victory out of Berwick’s storied past.
A quick-hitting running game that chewed up yardage and clock.
A feisty attitude that had the crowd at Crispin Field roaring.
And an old high school hero who is suddenly calling the shots from the sideline.
In the end, though, that recipe turned to disaster.
Nick Bradley threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more scores Friday and Abington Heights rallied back to blast Berwick 47-21 while sending the Bulldogs to an 0-3 start to the season.
“We played two halves of football,” Berwick’s interim head coach Bo Orlando said.
The first half played pretty brilliantly for the Bulldogs.
They made up for a weak defense with a ball-control running game, keeping the quick-strike offense of Abington Heights off the field while Berwick went into intermission with a 21-14 lead.
Tyler Winter, who ran for a game-high 143 yards, scored on touchdown runs of 10 and 5 yards as the Bulldogs evened things up, then Ethan Lear darted into the end zone with a 4-yard quarterback keeper 15 seconds from halftime to give Berwick a 21-14 lead.
“We were up by seven, getting the ball to start to start the second half,” said Orlando, who is also the school’s athletic director and quarterbacked the Bulldogs to a No. 1 national high school rating during his playing days before spending 10 seasons in the NFL. “We ran the ball on them. But it was like two different halves of football.”
In the second half, the Bulldogs imploded.
After Bradley tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Schmidt to even the score at 21-21 early in the third quarter, Berwick marched 38 yards near midfield when the Bulldogs lost a fumble.
They lost momentum, too.
Bradley cashed in the turnover with a one-yard scoring strike to a leaping Mason Fedor as Abington Heights regained the lead and the Comets never looked back.
They built their advantage to 34-21 with a 92-yard touchdown drive, capped by Bradley’s 1-yard scoring surge, then used a surge of turnovers to put the game away.
Schmidt, playing defensive back, picked off a pass and returned it 42 yards, setting up Bradley’s fourth touchdown pass of the night — a 4-yarder to Declan Walsh.
Just over two minutes later, with Berwick driving toward a feel-good score, Abington Heights defensive back Mason Fedor went 98 yards on a pick-six interception to set the final score.
“We couldn’t stop them tonight,” said Orlando, well aware that Berwick has surrendered a combined 131 points in its three games. “We’ve tried some new guys, moved guys around. But it’s hard. It’s kind of difficult to change a whole defense. We’re doing what we can.”
Orlando, who is the team’s defensive backs coach, is now doing the head coaching duties in the absence of regular head coach Mike Bennett, who stepped away on a leave of absence a couple of weeks ago for personal reasons relating to health issues.
“I’m very tired,” Orlando said. “Not from my regular duties (as an AD) — I’m trying to be a motivator. I’ve been a defensive backs coach in high school for the last 20 years. I never wanted to be a head coach.
“This is a lot.”
Abington Heights 47, Berwick 21
Abington Heights`14`0`14`19 — 47
Berwick`7`14`0`0 — 21
First quarter
AH — Nick Bradley 5 run (Jack Farrell kick), 9:27
BER — Tyler Winter 10 run (Luke Peters kick), 4:49
AH — Kevin Schmidt 18 pass from Bradley (Farrell kick), 2:15
Second quarter
BER — Winter 5 run (Peters kick), 3:00
BER — Ethan Lear 4 run (Peters kick), 0:15
Third quarter
AH — Schmidt 8 pass from Bradley (Farrell kick), 7:56
AH — Mason Fedor 1 pass from Bradley (Farrell kick), 0:50
Fourth quarter
AH — Bradley 1 run (Kick blocked), 7:22
AH — Declan Walsh 4 pass from Bradley (Kick failed), 5:30
AH — Fedor 98 interception return (Farrell kick), 2:57
Team statistics`AH`BER
First downs`16`20
Rushes-yards`23-159`47-281
Passing yards`145`96
Total yards`304`377
Passing`12-20-0`12-18-2
Sacked-yards lost`2-13`1-9
Punts-avg.`0-0`1-31
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`8-60`12-110
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — AH, Nick Bradley 13-69, Declan Walsh 5-64, Anthony Curra 2-21, Austin Boersma 2-6, Dominic Pasqualichio 1-4. BER, Tyler Winter 19-143, Ethan Lear 16-55, Jimmy DeAndrea 6-51, Gavin Galutta 5-25, Ty Moore 1-7.
PASSING — AH, Bradley 12-20-0-145. BER, Lear 12-18-2-96.
RECEIVING — AH, Kevin Schmidt 4-50, Mason Fedor 4-44, Cayd Sespico 3-47, Walsh 1-4. BER, Billy Hanson 4-14, Josh Kishbaugh 3-27, Winter 2-44, Bryce Holden 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS — AH, Schmidt 1-43, Fedor 1-98.
MISSED FGs — None.
