HANSON – Everyone has their daily routine for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. The warm morning beverage and the smell of turkey and fixings in the oven. But while some things remain constant, the day for Abington head coach Jim Kelliher will never be the same.
Kelliher left the field for the final time in his 50th season at the helm as his Green Wave rolled out the green carpet in his finale with a 46-6 resounding victory over rival Whitman-Hanson. Abington (8-3) upended the Panthers with six unanswered touchdowns, five in the second half, in the 112th meeting of the rivals.
“You might see me mowing my lawn,” said Kelliher, who finishes his career on the sidelines at 313-209-8, fourth all-time on the list of All-Time Winningest Coaches in state history. “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 things away for Kelliher with three touchdowns along with 123 yards on the ground and tossed in a fumble recovery on defense to hoist the annual Thanksgiving Day Victory Award for the third time in the last four meetings 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,” said 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 finished off with a 47-yard pass to Ryan Simonetti from quarterback Michael Reilly on a third-and-nine broken scramble.
Whitman-Hanson (4-8) drove the field on their next run at it but stalled inside the 10-yard line as the Abington defense jammed a fourth-and-goal attempt at the three-yard line for the turnover on downs.
But the Panthers were able to get great field position on the next series after forcing a three-and-out and scored on a two-yard quarterback keeper by Ryan Nash to tie things up 6-6 with 6:55 left in the second quarter.
That was the end of any chance of a Panthers win on their home 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,” said Whitman-Hanson running back 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 started with Nash’s first score from 50 yards out off tackle to give the Green Wave the 14-6 halftime lead, after Connor Pease hauled in the two-point conversion. William LeBlanc scored from nine yards out and bookended the scoring in the second half with a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown. Simonetti added his second touchdown grab from Reilly as the Green Wave defense shutout the Panthers after allowing 155 yards of offense in the first half.
The Panthers had their chances in the first two quarters but a total of four turnovers, including an interception in the red zone that ended the first half doomed Whitman-Hanson. Also, a fumble on what would have been the Panthers first series of the second half on an Abington kickoff resulted in another Green Wave touchdown.
“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,” said Whitman-Hanson head coach, Zack Botelho, in his third year 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 advantage in the series, win or lose, this one was all about the illustrious career of Kelliher, who walks away after five decades 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,” said Kelliher.