High school football: Abington's Josh Young has been a quick study

A little bit of encouragement can go a long way. Just ask Abington senior Josh Young.

"One of my buddies, Jaime Rivera, played football and he told me I should give it a try," Young said. "I thought about it and decided to see what it was like. And I liked it right away from the first practice."

The catch is that first practice came just a little over a year ago.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Young was playing basketball for the Ghosts — he still does — but he had never played football until his junior year.

"When you watch him play you would never really know how new he is to the game," Abington head coach Kevin Conlin said. "He's a tall kid that is playing defensive end and receiver for us and he's a big target. And he's a great kid that really works hard to get better."

Young had a breakout game in Week Two against host Council Rock North when he scored receiving touchdowns of 2 and 8 yards and also returned an interception 19 yards in what was a 45-13 win for the Ghosts that evened their season mark at 1-1. Up next for Abington will be a home game Friday (7 p.m.) against Harry S. Truman.

"It felt really nice to get that first win," Young said. "Everybody was ready to go and we played well."

For subscribers:Here are five of the top games to watch in Week Three

Oh, and those three touchdowns he scored? They were the first (and second and third) of his young career.

"It felt great to get in the end zone," Young said. "And to get the one on defense was fun."

The defensive score was set up by junior teammate Connor Penderghest, who deflected the pass Young snagged and took to the end zone.

"I was thinking about a touchdown," Young said. "When I caught it, I just took off and was doing everything I could to score."

The Ghosts could do little wrong against the Indians as the running game of junior quarterback Anthony Pronsati and backs Rivera (a senior) and juniors Brooklyn Browne and Josh Brown continually picked up chunks of yardage.

And when the Ghosts did get in the end zone (which they did on their first five possessions of the game), backup sophomore kicker Braeden Brownholtz converted all six extra points and added a 29-yard field goal.

For subscribers:The big-school rankings have a new No. 1 team

Take a look:Abington thumps Council Rock North to even record at 1-1

"Everybody was just ready to go and we wanted this one," Young said. "We lost to Cheltenham (in the season opener) and we didn't want to lose again.

"Now, we just have to keep working hard and keep trying to get better every game."

Drew Markol:dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol