Abbington leads Zumwalt South past St. Charles West for homecoming win

Fort Zumwalt South running back Chase Abbington knew that Saturday’s homecoming game with St. Charles West had major expectations for he and his Bulldogs teammates.

Just three weeks removed from an injured shoulder, Abbington came out determined and put his team on his back.
Abbington rushed for two touchdowns and pushed the Bulldogs to a 27-7  nonconference victory as  Zumwalt South broke a three-game losing streak in moving to 4-3 overall.

“It was huge to come out here and win on homecoming,” Abbington said.”We had been struggling the least few games and I and the rest of the guys had never won on homecoming, so it’s real special to get this win and break the losing streak.”

Zumwalt South scored it opening touchdown on a Brett Simon to Gerald McBurrows 10-yard pass for a 7-0 lead with 5:27 left in the first quarter.

Simon and McBurrows hooked up again late in the second quarter on a seven yard touchdown strike making it 14-0.
St. Charles West (4-3) climbed back into the game with 1:20 left in the first half on a 12-yard touchdown run by Greg Illy cutting the margin to 14-7.

Abbington, who is verbally committed to Missouri, began to assert himself in the run game in the third quarter. The senior workhorse capped off a four-play drive with a 24-yard touchdown run extending the Bulldogs lead to 20-7. The point after kick was blocked by St. Charles West defender T.J. Jones.

Then with 4:10 left in game, Abbington put the exclamation point on his day with a 75-yard touchdown scamper that sent the Zumwalt South faithful into a frenzy.

Abbington finished the afternoon with 149 yards on 17 carries,two scores and some great satisfaction.
“I had been running a bit timid, since I  hurt my shoulder three weeks ago,” Abbington said.”Today, it was looser I was able and to go out and run harder. The first touchdown I felt my way a bit and the last one the tackle and my wing guy gave me an edge and I just took it on to the house.”

Arnold Yaeger provided the punch for the Zumwalt South defense. Yaeger paced the Bulldogs defense with 7 tackles and three sacks of St. Charles West quarterback Kyle Anders.

The day also brought some relief as well for the Zumwalt South coaching staff as the Bulldogs avoided dropping their fourth straight game.
“There was so much pressure coming into this game for us,” Zumwalt South coach Scott Fulton said.”We had lost a close one to Zumwalt East and a couple of others and to win this one and get back over.500 was huge. Hopefully, we can finish out well now the last two weeks against Holt and Vianney.”