With shutout win over Abington stashed, Rockland High football cruises to D-6 Final Four

ROCKLAND – It’s almost like they’ve been there once before.

After climbing the Division 6 mountaintop a season ago, the loaded cast retained from the title-winning Rockland High football team have committed to the idea of doing it again.

A 28-0 shutout win over No. 7 Abington (4-6) Friday night is the second consecutive convincing win No. 2 Rockland (7-2) has collected this postseason, serving as a nice call-back to last year’s Division 6 Super Bowl, which the Bulldogs took by a 23-13 margin.

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So yes, by ousting its archrival from contention, Rockland’s craving to repeat has only grown stronger.

“Game by game, we’re building that confidence. The stakes are a lot higher when you get into the playoffs and we understand that,” said Rockland head coach Nick Liquori. “The benefit of having that experience from last year, I think it’s really helped these guys out in understanding what it takes to get to that next win. It’s going to show in these last two weeks.”

Next, the Bulldogs will match up with No. 3 St. Mary’s (9-1) in the Division 6 Final Four (date/time/location TBD).

“It feels great. Last year was last year, but it means even more with it being my senior year. I want it even more this year,” said receiver/cornerback Lucas Leander. “Ever since we were really, really young, we’ve been playing like this. We want to get it done.”

Leander – who snagged three catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns – continued to make big plays down the field in Friday’s win, including a gutsy, unconventional play call on fourth-and-16 from the Abington 43 yard line early in the second quarter that saw senior quarterback Michael Moriarty locate Leander in space for a 39-yard gain.

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It was just the second of four total passing plays Rockland ran all night. The highlight positioned the Bulldogs inside the Abington 5, and senior running back Jacob Coulstring (18 carries, 87 yards and two TDs) punched in a 4-yard TD to polish off the drive. Rockland led 14-0 with 11:15 to play until halftime.

“It was a great call. The (defender) fell, I threw it to him, it was there,” said Moriarty, who threw for 133 yards and two TDs in the win, both to Leander. “If it works, it works.”

Said Liquori, "I think we just tried to put the ball in our athletes’ hands and go from there.”

Leander sprang loose on Rockland’s second snap from scrimmage, as he flashed up the near sideline on a streak and Moriarty found him for a 69-yard touchdown to put Rockland ahead, 7-0, at the 5:16 mark of the opening quarter.

“He’s just a great route-runner,” raved Moriarty. “If they want to play man, we’ll use that all day.”

In an All-Scholastic junior season, Leander ran for 719 yards and six touchdowns while contributing 34 catches for 565 yards and seven TDs as a running back/receiver hybrid.

“His experience from last year, I think a lot of people understood who he was, which might have opened the door for (Coulstring in the run game) over the course of this year,” said Liquori. “I think Abington did a good job early on of making (Coulstring) work a little bit, which left the door open for Lucas to have some good connections with Michael.”

Leander, Coulstring and receiver/defensive back Jordan DePina are three key offensive skill position players that double-dip on defense. Star lineman Leary Costa, dominated in the defensive trenches to spearhead the shutout effort, also goes both ways.

The senior Costa recorded a sack in the first quarter, two tackles for loss in the second quarter – one for a 27-yard loss for Abington on a high snap – and one batted-down pass at the line of scrimmage in the waning moments of the first half.

“He’s fierce. And even Logan Rogers (a senior) on the other end, they’re just two good bookends. Leary understands, sometimes, when he’s not able to get to the quarterback so he’ll back off," Liquori said, noting the throw Costa disrupted. "He’s worked on his game very well over the last year.”

“It's the playoffs. It’s that time of season where you’ve got to bump up your mentality and the way you play. It’s also my teammates,” said Costa, attributing the performance beyond himself. “My teammates are always motivating me to be better and I’m always motivating them to be better.”

Including Friday’s win, Rockland has won the last six meetings with Abington dating back to 2019, snapping a streak in which Abington rattled off 12 wins in 13 games between 2006 and 2018. The Bulldogs have outscored the rebuilding Green Wave by a 62-7 margin in the two matchups this year.

“It’s just the grit and the mentality. Honestly, we know we have that rivalry – we’ve always had it,” Costa said. “It was a big game from the seniors because we knew it was our last game (at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium). We couldn’t let up. We were fired up from the start.”

In nine games this year, the Bulldogs’ defense has relinquished an average of 12.1 points per game. It allowed a season-high 22 points in last week’s Round of 16 game against No. 15 Seekonk, but the offense poured in 48 points for the second straight game to pull away.

Rockland has allowed 20 points or more just three times all season. Junior Joe Earner, senior Liam Wallace and junior Sam DeSousa also played well for the Rockland defense in Friday’s win.

“Everybody is coming together as one to stop them, but gain momentum at the same time because you’re all doing it. It’s not just one person doing it,” said Coulstring. “You’re all getting fired up because you all made the play. I think that’s big.”

No. 3 St. Mary’s, which stores an explosive offensive punch of 35.3 points per game during the regular season, was in similar postseason territory a season ago but it was on the opposite side of the bracket than Rockland – No. 2 Abington defeated No. 3 St. Mary’s in the Final Four by a 26-21 margin to advance to the Super Bowl.

But it'll be the reigning champs to get their crack at it next.

“It’s a good (roll we’re on) but we have a big challenge coming up with St. Mary’s,” Coulstring said. “They’re definitely hungry. It’ll be tough, but it’ll be fun.”

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Rockland High football team cruises past Abington into D-6 Final Four