Abington quarterback Tamir Berthau adding efficiency to his game

On the first offensive play of the game vs. Bensalem, the strength of Tamir Berthau’s arm was on full display.

Abington High’s senior star fired a deep strike for a 70-yard touchdown pass to send the Ghosts on their way to a 49-15 victory.

But it was the rest of Berthau’s night Sept. 13 in Schwarzman Stadium that displayed his growth as a savvy, seasoned quarterback and underscored the dilemma he presents for defenses.

"Tamir has a big arm, and he loves to show it off,” Abington coach Kevin Conlin said. “But the whole offseason, we talked about being efficient. Every day at lunch, we talk about being efficient, taking the short passes, moving the chains.

“That’s what he’s doing now. That’s what we’re seeing from him as a senior.”

The 6-foot-2, 165-pound Berthau was 11-for-12 passing against Bensalem. He opened the game with a bomb but spent most of the night dropping dimes to his receivers to drive the Ghosts to their highest point total since 2017.

For the season, Berthau is 32-for-44 passing (72.7%) for 487 yards and seven touchdowns. He also has carried the football 51 times for 512 yards (10 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns.

Abington (4-1), which has won four in a row since a season-opening loss to Northeast, will host Neshaminy (2-3) in a key Suburban One League National Division game Friday night.

“I’ve really been working on my passing,” Berthau said. “Last year, I had a lot of rushing yards, more rushing than passing. This year, I want to kind of flip that around.”

Berthau is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in Southeastern Pennsylvania. His ability to run made the difference in Abington’s 19-7 victory over rival Cheltenham on Sept. 6, as he gained 169 yards on 20 carries and sealed the win with a 45-yard touchdown run in the final minutes.

But when Berthau and Conlin get together for lunch every day at school, they don’t talk much about the quarterback’s ability to threaten defenses with his legs. Or his knack for throwing the deep pass.

“It’s all about being more efficient,” Berthau said. “Being a more complete quarterback. That’s what I want to be known as.”

Berthau is the son of Terrell Berthau, a standout baseball player at Ben Franklin High in the late 1980s who pitched for a couple of years in the Texas Rangers’ minor-league system.

Tamir Berthau was a pitcher early in his athletic career. He also played soccer.

But now football is his game. And quarterback is his position.

Berthau has drawn recruiting interest from college programs at the FCS level such as Stony Brook, Robert Morris, Morgan State, Sacred Heart, St. Francis, and Fordham.

“A lot of schools look at me as a wide receiver or a running back, but I don’t fit that,” Berthau said. “I want to be a quarterback.”

Berthau played some wide receiver during his early years with the North Philly Blackhawks. But he quickly converted to quarterback.

“I love being a quarterback,” Berthau said. “I’m in control of everything. I get to see everything before everybody else does. The play doesn’t start until I snap the ball.”

One snap into the Bensalem game, Berthau had thrown a 70-yard touchdown pass. But it was the 8-yard outs and the 10-yard curls that might have meant even more to the Ghosts and their prospects for making a serious run at the SOL National crown and some noise in the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs.

"He’s grown so much as a quarterback,” Conlin said. “He’s a great athlete with a great arm. But he’s starting to really understand how to play the position. That’s making him even more dangerous.”