Allentown begins title defense with a rout of Nottingham
HAMILTON » If Allentown High is going to have any chance at repeating as Central Jersey Group IV champions this season, the Redbirds know they can’t worry about the stars who graduated.
Gone are names like Jordan Winston, Aydon Chavis and Ricky Mottram from Allentown’s high-powered rushing attack of a season ago. But the Redbirds of 2017 are only concerned with building a new legacy in the program.
On Saturday afternoon, the defense made big plays early, Rahsaan Emory rushed for 102 yards and Allentown opened the season with a 34-7 triumph at Nottingham High.
“When you have big shoes to fill, during practice you work and you work,” Emory said. “Those names never come up because when you focus on those players you end up saying, ‘Oh, if we had this player, we could’ve done this or that.’ But we don’t need them.”
Emory, a junior, carried the ball 24 times and caught two passes out of backfield. His 3-yard plunge up the middle with 39 seconds remaining in the first half capped a 49-yard scoring drive, earning Allentown a 20-0 halftime lead despite three Redbird turnovers.
“This is my first year starting on offense, so it was a big step.” Emory said. “First game there’s always firstgame jitters. You shake it off and you get back out there every single day.”
The Redbirds seized a 13-point lead over the Northstars in the first quarter with two defensive touchdowns. On Nottingham’s third play from scrimmage, defensive back X’Zavier Harris intercepted a pass by Logan Barber and sprinted 15 yards into the end zone.
Later in the period, linebacker Jha’Quel Brown tipped a screen pass to himself and returned it 75 yards for another touchdown. That stalled a 52-yard Nottingham drive on fourth down from Allentown’s 17-yard line.
“Our defense played pretty well because I thought that they prepared really well this week,” said head coach Jay Graber, whose team has a bye next week before hosting Shawnee on Sept. 15. “So we just have to continue to prepare that way every single week because it’s only going to get tougher.”
Sadik Queen also had an interception and Joe Dippolito recovered a fumble. Drew Huth and Nick Campbell were relentless penetrators in Allentown’s front seven.
During one Nottingham drive in the first half, Huth recorded a six-yard tacklefor-loss and then a sack to force a punt. Timely plays like those helped Allentown offset 146 yards on 25 carries by Northstars sophomore running back Dionte Nicholson. Louis Akpadago scored Nottingham’s lone touchdown on a 42-yard run late in the fourth quarter.
“He’s a really good player,” Graber said of Nicholson. “He was somebody that we really wanted to key on, and he was still able to run for that amount. So we have to look at the film, we have to see what mistakes we made. It’s the first game.”
Allentown freshman quarterback Dan Merkel showed viability in his varsity debut, passing 8-for-13 for 110 yards. He lost a fumble and threw an interception in the first half, but tossed an impressive 25-yard dime in the end zone to Harris in the third quarter to cap a 64yard drive.
“He’s practiced extremely well the last few weeks,” Graber said. “We don’t look at him as a freshman or anything like that. We look at him as he’s the next guy up, and he’s got to get the job done. His age doesn’t matter. In the first half he didn’t play well, and we let him know about it. He knew about it, and he worked to improve in the second half and I thought he did that. But he still has to get a lot better, and he knows that. He’ll be the first to say it.”
Allentown (1-0) Nottingham (0-1) First Quarter A—
Harris 15 interception return (kick failed)
Brown 75 interception return (McCrea kick)
A— Second Quarter A— Third Quarter A—
Emory 3 run (McCrea kick)
Harris 26 pass from Merkel (McCrea kick)
Fourth Quarter A— N— 13 0 7 0 7 0
Boyle 3 run (McCrea kick) Akpadago 42 run (Oge kick)
7 — 7 — 34 7