Nottingham can’t keep pace with Freehold Boro’s Worthy
HAMILTON » This was one of those games where as the losing team all you could do is shrug your shoulders and tip your hat to an opposing player.
The Nottingham High football team played arguably its best offensive game of the season Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs, but it still wasn’t enough as the Northstars fell to Freehold Boro, 51-34.
No matter what Nottingham (8-2) did — and it did do a lot — Freehold Boro (7-3) always had the answer in the form of quarterback Ashante Worthy.
A walking highlight film just waiting to happen, Worthy took off on some runs against the Northstars that had to be seen to be believed and the result was he rushed for a mind-numbing 410 yards on 30 carries and seven touchdowns.
Worthy was also devastating through the air, completing 14of-17 passes for 203 yards. Add it all together and that’s 613 total yards in offense for a player who has accounted for a staggering 51 touchdowns on the year.
“It was a combination,” replied Nottingham coach Adams when asked if Worthy is that good or his team did a poor job of tackling. “He does that to everybody; he scored 10 touchdowns in one game. He’s electrifying.”
To its vast credit, Nottingham was able to match the explosive Freehold offense for much of the game and led by the score of 2720 at the half.
As usual, making Nottingham go was its outstanding sophomore tailback Dionte Nicholson. By the time his day was finished, Nicholson had piled up 227 yards on 21 carries and scored four touchdowns himself.
Nicholson’s first touchdown opened the scoring when he exploded for 80 yards on the third play of the game. His last touchdown was another sprint as he outraced the Boro secondary on a 68yard run to draw his team to within 29-27 late in the third quarter.
Considering Nottingham had a stout defense this year and also scored on a 5-yard run by Eric D’Herron, on most days it would have produced a victory.
Instead, a Nottingham TD was invariably followed by more fireworks from the elusive Worthy, who repeatedly spun in and out of tackles while weaving his way down the field through arm tackles.
“We had a few mental lapses and it cost in the second half,” said Adams, whose team only scored once in the final two quarters. “I thought our defense played great in the first half, but he’s just tough to stop.”
Northstar sophomore quarterback Logan Barber did chip in with five completions for 89 yards and D’Herron more than that did his part with 131 rushing yards on eight carries. But Nottingham wasn’t helped any when it lost valuable two-way lineman Bryce Fremgen to an ankle injury and had some other players go down as well.
While a loss is never the way you want to end the season, as these things go this inspired effort by the Northstars wasn’t too bad. With some key players coming back, Nottingham can also look forward to another successful season.
“It was a great group of seniors,” said Adams. “I’m proud of what this team was able to accomplish.”
FreeholdBoro (7-3)6 Nottingham (8-2) 14 14 13 17 7 14 — 0 —
Nicholson 80 run (Oge kick) Worthy 1 run (kick failed) D’Herron 5 run (Oge kick)
Worthy 8 run (Hunter kick) Nicholson 1 run (Oge kick) Nicholson 3 run (kick failed) Worthy 71 run (Hunter kick)
Worthy 23 run (kick failed) Hunter 27 field goal
Nicholson 65 run (Oge kick) Worthy 58 run (Dixon pass from Worthy)
Worthy 64 run (Hunter kick) Worthy 3 run (Hunter kick)
51 34