Nelson, ’Stars drop rival Spartans
With star running back Diontae Nicholson unavailable because of a concussion he suffered in a scrimmage, the Nottingham High football team was looking for someone to pick up the slack in its season opener at arch-rival Steinert on Saturday.
Front and center junior Jaeir Nelson, who had the type of game most players can only dream about as Nottingham pulled away in the second half for a 20-6 victory over the Spartans.
Offensively, Nelson scored all three of the Northstar touchdowns on runs of 60, 58 and 1 yards. All three of those TDs were on sweeps around right end with Nottingham’s rebuilt line doing a good job of sealing the corners and Nelson showing the patience to wait for his blocks to develop before cutting back.
Nelson also set the tone defensively when he intercepted a pass right in front of the goal line after Steinert opened the game by smartly driving down to the Nottingham 15 yard line.
Nelson later broke up a fourth-down pass deep in Nottingham territory when the Northstars thwarted one of several opportunities Steinert had to get back in the game in the second half.
“I think I’m somewhere in between,” replied Nelson when asked if he considers himself to be more of a defensive or offensive player. “Before the game my coaches told me I had to step it up with Diontae out.”
Confined to a chair on the sidelines after suffering a freak knee injury, Nottingham’s long-time coach Jon Adams was not surprised Nelson came through in such a big way.
“He’s a special player; he’s a special athlete,” said Adams. “We have a lot of weapons this year who are among the best (track) sprinters and jumpers in the state.”
Following a scoreless first quarter in which Nottingham got the first of two interceptions by Derek Williams when he also picked off a short pass near the goal line, the Northstars opened the scoring on a 60-yard bolt by Nelson.
After an exchange of punts, Steinert was able to cash for the one time on the day when Will Laster plowed in from 1 yard out to complete a 66-yard drive and leave the game tied at 6-all at the half.
Laster actually would have probably scored earlier in the drive if a referee hadn’t gotten in his way on a long run up the middle. It was a rough day all around for the refs in a poorly officiated game that also “featured’’ a bizarre call on which the Nottingham quarterback was flagged for targeting on a keeper around right end.
Whatever, the third quarter completely belonged to Nottingham, starting with the 58-yard TD sweep by Nelson on the third play of the second half.
Nottingham then got right back in business when Williams intercepted another pass and quarterback Logan Barber hooked up with Christian Angelucci on a 32-yard pass to the Steinert 9 yard line. It took four plays, but Nottingham was able to establish a twotouchdown lead on the third TD by Nelson.
The fourth quarter was all about Nottingham’s defense refusing to crack despite excellent field position for Steinert.
The Spartans best chance came when a high punt snap allowed them to take over at the Nottingham 4 yard line, but even here they could not score as three runs resulted in the loss of three yards and quarterback Nick Wright was sacked on fourth down.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Steinert also nearly scored on an 18-yard pass from Wright to Miles Smith, only to have it ruled out of bounds at the back of the end zone.
Other than Nelson’s 119 yards, no one was able to put together big offensive numbers. Filling in for Nicholson, promising sophomore Mark Kaufman ran for 56 yards on 12 carries. Barber completed just two passes, but them count for 52 yards.
Laster led the Steinert ground game with 64 yards on 16 carries and really looked like a player the Spartans can depend on to get some tough yardage. Wright was 4-for-7 passing for 44 yards.
It wasn’t nearly enough because of Nelson’s heroics,
“Nelson had a great game,” said Adams. “I thought our line run blocked well, but he made some great plays. He’s good at gliding and then hitting the hole when he sees it.” Nottingham (1-0) 0 6 14 0 — 20
Steinert (0-1) 0 6 0 0 — 6
N: Nelson 60 run (run failed)
S: Laster 1 run (kick failed)
N: Nelson 56 run (Oge kick)
N: Nelson 1 run (Oge kick)