HAMILTON — It was a little bit difficult to know just what to make of the Allentown High football team’s 22-6 victory over Nottingham on Saturday in a battle of winless squads.
The very big positive for the Redbirds, of course, is they won. The not so great was it took a while to put away a Nottingham team that was missing star senior quarterback Dante Vasquez after he was ejected from a game the previous week.
Give Nottingham credit for hanging in there because the way the game started it looked like it was going to turn into a rout.
Set up by an interception by Elijah Saiz, Allentown got on the board right away when rugged senior running back Kevin Cunningham bulldozed his way into the end zone on a 5-yard run. The lead was then quickly up to 9-0 when Cunningham booted a 25-yard field goal after the Redbirds took over at the Nottingham 22 yard line following a punt.
One thing you always know about Nottingham is the Northstars will scrap. Sure enough, they got right back in the game when junior James Rumph took over at quarterback late in the second quarter and electrified the home crowd with a 69-yard touchdown bolt on his very first play.
Allentown replied with a long drive, but the score remained 9-7 at the half following an interception in the end zone by Nottingham’s Chris Alvarez.
Allentown’s next possession did go the distance as it opened the third quarter with an 80-yard drive that required six plays. Two penalties against the Northstars played a big part in this before Cunningham scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run.
With the score now 16-6, Nottingham nearly once again got back in the game behind the running of the speedy Rumph, who would go on to finish with 157 yards 15 carries. A long drive, however, eventually stalled out at the Allentown 16 yard line.
Allentown coach Andrew Lachenmayer, for one, was not at all surprised the shorthanded Northstars refused to go away.
“It’s always a challenge trying to prepare for Nottingham,” he said. “They’re always very well coached. Milo does a great job, with the defense especially. We’ve been kind of beating ourselves up the past couple of weeks. I thought we played with great effort. I thought we played really physical when it mattered. We executed and made a couple of big plays in key spots, which is great to see.”
Any thoughts of a miracle Nottingham comeback ended early in the fourth quarter when Allentown quarterback Anthony O’Rourke hooked up with a wide open Luke Laurnaitis on a 60-yard bomb down the middle of the field.
O’Rourke completed 9 of 14 passes for 201 yards and also ran the ball effective at times on quarterback keepers. In addition to his two touchdown runs, Cunningham piled up 66 yards on 10 carries.
On the defensive side of the ball, Allentown came up with three interceptions. The second one came early in the fourth quarter when Nick Visconti made a nice catch on a Rumph pass into the end zone. This was big because had Nottiungham scored there and kicked an extra point it would have been down by only three points.
The last Redbird interception was by O’Rourke with 2:17 remaining and his team now ahead, 22-6.
“We’ve still got some mistakes to clean up, but it was nice to put enough of an effort together,”’ said Lachenmayer. “It’s always great to get that elusive first win.”Allentown will now go for its second when it hosts Steinert on Friday night. Nottingham, meanwhile, will be back in action Saturday in a home game against Hopewell Valley.
Allentown (1-2) 9 0 7 6 — 22
Nottingham (0-3) 0 6 0 0 0 — 6
A-Cunningham 5 run (run kick failed)
A-Cunningham 25 field goal.
N-Rumph 69 run (kick failed)
A-Cunningham 6 run (Cunningham kick)]
A-Laurnaitis 60 pass from O’Rourke (kick failed)
