The pain lingers for Allentown High School’s football players this week after they rallied from a 33-17 deficit only to lose their first-ever NJSIAA Central JerseyGroup III playoff game in overtime on Nov. 11 to visiting Neptune.
But they have 12 days to shake it off and prepare for their final game of the season with some lofty goals when they travel to Northern Burlington on Wednesday, Nov. 22, for a 7 p.m. kickoff. At stake for the 6-3 Redbirds will be a Colonial Division championship in the West Jersey League and a school record for victories. This is the second straight season Allentown has won six games, tying the school record first set in 1968.
Those were the same goals as a year ago, when Allentown came off an NJSIAA consolation playoff game and suffered its fourth loss in its last five games to finish 6-4.
“They’re good. They’re 8-1 and have a good running game and play good competition, which is why they are the No. 1 seed in our bracket [Central, Group III],” Allentown coach Jay Graber said of Northern Burlington.
Northern Burlington this weekend plays Neptune in the section semifinals. In its playoff opener, Northern Burlington comes off a 35-27 victory over three-time Central III finalist Middletown South, 35-27.
“We have to go out and play our game,” said Graber. “We’re pretty resilient. We’ve been down in games and played tough games, so I have complete faith in the players.”
And that includes, in particular, the nine seniors who played a role in the team’s success. Five of them started, including receiver Ryan Tedesco; defensive backs Matt Fleischaker andAnthony Toleno, who led the team with seven interceptions; and linemen Shawn Dziepak and Josh Golub. Another senior, Erick Wiggins, also broke into the starting lineup as a receiver two games ago and caught one of the three touchdown passes fromjunior quarterback Nick Palladino, who threw for 238 yards against Neptune. Zack Knight played a leading role on kickoff teams but missed the end of the season because of surgery he needed on his hand. The other two — Marc Meloro and Alex Townsend — provided senior leadership in practices and games.
Resilience is a quality of many players who have been part of the
Redbirds’ resurgence over the past two seasons, and they will not need a motivation from their coach for this final game.
“They showed a lot of character,” Graber said of his players in the
Neptune game. “It would be very easy to quit; they battled.”
In the playoff game, they showed a knack for bouncing back from 10-point deficits earlier in the game and were able to keep the faster Scarlet Fliers from breaking away. Neptune needed a six-yard touchdown pass reception by David Gutzmore to advance after Allentown junior running back Norman Williams ran one yard for a touchdown and added the game-tying conversion run with 31 seconds left in regulation. It was Tedesco’s touchdown catch and a 20-yard field goal by Markus Colin that pulled Allentown to 20-10, and Wiggins then hauled in his 50-yard scoring reception to make it 20-17 before Neptune answered with Gutzmore’s 48-yard touchdown run for a 27-17 halftime lead.
“It took us a while to acclimate to their speed,” Graber said. “They scored on their first drive, and we have not been giving up that many points early. They have a great defense, but we were able to move the ball.”
After Neptune broke away to a 33-17 lead, Frank Juba caught a touchdown strike from Palladino.
Despite having to make up points, Allentown showed patience and determination in rallying back with a balanced mix of pass and run. It’s the kind of patience and balance they’ll need for one more time against a big, physical Northern Burlington team that showed the ability to grind out tough yardage against Middletown South, as it has all season.