Allentown High School’s Frank Juba (r) scraps with Hamilton’s Hector Comulado during their 195-pound match at the NJSIAA District 25 Wrestling Tournament held at Steinert High School on Feb. 23. Juba won this match and went on to win the district championship, defeating Steinert’s River Ulrich, 2-1, in the final. R.D. BEALES Allentown
Players on Allentown High School’s football team, which is coming off its winningest season and its first division championship, will be narrowing down their college choices over the next few weeks.
Many are looking at NCAA Division II and Division III schools as they hope to carve a college career, like the one former-Redbirds great Ross Scheuerman is making at Lafayette College. Scheuerman is preparing for spring workouts beginning this week. The workout schedule will stop March 23-29 for spring break and resume after that for the Maroon vs. White spring game.
Allentown High School’s Justin Miller (l) tries to keep Northern Burlington County Regional High School’s Sam Jones from escaping his hold during their 145-pound match at the NJSIAA District 25 Wrestling Tournament, held Feb. 23 at Steinert High School. Miller held on to get the win and eventually finished second in his weight class. R.D. BEALES “Team-wise, the coaches and strength coach are concentrating on making us bigger,” said Scheuerman “There’s not as much conditioning and running, but they’re supposed to want us to put on more muscle mass.”
Scheuerman said that muscle issues may have figured into the team’s four-game losing streak to end the 2012 season after a 3- 0 start. The Leopards’ record was 5-6. Two seasons ago, Lafayette also struggled at the end of the season.
“We lost games we should’ve won,” Scheuerman said. “The end of the year, we fell apart as a team. We weren’t bonding together. This year, I love all these guys and we’re all friends.”
There are many familiar ones on offense with virtually everyone back. Last season, Scheuerman was an All-Patriot League Second Team selection and he was named Lafayette’s Offensive Back of the Year for the second straight year by the coaching staff.
In 2012, Scheuerman accumulated 1,159 total all-purpose yards, including 701 rushing yards on 146 carries, which was fourth best in the league, and five touchdowns. In his rookie season, Scheuerman had 1,402 all-purpose yards, including 499 rushing yards on 104 carries, while getting recognition as a candidate for the Jerry Rice Award that goes to the top freshman college football player in the nation. He was named the
Patriot League’s Rookie of the Year.
He has some advice to players on his former team, as the seniors think about their college careers.
“I think it’s a full-time job,” Scheuerman said. “It’s really not for everybody. There’s always something other than football and you have to sacrifice a lot of things like your social life. A big part of going to college is that you have to love the sport because it’s tough.
“If you do that, it will be greatest experience of your life and teach you a lot of life lessons,” he continued.
Wrestling
Frank Juba (195 pounds) and Alec Rugo (170 pounds) repeated as District 25 champions and join the largest contingent of Allentown wrestlers — five — to advance to the Region VII tournament at Robbinsville High School. The tournament begins on Feb. 27 and continues from March 2-3.
Juba and Rugo were the only Allentown wrestlers to reach the state championships last year.
Also advancing were runners-up Jack Giglia (132 pounds) and Justin Miller (145 pounds), as well as third place finisher Tom O’Shaughnessy at 220 pounds.
“We finished third in the team standings out of 11 teams behind Steinert and Northern Burlington, so that’s not bad, [as is] getting five kids out to regions,” Allentown coach Larry Kimport said. “Now it’s a different kind of workout.”
Kimport was arranging workouts with New Egypt High School, which has a large number of qualifiers advancing out of its district.
“It’s tough to call from here and [we] must wrestle a full six minutes and let everything fall as it will,” he said.
Girls basketball
Allentown lost its second game in the Mercer County Tournament to Lawrence High School, 53-40, on Feb. 18. A 21-10 second quarter burst put Lawrence ahead by 11 points at halftime.
“They really defended us well, which is their trademark,” coach Linda Weise said. “They put on the pressure and we struggled.”
Kali Hartshorn led Allentown’s scorers with 15 points.
Allentown went on to win two regular season games, including a victory against Ewing High School, 62-55, off Allentown’s 21-9 third quarter burst. Hartshorn scored 18 points, Mandy Hornyak fired in 17 and Kathleen Kyle put in 14.
The Redbirds closed the regular season with a 45-27 victory over New Egypt to go to 14-9 before its NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III tournament opener on Feb. 26 as the No. 10 seed at No. 7 seed Middletown High School North. On Senior Day against New Egypt, senior reserve Hannah Murphy sank three 3-pointers. Hartshorn and Hornyak each fired in 10 points. A 17-7 second quarter gave Allentown a 24-17 lead it never lost.
Weise said her team now must tighten its perimeter defense against Middletown North’s 3-point shooting.
“They’re fluid on offense,” Weise said.
The winner of that game plays on Feb. 28 against the winner of the Hopewell Valley Central High School vs. Nottingham High School game.
Boys basketball
The Redbirds lost their final two regular season games to Ewing, 75-44, and New Egypt, 72-60, where Zach Duymich scored 14 for Allentown (6-17). The Redbirds, seeded 15th in NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III, plays at No. 2 seed Woodbridge High School on Feb. 26. The winner plays on Feb. 28 against the winner of Neptune High School vs. Middletown North.