Allentown High School’s Kayla Peterson, middle, maintains control of the ball against Robbinsville High School’s Hadley Fluge, right, at Robbinsville on Oct. 7. The Colonial Valley Conference Freedom Division contest ended in a 1-1 tie. MATT DENTON Allentown High School’s football team has not had many losing streaks, and it looks to break a two-game slide and bounce back into contention for an NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III playoff berth.
The Redbirds, who reached the Central Jersey Group III championship game last December, fell to 2-3 after losing to unbeaten Lenape High School, 41-7. Lenape is a Group V school.
The Redbirds look to avoid a rarity in Jay Graber’s five seasons as head coach — a three-game losing streak — when they host Hightstown High School at 6 p.m. Oct. 16. Hightstown (2-3) comes off a loss, 44- 8, to West Windsor Plainsboro High School North Oct. 9.
“We lost three in a row I think once before,” said Graber, pointing to his first season as the other time the Redbirds lost three straight.
As far as his team’s ability to bounce back, Graber took a wait-and-see approach.
“This is gut check time for our team,” he said. “We’ll see what kind of heart they have.”
Graber said that is the theme during practices throughout this week.
“We’re telling them to show us what kind of heart they have — what’s their character in the face of adversity,” Graber said.
A loss will put Allentown in a must-win situation over the following two games if it wants to make the state playoffs for a fourth straight year.
The said shoring up the defense also is a focus during practice.
“We have to get better there,” Graber said.
The coach pointed out junior linebacker Ricky Mottram continues to be the leader on defense. “He cares a lot about football,” Graber said.
Against Lenape, Joe Mannino ran 34 yards for a touchdown and Matt Fritsky kicked the extra point to pull Allentown to 14-7 in the first quarter, but Lenape bounced back with a long kickoff return that set up a 34-yard touchdown pass to regain command. Lenape led, 28-7, at halftime.
Mannino rushed for 101 yards on 15 carries. Quarterback Jordan Winston remains 60 yards short of 1,000 yards rushing, as he was held to 40 yards on 12 carries and completed two passes for 53 yards.
Field hockey
Allentown and Robbinsville High School played to a 1-1 tie Oct. 7 in the key Colonial Valley Conference Freedom Division showdown for first place.
Kayla Peterson scored off a pass from Rachel Dau for an Allentown goal that tied it at 4:33 — just 25 seconds after Robbinsville struck for the first goal. Katie White was sharp in goal for Allentown in the defensive struggle. Robbinsville comes into this week 7-0-3.
“We came out hungry for a win, and the girls played great,” Allentown first-year head coach Dana Thompson after the game. “It was one of the best games that I’ve seen this season. They fought from the start to the finish and did not give up.”
Allentown (9-0-1) followed the tie with a 7-0 victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Oct. 9. Peterson and Olivia Pozza each scored twice. and Dau, Melanie Scibilia and Mary Bellotti fired in the other goals.
Early last week, Allentown also shut out Hopewell Valley Central High School, 4-0. Caitlin Noon, Dau, Peterson and Scibilia scored.
Allentown looked to secure a favorable seed for the Mercer County Tournament with games scheduled at Ewing High School Oct. 12 and West Windsor-Plainsboro North Oct. 14, which was the tournament cutoff date.
Girls soccer
Sydney Regina scored off a cross from Veronica Gotilla in the first minute against West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Oct. 9, and Allentown won the game, 2-0. Alyssa Sloan scored the insurance goal early in the second half.
Allentown players and coach Kim Maurer said afterward the victory helped the team regain confidence that was shaken recently when it sandwiched a pair of losses to Notre Dame High School, 2-1, and Hopewell Valley, 3-0, which was a Colonial Valley Conference Freedom Division championship showdown, around a 6-0 triumph over Hamilton High School West.
“It was total domination,” Maurer said of the victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
Allentown’s defensive line of Toni Catelli, Hannah Robertson, Sarah Settlecowski and Alex Searig allowed only one shot on goal.
“We scored in the first 38 seconds,” the coach said. “We have to start quicker and score quicker [like that]. We came out strong and hard.”
Allentown, which comes into the week 10- 2, rolled by Trenton Central High School, 6-0, Oct. 10. Six different players scored: Robertson, Settlecowski, Katie Korosec, Juliana Rizzeri, Abby Rubenstein and Rachel White.
The Redbirds hosted Robbinsville (4-3- 1) Oct. 13, which was the cutoff date for the Mercer County Tournament. They travel to Princeton High School (6-2-1) Oct. 15 and host Ewing (4-6-1) Oct. 19.
“I like playing hard games at the end,” Maurer said. “It keeps our adrenalin going.”
Boys soccer
Andrew Bardiwil scored Allentown’s lone goal in a 4-1 loss to West Windsor- Plainsboro South.
The Redbirds also lost to Hopewell Valley, 2-0, last week to fall to 2-6-1 on the season.
They looked to snap a four-game losing streak Oct. 13 at Robbinsville.
Allentown then comes home for a game against Princeton Oct. 15, before hitting the road for a game at Ewing Oct. 19.