The Nazareth Area High School football team’s offense can do some special things.
The Blue Eagles just need one key ingredient: the ball.
Host Allentown Central Catholic did its best to keep the rock away from Nazareth on Saturday night. The visitors, however, got opportunities in the second half, and the result was 35 straight points and a comfortable Blue Eagles victory.
Nazareth, ranked No. 3 by lehighvalleylive.com, rolled past No. 4 Allentown Central Catholic for a 42-14 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South Division victory at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
Quick-strike success
Central Catholic (4-3 overall, 3-3 division) took the lead in the second quarter by methodically marching down the field with senior running back Caiden Shaffer leading a single-wing attack.
The Vikings used 16 plays, 15 of which were runs by Shaffer, to go 79 yards. The senior tailback ended the series with a 1-yard touchdown, and Tamlin Ferguson’s PAT gave the Vikings a 14-7 advantage with 15.8 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
All told, Central took 11 minutes and 4 seconds off the clock – almost the entire second quarter … almost.
A short kickoff gave Nazareth possession at its 43-yard line. Senior quarterback Sonny Sasso heaved a long pass downfield to senior wideout Nolan Lobb, who outjumped a defender to make a terrific catch at the Vikings’ 4.
Time initially expired on the scoreboard, but the officials awarded Nazareth a timeout and put 2 seconds back on the clock.
The Blue Eagles (6-1, 4-1) employed a “swinging gate” formation on the next play. Senior wideout Mason Kuehner took the snap and sprinted to the pylon to tie the contest as the clock hit 0.0.
“It was a crazy momentum shift for us. Going into half 14-7, it wouldn’t have been a great feeling,” Kuehner said. “But the fact that ‘Lobby’ made that great catch down here, and I was able to barrel through behind my big lineman (Sean) Kinney to get in the end zone, it was a great momentum shift for us. We went into the locker room uplifted instead of down.”
“We took a shot down the field, and that was a huge play to set up the score,” Blue Eagles coach Tom Falzone added. “Getting that one was a big momentum swing for us, I think. We came into halftime and our guys were fired up.”
Funky formations aren’t uncommon for the Blue Eagles. Saturday night’s gadget was just one part of the repertoire.
“We practice that a lot. We know that can be a big play for us whenever we need it. We work on it a lot, and we ran it well,” Kuehner said.
“We have so many of those things in our playbook. We practice them all the time. We add them weekly,” Falzone said. “We have an arsenal of those things that we can use ... You save them for big moments; you save them for big games.”
Second-half surge
The Nazareth offense hit the ground running in the second half, taking the opening series 77 yards for a touchdown. Sasso hit a jumping Kuehner for a 25-yard score to put the visitors ahead with 9:21 left in the third quarter.
Then, Central Catholic, feeling the pressure that the Blue Eagles attack generates, went for a fourth-and-2 at its own 48. Shaffer was halted for no gain.
Seven plays later, Kuehner was back in the end zone after a 6-yard scoring run.
The Vikings advanced into Nazareth territory on their next possession but eventually faced another fourth-and-2. The Blue Eagles defense responded again and dropped Shaffer for a 2-yard loss.
Sean Kinney, Nazareth’s standout two-way lineman, credited the coaching staff for making the changes necessary to slow down Central’s single wing.
“Our coaches made a lot of good adjustments at halftime,” the junior said. “... We were ready for (the single wing); we weren’t ready for that to be every play. We knew they’d come out of it at some point. We moved me around a little bit, and the energy just changed.”
With blood in the water, Sasso hit junior wideout Logan Hilarczyk for a 30-yard gain to put Nazareth in the red zone. Sasso later powered across the goal line from 5 yards away to push his team’s advantage to 35-14 with 10:40 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“There were some things that we liked against them that we wanted to do. We just didn’t have the ball,” Falzone said. “... We wanted to run a little tempo. We haven’t done that a lot this year. It’s something that we thought we could get going, and we did. We moved the ball well, and the guys were on the same page. It clicked.”
Big-play problems
Vikings coach Tim McGorry acknowledged the momentum swing at the end of the first half, but it was just one part of the problem as Central couldn’t muster a defensive stop in the final two quarters.
“If you go (into halftime) up 14-7, instead of 14-14, that certainly changes things. You can’t deny that. But, we can’t give up big plays,” he said. “You saw in the second half why we wanted to do what we did in the first half. We weren’t going to win that game trying to match up with them on the perimeter. We needed to limit their possessions, which I thought we did a really good job of in the first half.”
McGorry was proud of his team’s effort and physicality but noted that the staff might have to review its approach in the secondary to shore up the unit before tests against Whitehall and Bethlehem Catholic.
“I told the kids after the game, we played as hard as we possibly could,” the coach said. “We can’t get big-played to death like that. That’s kind of what happened. We’ll get back to work. Whitehall and Beca are certainly not going to roll over for us.”
Shaffer finished with 33 carries, scoring both of Central’s TDs and registering 162 of the team’s 226 yards of total offense.
Blue Eagles energy
Nazareth, which didn’t have the nearby support of the crowd while on the away sideline at J. Birney Crum, generated its own enthusiasm in the second half.
“You’re in a dead zone over here when you play. There’s nothing behind you. Our guys, they were awesome. They were chanting ... You could hear them hooting and hollering,” Falzone said. “… In the second half, they were fired up. I think that gave them energy. We had to develop it from somewhere. It was definitely a tale of two halves.”
The volume of the Blue Eagles sideline increased with each play the defense made.
“We needed the energy from the sideline. We knew it was going to be a grinder,” Kuehner said. “Our sideline stepped up. Even the kids that don’t get in that much, they were getting excited for us. I think that definitely helped us bring the energy to win the game.”
Kuehner rushed for three touchdowns and caught three passes for 78 yards and a TD. Lobb finished with seven receptions for 113 yards.
Sasso completed 14 of 19 passes for 253 yards and a TD. He also ran nine times for 46 yards and two scores.
Nazareth now has a short week before unbeaten Emmaus (7-0) arrives at Andrew S. Leh Stadium. It’s a marquee matchup and an important opportunity for the Blue Eagles, who were eliminated by the Green Hornets in last year’s district quarterfinals during a 20-19 heartbreaker.
“Big week – we haven’t forgotten about last year,” Kinney said. “I think they’re No. 3 in the state; we’re No. 8 in the state (according to Pennlive.com). It’ll be a show.”
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Kyle Craig may be reached at kcraig@lehighvalleylive.com.
Nazareth football rolls to victory vs. Central after offense adds key ingredient: the ball - lehighvalleylive.com
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