Missed Opportunities Cost Freehold in Narrow Playoff Loss to Allentown

Photo gallery by Robert Samuels

FREEHOLD -- Junior quarterback Jordan Winston tossed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Rick Mottram on the final play of the third quarter and Allentown ran out the final 6:35 to defeat Freehold 10-7 in the first round of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV playoffs on Saturday afternoon.

Winston dropped the shotgun snap on the second-down play, but the ball bounced back into his hands almost immediately. The Freehold defense reacted to the fumble, leaving Mottram completely wide open for the easy touchdown pass.

The Redbirds (6-4) threw the ball just five times all game, but Winston made those chances count by completing all five passes for 126 yards. He also ran for 100 yards as part of a 235-yard effort on the ground by Allentown. Junior running back Joe Mannino ran for a team-high 123 yards and Matt Fritsky added a 24-yard field goal.

Sophomore running back Ashante Worthy ran for a game-high 157 yards and scored a 35-yard touchdown for Freehold. The Colonials (6-4) missed several opportunities put points on the board, including being stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line and missing a field goal in the third quarter. Allentown also came up with an interception in the end zone after turning the all over on downs at its own 16-yard line.

Allentown will play at top-seeded Brick Memorial (8-2) next Friday night.

Box Score

Allentown 10, Freehold 7

	Allentown	Freehold
First downs	15	15
Rushes-yards	56-235	32-195
Passing	5-5-0	12-20-1
Passing yards	126	104
Fumbles-lost	4-0	2-2
Penalties-yards	8-80	1-5

Allentown (6-4) 0 3 7 0 – 10

Freehold (6-4) 7 0 0 0 – 7

Scoring summary

F – Ashante Worthy 35-yard run (Matt Curcio kick)

A – Matt Fritsky 24-yard field goal

A – Jordan Winton 44-yard pass to Rick Mottram (Matt Fritsky kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing – A: Joe Mannino 26-123, Jordan Winston 26-100, Shane Duffy 1-10, Rick Mottram 3-2; F: Ashante Worthy 17-157, Jake Curry 12-35, Jamel Smith-Rush 3-3.

Passing – A: Jordan Winston 5-5-0 126; F: Jake Curry 12-20-1 104.

Receiving – A: Rick Mottram 2-73, Shane Duffy 1-25, Brett Masci 1-18, Kevin Bergen 1-10.

Interceptions – A: Samir Queen 1-0.