Okezie Alozie sloshes his way to 182 yards, two touchdowns in Freedom High School's 14-6 football win over Emmaus

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

The Freedom High School and Emmaus football teams went to the CliffNotes versions of their playbooks Friday night.


Playing in conditions unfit for man or mad dogs, Okezie Alozie sloshed his way for 182 yards on 31 carries, elevating unbeaten Freedom to a 14-6 victory over Emmaus in a Lehigh Valley Conference game that participants, coaches and fans won't likely soon forget.

"I played for the Bethlehem Steelers against the East Side Youth Center in a midget game once that might have been a little worse than this, if you can believe that," said Freedom coach Jason Roeder, who was saying this while standing in mud that came up to his shins at the time.

"We played to a tie and it was played at Notre Dame High School. I remember that."

His players won't soon forget Friday night, either. Alozie, for one, sure won't. He was basically the difference, scoring both Patriot touchdowns, including the clincher on a 28-yard run with 8:38 remaining.

"We came out in warm-ups and even though it was raining pretty hard, you could at least make cuts and stuff," Alozie said. "But once the game started, you couldn't even do that."

okeziealozie.JPGExpress-Times photo/JIM MIDDLEKAUFFOkezie Alozie breaks one during recent Freedom practice.

The majority of the game was played in a driving rain and neither Freedom (4-0 overall, 3-0 LVC) nor Emmaus (2-2, 1-2) got beyond Page 3 of the playbook. This is what football must have looked like in the days of leather helmets, when men were men and the forward pass was merely a gleam in the eye of Amos Alonzo Stagg.

"We played a tough game on the road, in a hostile environment, in tough conditions and won," Roeder said. "We didn't win a championship tonight, but these are the tough games that good teams need to win."

Both sidelines were flooded, particularly Emmaus' side. Green Hornet players coming off the field stood in water that was halfway up to their knees, the result of a drainage problem around midfield.

How tough was it? Well, Freedom quarterback Brian Uliana did not complete a pass in four attempts. And he came into the game with the top QB rating in the region with a Joe Montana-like 251.9.

Alozie, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior, scored the decisive points on a 28-yard run off right tackle early in the fourth quarter. Sean Wrobel added his second extra point of the game for an eight-point lead.

Alozie had given the Patriots a 7-0 lead with 8:49 remaining in the second quarter when he scored on a 24-yard run at the end of a 14-play, 70-yard drive that ate up nearly eight minutes and included no pass attempts.

Emmaus scored with 4:45 left in the first half on a 5-yard run by Khaleel Artis, who finished with 108 yards on 22 attempts. The points were set up when punter Kyle Spina tried to field a low snap from center and ultimately fell on it at the Patriots 9-yard line.

Surprisingly, there were only two turnovers, both fumbles by Emmaus. Each was recovered by linebacker AJ Santiago, who also softened up the Green Hornets defense with some crisp lead blocks for Alozie from his fullback position.

Santiago also carried the ball seven times for 33 yards.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/09/okezie_alozie_sloshes_his_way.html