FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES
The Freedom High School football team thought it had it all figured out.
The Patriots thought they discovered a chink in Nazareth's seemingly impenetrable armor. Senior running back Okezie Alozie and company found a temporary open window but it was quickly slammed shut in their faces.
Freedom chewed up 8 minutes, 32 seconds on a 16-play, 72-yard drive in the first half but it went for naught as Sean Wrobel's 25-yard field goal attempt went wide right.
After that, the Blue Eagles changed their defensive scheme and rallied for a 20-16 Lehigh Valley Conference victory at Andrew Leh Stadium in a battle of unbeatens.
"We changed some of our personnel, we put some bigger linemen in," junior defensive lineman Aaron Bradley said. "Our coaches told us it's all or nothing and we have to show up and control the line. We did and came out victorious."
The Nazareth defense continued a bend-but-don't-break attitude on the next Freedom possession, this time as senior Adam Bridgeforth dove to block Wrobel's 31-yard field goal try and the score was stalemated at 7-7 at halftime.
On Freedom's first second half possession, the Blue Eagles (7-0 overall, 6-0 LVC) stuffed Patriots running back Andrew Klotz on fourth-and-1 from the Nazareth 7. After giving up a 5-yard TD run to Alozie with six minutes left in the third quarter, Nazareth held Freedom to a field goal on three plays from the Blue Eagles 6.
"We changed the front a little bit, especially after the first half," Nazareth coach Rob Melosky said. "We got some pressure on them and tried to force them to throw the football."
The Patriots (6-1, 5-1) were forced to do just that after the Cardiac Kids took a four-point lead on Alex Tonnies' 6-yard touchdown reception from senior quarterback Dan Harding with 3:05 to go.
Freedom began its ensuing and final drive on its own 41 with 2:58 left after falling on a squib kick.
On first down, Alozie, who rushed for 151 yards on 22 carries, was dropped behind the line of scrimmage by sophomore linebacker Frank Sharo (nine tackles). On second-and-15, Frank Bucsi couldn't handle Brian Uliana's pass, setting up a pivotal third down.
Immediately after the snap, Bradley burst through the line and sacked Uliana for an 11-yard loss. Bradley had five tackles, including two for a net loss of 16 yards.
On fourth down, Uliana got hit as his desperation pass was intercepted by Tonnies at the Nazareth 41.
"We had a leakage in the line," Freedom senior two-way lineman Kory Cherry said. "We're going to fix it, we're going to get everything together. That was mental, that wasn't physical."
The Nazareth defensive line proved just as effective as its offensive counterpart.
Nick Tuerk, Joe Walsh, David Wilke and company paved the way for 124 yards on the ground, led by freshman tailback Jordan Gray's 46. The line also gave valuable seconds to Harding as the QB went 18-for-24 for 225 yards without an interception.
"I think for us on the offensive side we had to run the ball a little bit," Melosky said. "They got to him (Gray) a bit but he still made plays. Kani Camacho came in and made plays when he had to as well."
The victory was Nazareth's fourth come-from-behind win this season. The Blue Eagles rallied to beat Easton and Liberty in back-to-back weeks and also had a thriller against defending PIAA Class AAA champion Central Catholic.
"You think we'd be used to it, but every game it's something new," senior linebacker/receiver Dan Shepherd said. "It's a nice team win. It's nice to be 7-0 but we still have three tough games left."
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/nazareth_area_high_school_foot_5.html
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