Suffice to say the Rob Melosky Era of Allentown Central Catholic football got off to an exciting start.
Melosky’s Vikings fought back from a 10-0 deficit and took their much-anticipated opener against Northampton to overtime Saturday night at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
ACCHS got a touchdown pass from Antonio Fontanez to Aidan Sorrentino on its lone OT possession and Luke Myers tackled on the PAT kick.
The Konkrete Kids also got a TD on its extra possession on a fourth-down run, but Northampton quarterback AJ Slivka was tackled by Vikings senior outside linebacker Dante Hamilton on a two-point conversion attempt and Melosky and Central celebrated a 17-16 victory in the biggest game of opening weekend in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference football.
The Vikings’ win snapped a 20-game regular season win streak by the Konkrete Kids and also capped a 9-0 weekend by EPC South teams against the EPC North in the final season of the EPC’s two-division alignment.
Slivka was rolling right and looking to pass, but had to pull it down and try to run it in when he met Hamilton.
“I saw their running back [Caden Henritzy] go outside and I saw a hole and I just tried to make a play,” said Hamilton, who played behind Griffin Patridge, Caiden Shaffer, Ethan Hosak and Matt Keyes on Central’s District 11 4A champions and state semifinalists last season. “I figured they were going for two. I thought they were going to run ‘iso,’ but they came with a counter. We came as a team and just stopped the play.”
Northampton started fast with 10 points on its first two possessions, but appeared fatigued in the second half on a hot, humid night and had several players leave with cramping issues.
“I am so proud of these kids and I knew it would show we were in better shape and in better condition,” Melosky said after getting a win as he began a head coaching stint at a fifth EPC school. “But with that said, it was a total team effort during the week that got this win. The kids we had on the scout team preparing for what they do did a phenomenal job.”
Melosky also credited his defensive coordinator Tarik Haddad, Deionte Wilson, Jamie Pagliaro, Mike Fay and others for having the team ready for a Northampton program that has gone 12-1 in each of the last two seasons.
The Konkrete Kids lost two-way playmaker Tymir Williams to a knee injury on the opening kickoff.
Northampton was still able to go 75 yards on 11 plays after taking the kickoff and got a a 1-yard touchdown run by Henritzy.
Henritzy then went 77 yards on a screen pass to the Central 4 on the Kids’ second possession. Nasir McLean ran down Henritzy from behind, which was key because Northampton lost yardage and had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Aaron Gutkowski.
The K-Kids wouldn’t score again in regulation.
“We had a lot of stuff designed on offense for Tymire Williams tonight so that was obviously not good to lose him,” Toman said. “We had a sophomore cornerback in there playing on their touchdown in overtime. But it is what it is. We were a little short in the secondary.”
Toman said Wesley Valera did a good job in replacing Williams, but then cramped up.
“So were just short on corners and that’s why we felt we had to go for two points after we got that touchdown in overtime. We made a decision that if we had a chance to go for the win we were going to go for it because we were running out of bodies in the secondary.”
Fontanez, a sophomore who transferred from Liberty, was a surprise starter at quarterback for Central and he played well when it mattered most.
He had six completions in a row on a Vikings drive that produced Myers’ 30-yard field goal to get ACCHS on the board with 1:38 left in the first half.
Central opened the second half with a drive to the Northampton 17 but a pass on fourth down fell incomplete.
But on the next Vikings drive Fontanez hit Armonie Torres for 29 yards to the Kids 9 and on the next play Nathan Schultz rumbled through the middle and Myers’ kick tied it at 10 with 3:13 left in the third quarter.
Both teams had three more possessions and Northampton had a drive to the ACCHS 30 but turned it over on downs.
“Credit to them, but in the second half we didn’t have the ball,” Toman said. “Two drives and we were deep into the fourth quarter. We just couldn’t get in rhythm.”
In the overtime, Central found its rhythm on the second play and Fontanez had his first varsity touchdown pass.
Then it was up to the defense. Northampton scored on a fourth down run by Henritzy, who was limited to 44 yards on 14 carries. But then came the biggest play of the long night.
“We loved the play,” Toman said. “Mikey Coleman was stopped getting out. I really couldn’t see it because it was on the far side, but he was supposed to slip to the flat. He did, but late. I wish AJ didn’t pull it down and ran, but that’s the type of kid he is. That’s what he does, right? He likes to run the ball and thinks he can do something. But if he held on to it as long as he could I believe Mikey was standing alone in the back of the end zone at one point.”
Instead, the K-Kids lost by one point, and now move into the EPC North for eight games before closing the regular season at the end of October with Whitehall.
ACCHS, meanwhile, entered the night ranked sixth in the state in 4A. The Vikings begin a brutal stretch in the EPC South at Easton on Friday night. That game will be followed on the schedule by Emmaus, Freedom, Parkland and Nazareth — three teams that have won District 11 6A titles and one that at least reached the 6A final in the past three seasons.
“That’s a quality 4A team,” Toman said of Central. “Unless there’s something I don’t know, they’re going to win the District 11 4A title pretty easily.”
The Vikings were just happy to run to their locker room at night’s end at 1-0. Melosky felt that his offensive line wore down Northampton.
“We leaned on them and when we went to the single wing, they really didn’t have an answer,” he said. “Every kid’s effort was phenomenal. The preparation was phenomenal. And what can you say about our quarterback [Fontanez]. He put the ball on the money to Sorrentino in overtime.”
Fontanez was 16-for-24 for 162 yards. Schultz led the running game with 55 yards on 16 carries.
Slivka was 7 of 13 passing for 158 yards and ran for 59 on 18 attempts.
Scoring summary
Northampton 7 – 3 – 0 – 0 – 6 — 16
ACCHS 0 – 3 – 7 – 0 7 — 17
FIRST QUARTER
NO: Caden Henritzy 1 run (Aaron Gutkowski kick), 6:28
SECOND QUARTER
NO: Gutkowski 29 field goal, 11:52
CC: Luke Myers 30 field goal, 1:38
THIRD QUARTER
CC: Nathan Schultz 9 run (Myers kick), 3:13
OVERTIME
CC: Aidan Sorrentino 10 pass from Antonio Fontanez (Myers kick)
NO: AJ Sliva 1 run (run failed)
Team stats
Stat, Northampton, ACCHS
First downs: 13, 11
Rushing Att/Yards: 41-102, 30-81
Passes: 7-13-0, 16-24-0
Passing yards: 158, 162
Fumbles Lost: 0, 0
Punts: 4-31, 4-34
Penalties: 9-78, 5-52
Individual stats
RUSHING
Northampton: Slivka 21-49, TD; Henritzy 14-44, TD; Pinnock 4-15; Salvato 1-1; Stuhldreher 1-(-8).
ACCHS: Schultz 16-55, TD; R. Torres 6-8; Sorrentino 2-7; Godbolt 2-6; Fontanes 2-(-3); A. Torres 1-3; Calhoun 1-5.
PASSING
Northampton: Slivka 7-13-0, 158 yards.
ACCHS: Fontanez 16-24-0, 162 yards, TD.
RECEIVING
Northampton: Henritzy 3-106; Pinnock 2-39; Salvato 1-8; Coleman 1-5.
ACCHS: Calhoun 5-34; Sorrentino 5-21, TD; A. Torres 4-76; Kelly 1-22; Schultz 1-9.