Diontae Nicholson breaking loose and going for a 25-yard touchdown run on the first play of overtime in Hamilton Townships first night football game since 1975. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Oct. 27: It’s hard to say what was more exciting. The atmosphere, or the game itself.
Put them both together, and it made for one heck of a memorable evening at Steinert tonight, as Nottingham came down Klockner Road and escaped with a 10-3 overtime victory in the Spartans first home night football game since Homecoming in 1975.
Crowd control specialist Officer Robert Diszler estimated the gathering at anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 people, noting that parking lots were filled all around the school.
What they got to see under those portable lights, was Diontae Nicholson finally breaking loose and going for a 25-yard touchdown run on the first play of overtime. The drama built on Steinert’s first OT possession when Jordan Morrison went up the middle on fourth-and-6, only to be stopped by less than a yard from a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
“A lot for Hamilton Township to be proud of tonight,” said Northstars coach Jon “Big Dawg” Adams, whose team has won seven straight. “Two great football teams going at it.
“My hat’s off to coach (Dan) Caruso and his staff and his young men. A lot of class. They did a great job, giving us fits all night. We fortunately made one more play and you saw how close it was at the end. There’s not much separating these two teams; hopefully they’re gonna make some noise in (Group) Three (playoffs) and we’re gonna make some noise in Four.”
The win puts Nottingham in good position to host a first-round playoff game, although the loss hurt Steinert’s chances of getting a home game. The whole power point scenario was just another attractive sidebar to the night. As far as Nicholson was concerned, however, it was the only thing that mattered.
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Asked what the whole evening meant to him, the sophomore said, “Power points, that’s all I was thinking about.”
No excitement about the night game?
“I didn’t think about none of that,” Nicholson said with a grin.
He may have been the only one, as electricity was in the air throughout the pre-game ceremonies. If that wasn’t enough, then came the kickoff and the thrills really started.
Not offensive thrills, mind you. For those who like high scoring games, this was a snoozer. But for those who enjoy tight games where big defensive plays are made until one big offensive play decides it, this was for you.
The Spartans (5-3) and Northstars (7-1) have both had two of the county’s top defenses this year, and both showed up tonight. Nottingham had 160 yards of total offense while Steinert had 177. The Stars averaged 4 yards per offensive play, the Spartans 3.3 yards per play.
For a while, however, Steinert at least moved the ball. But it also killed itself with turnovers. On their first two series the Spartans reached the Stars 14 and 24, only to be thwarted by interceptions from Derrick Williams and Bryce Fremgen.
Steinert’s defense, with Xavier Roman making some big plays, was suffocating through the first 16 minutes. The Spartans held the Stars to 13 yards in their first three possessions, with the third series ending on a fumble recovery by Steinert’s Angelo Falvo. That came after the Spartans lost a fumble for their third turnover of the half.
Nicholson finally got some running room midway through the second quarter as Nottingham drove to the 24 before settling for Alix Oge’s 41-yard field goal. Thus, the Stars led at half despite being outgained 143-48 and running half as many plays as the Spartans (33-16).
Neither offense threatened in the third quarter until Conor Smith completions of 13 and 9 yards to Morrison and tight end Brendan James (a new wrinkle) set up a 30-yard field goal by Falvo to tie it.
Nottingham had two chances to win in the fourth quarter. The Stars set up for a 37-yard field goal until a Steinert offsides turned fourth-and-6 into fourth-and-1. Nottingham went for it and Steinert dropped Nicholson for a 2-yard loss. With time running down, a 16-yard run by Jaier Nelson set the Stars up for a 37-yard field goal that went wide left with 2 seconds remaining.
After 48 minutes of defensive domination, Nicholson said enough is enough. On the first play of OT he took a handoff outside to the left sideline, cut up field and then back up the middle for a 25-yard TD run.
“He’s a monster,” Fremgen said. “You know he’s gonna break one at some point. It’s just a matter of time.”
“First play of overtime I just thought about my team and what my team wanted to do,” Nicholson said. “They wanted to move to 7-1 and I took them to the victory.”
It turns out he got inspiration from the enemy.
“The whole game, I’m not gonna lie, I was watching Morrison because you know he’s fast going to the outside,” Nicholson said. “So I took it to the outside, I saw my block and I just cut off my block and I just cut it in.”
And who exactly was that blocker? Adams was happy to say.
“Diontae just makes things happen, but I’m really proud of Malakai Smith,” the coach said. “He stepped in there, he’s been on the shelf most of the season at fullback, and he threw the key block to get him into the endzone.”
Steinert got the chance to tie and started well when Morrison gained 14 on the first play. But it eventually came down to that fourth-and-6. Jordan took the snap, headed up the middle and the world descended upon him. With 3,000 lips being bit to shreds as the measurement was taken, the Stars erupted when the sticks showed the ball was a foot shy.
“He’s their best player,” said Fremgen, who was in on the tackle. “They’re gonna get the ball in his hands, so we knew he was gonna have some impact on the play, either throwing it or running that power play they were killing us on all day. But I knew he was short.”
It was only fitting a key defensive play ended it.
“I can’t say enough about our defense,” Adams said. “To hold these guys to three points, just an outstanding effort. I know Allentown scored 35 on us but one touchdown was on special teams and three were on the offense.
“We have an outstanding defense, Frank (The Godfather) Gatto has put together a master plan along with Milo Maguire. John Berei coaches his butt off with the linebackers and Andrew Paden has stepped up and done a wonderful job. Bobby Harris has done a great job with the secondary. Just a great effort all the way around.”
And it came on a great night all the way around, if looking at the big picture.
