LAWRENCE TWP. — Brett Spearnock didn’t find out until Wednesday that he would be doing something he hadn’t done since his freshman season.
Spearnock, now a senior, was going to play quarterback for the Notre Dame High football team in place of the injured AJ Surace.
His instructions were simple: manage the game, don’t turn it over and hand it off to senior running back Rasheen Young.
Mission accomplished.
Young powered his way to 211 yards and three touchdowns, Spearnock played mistake-free and the Irish pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 42-13 win over Allentown on Friday night at Msgr. Walter Nolan Field.
“I’m pretty satisfied,” said Spearnock, who wore the unusual QB number of 36. “I used to be a quarterback my freshman year and then a receiver after that. AJ goes down the middle of the week and it was just tragic for him, so we just had to adapt and overcome.”
ND coach Sean Clancy said Surace — a junior who is receiving plenty of Division I interest and is the son of the Princeton University coach — initially hurt his leg in last week’s loss at Hammonton and then got banged up again in practice.
While Surace’s status for next Friday’s Game of the Year in Mercer County against Nottingham is up in the air, Clancy was pleased with what Spearnock accomplished on short notice.
Spearnock finished 13-of-20 through the air for 100 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a score. His 6-yard TD toss to Michael Quinn with seven seconds left in the first half gave the Irish (1-1) a two-score lead heading into the locker room.
“He stayed nice and calm and took care of business,” Clancy said. “He doesn’t have the same arm strength, but we knew he could run the offense. He’s a bright kid and we had 100% confidence in him.”
A big part of the offensive gameplan was handing the ball off to the 5-foot-11, 231-pound Young. He simply ran over and through Allentown’s smaller defenders to the tune of 211 yards on 27 carriers.
Young had touchdown runs of one, seven and 36 yards. His 36-yard rumble with 5:24 left in the fourth quarter came after the Irish stopped the Redbirds on downs and effectively ended the game by pushing the lead to 35-13.
“It’s all about teamwork,” Young said. “I couldn’t do it without the line. If I didn’t have the line, I wouldn’t have rushed for as many yards or scored as much touchdowns as I did.”
It wasn’t all bad for Allentown (0-1), which opened its season with new players up and down the lineup, especially on the offensive line. The Redbirds led, 7-6, after Daniel Cruz scored from seven yards out and pulled within eight in the third quarter after Luke Wiedau (10-for-18, 133 yards, TD, INT) connected with Matthew Woode for a 52-yard touchdown.
“I thought we kept it close for the first half and a little bit of the third quarter, but then their size kind of weighed on us a little bit,” Allentown coach Andrew Lachenmayer said. “At the end, it kind of got away. I thought the fight was there all game long.”
That glimmer of hope was short lived, however, when ND responded quickly on the ensuing possession and scored on Ta’Sean Powell’s 40-yard touchdown.
The ubiquitous Brendan Buecker also played his role in the victory, with a sack, interception, blocked PAT and two-point conversion on a fake PAT.
But the night belonged to Spearnock and Young, the two players the Irish must have step up in Surace’s absence.
“I felt like I had to (step up),” Young said. “I’m the captain of the team. I have to make sure I’m the leader of the team, so I push everybody to do what they need to do.”
Allentown (0-1) 7 0 6 0 — 13
Notre Dame (1-1) 6 14 7 14 — 42
1st Quarter
ND- Young 1 run (kick no good)
A- Cruz 24 run (Kuey kick)
2nd Quarter
ND- Young 7 run (Scipio kick)
ND- Quinn 6 pass from Spearnock (Buecker run)
3rd Quarter
A- Woode 52 pass from Wiedau (kick blocked)
ND- Powell 40 run (Scipio kick)
4th Quarter
ND- Young 36 run (Scipio kick)
ND- Spearnock 4 run (Scipio kick)