Published: October 05, 2008 01:24 am         

Hook’s TD caps Alco’s comeback

Carpenter kicks 48-yard field goal in 23-21 thriller

CUMBERLAND — Banged up J.D. Hook put an end to an eventful fourth quarter when he capped a long Allegany drive with a nine-yard touchdown run in the closing seconds to send the Campers to a 23-21 win over Mount St. Joseph’s Saturday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

Allegany led from the middle of the second quarter until the middle of the fourth quarter, and needed a little trickery to score in the final minute to grab the final lead.

The Campers were hampered on their opening drive and fumbled the ball to the Gaels. Mt. St. Joe’s took just a couple of minutes to get down to the one-yard line from where Gentry White punched it in with 7:26 left in the first quarter.

Allegany got a good start to its second drive with a run off the left side from Sean Collete. The Campers put together its theme of controlling the clock, relying on the tough running of Melvin Tyson during this drive, and finished it with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Drew O’Neal to Collete. John Carpenter’s extra point tied the score at 7-7 with 2:26 left in the first.

The Campers ruled the clock in terms of time of possession, keeping the ball for almost 33 of the possible 48 minutes.

Alco was stopped on its next possession, but had some luck bounce their way when after a 64-yard punt from Carpenter the Gaels fumbled it back to the Campers on the return.

A 64-yard punt wasn’t good enough for Carpenter, so he sweetened the pot by connecting on a 48-yard field goal to give Allegany a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

Mt. St. Joe’s first drive of the second half looked familiar to Allegany’s first drive of the first half when the Gaels were intercepted by Dustin Wharton, but neither team would find much offense until the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Campers blew a chance to corral Artis Holt in the backfield on a double reverse, and Holt made them pay by covering 44 yards for a touchdown that pulled the Gaels to 17-14.

Allegany, which was successful on a halfback pass last week against Keyser, failed on the same play as the Gaels killed the following Camper drive with an interception. St. Joe’s would give the ball back to the Campers deep in Allegany territory and Hook carried the ball out near midfield to get the gears turning, but the drive eventually stalled.

Holt would burn the Campers a second time to give the lead back the to the Gaels with a 79-yard run following an Allegany punt. The touchdown set Mt. St. Joe’s up with a 21-17 lead with 6:15 to play. Holt finished with an average of 30 yards per carry and a total of 150 rushing yards.

Allegany was able to keep a drive alive with a 31-yard gain on a fake punt attempt on fourth-and-eight, and continued to gain momentum as they plowed into Gael territory as the clock wound down. With three-quarters of a minute left to play Hook broke into the end zone on a nine-yard run to cap the 75-yard drive.

Ryan Kane, who earlier lost a fumble, came up with a huge recovery at the Mt. St. Joe’s 10 yard-line after the Gaels tried a double reverse pass. It was Kane’s second fumble recovery of the evening.

Allegany moves to 4-1, and begins a three-game road trip with a game at Hampshire on Friday.