Allentown boys team turns season around
Redbirds on the bubble as playoff deadline approaches
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

All it took was a couple of minor adjustments and some fine-tuning for the Allentown High School boys soccer team to get back in the state tournament hunt.

The Redbirds lost their first four games of the season, but then bounced back to win their next three and took a 3-5 record into Tuesday’s contest against Burlington City.

“We started off with four very tough conference games,” first-year head coach Chip Witte said. “But little by little we started to figure things out, what kind of team we were and what works for us and what doesn’t.”

It also helped that Witte knew the personnel pretty good. He was the junior varsity coach the last two seasons before taking over the varsity for Joe Stanzione, who took a teaching position in Mexico.

“Being the JV coach the last two years was definitely good and helped a lot,” Witte, who coached most of this year’s varsity players, said. “I didn’t have to come in and learn a whole new group of players. It was a real smooth transition.”

So when the Redbirds struggled coming out of the gate, especially on offense, it didn’t take Witte very long to tweak the lineup a bit.

“We started off playing a 4-4-2 (formation) and our defense was doing fine,” Witte said, noting two of their first four losses were by 1-0 scores. “But we didn’t score any goals in our first four games.

“So I decided to change to a 4-4-1-1 and have one of our forwards checking back and getting the ball. Then he can drop it off to a halfback and we can move the ball around like that. Before our forwards were running away from the ball.”

Witte’s adjustment paid off immediately. Allentown finally scored its first goal of the season in the fifth game to beat Bordentown 1-0. Then in the next game, the Redbirds erupted for four goals en route to a 4-1 victory against the Burlington County Institute of Technology.

That was followed by a thrilling 2-1 win over Ewing to bring Allentown’s record to 3-4, equaling last year’s total win output when the Redbirds went 3-14-1.

Their three-game winning streak was snapped on Friday with a 5-1 setback to Hamilton-West.

“That was just a really poor effort on our part,” Witte said.

That last game not withstanding, however, the Redbirds seemed to have turned things around as they embark on the second half of their 15-game regular season.

One of the biggest changes Witte made was moving senior Jake Colin, who began the season at left back, up to the center midfield position.

“That’s one of the changes I made before the Bordentown game, and it’s really worked out well for us,” the AHS coach pointed out.

Another key move was inserting freshman striker Josh Howell into the starting lineup, and he’s responded with two goals, including the game winner against Ewing.

“I just brought him up and he fits real good into the 4-4-1-1 we now play,” Witte said. “He’s the withdrawn forward who goes back and gets the ball, and he’s played that position real well.”

Howell’s play has also allowed junior Piero Mancini, the Redbirds’ other starting striker, to get more scoring opportunities. As a result, he leads the team with three goals, recording one in each of the last three games before Tuesday.

“So he’s starting to pick it up,” Witte said.

Meanwhile, the defense has been the steadiest part of the lineup, led by junior goalie Ryan Provost, who’s starting for the second year in a row.

“He’s been phenomenal all season,” Witte said. “Even games we lost he made some fantastic saves to keep those games close.”

Three of the four defenders in front of Provost also started a year ago with seniors Brett Worrall and Rob Devenney, and junior Austin Neuburger all returning. The fourth, junior Steve Cox, moved up from JV.

“Our defense has played well all year,” Witte said. “The one thing we emphasized before the season was that our team defense had to be better than last year, and with the exception of the last game we haven’t given up a lot of goals.”

With seven games left, all before the Oct. 21 cutoff date to make the state tournament, the Redbirds hope their fine play of late continues — right into the postseason.

“We have to finish 8-7 or 7-7-1 to make it, and I think we have a shot,” Witte said. “We have three games this week, which we could win, and that would make us 6-5. Then our last four games are against Nottingham, West Windsor North, Hopewell and Hightstown. West Windsor North is a little down this year and they’ve been struggling, so if we can beat them, that would give us seven wins.

“The other three teams are all tough, but if we can sneak a win or a tie against one of them we can make the state tournament.”

And if they do, you can trace it all back to a couple of minor adjustments and some fine-tuning the Redbirds did early in the season.