ALLENTOWN — The pitch and catch were so picture perfect that it would have been easy to mistake it for an NFL play. But this was just Milan Desai and Owen Lengle doing what they do best — connecting on another game-changer for the Hopewell Valley football team. Running a fade route from Allentown’s 22-yard line late in the third quarter, Lengle made an over-the-shoulder touchdown catch in the back of the end zone where he just barely kept both feet in bounds while being tightly covered. “We’ve been working since sophomore year,” Lengle said of his connection with Desai. “Every summer we come out and throw almost every day, and we just go to work. I love that kid.” That play highlighted a dominant second half in which Hopewell pulled away from Allentown for a 45-13 victory Friday night in a WJFL Capitol Division clash. “He had been man coverage all game, so I kind of got to experiment with my releases a little bit,” Lengle said. “It allowed me to have a plan when I went up to the ball. I kind of knew what I was doing already, and I just had to execute it.” Luke Caldwell, one of Lengle’s senior teammates, could only shake his head in disbelief from afar. “Unbelievable catch, unbelievable catch,” Caldwell said. “Owen works his butt off. Out of season, in season, he’s one of the hardest workers I know. And that’s just a testament to him of how hard work proves results, so just all props to him. That was an amazing catch.” Hopewell senior Johnny Ellis (7) looks to tackle Allentown senior Sean McCaffery (23) during a WJFL Capitol Division game Friday night in Allentown. (Mike Schwartz/www.mikeschwartz.photo) Hopewell has clearly established itself as the team to beat in Mercer County, and on Friday it scored more than 40 points for the fifth straight game to improve its record to 5-0. As usual, contributions came from all over the place. Ben DeCore carried the ball 26 times for 220 rushing yards and a touchdown. Desai totaled 119 yards and two touchdowns including a rushing score. Dylan Yasher rushed for two touchdowns. Lengle finished with 51 receiving yards. On defense, Caldwell corralled three interceptions to set the school’s single-season record with five. And on special teams, Gavin Barker recovered a fumble on a kickoff. “It’s unbelievable, but we’re just taking it one game at a time because we can’t get too ahead of ourselves,” Caldwell said. “But I think it’s a testament to our coaches and performing in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. That makes a huge difference.” But unlike their previous four wins, the Bulldogs found themselves in a dogfight throughout the first half. Allentown (3-2) had won three straight games with a dynamic offense and speed at the skill positions. That was on display again Friday as Matthew Schweitzer totaled 170 yards and had an 18-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Cunningham in the first quarter. Anthony Visconti scored a 4-yard rushing touchdown on a pitch to the outside to cut Hopewell’s lead to 14-13 in the second quarter. “We knew this was gonna be our hardest matchup so far,” Lengle said. “We knew nothing none of the previous weeks were gonna compare to this. We knew that they had us circled on their calendar. We had them circled on our calendar, too, so we knew it was gonna be a battle.” Allentown’s Matthew Woode recorded an interception on Hopewell’s first play from scrimmage, and Hopewell fumbled the ball away in the red zone during the second quarter. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, they were able to force a safety three plays later as Allentown committed an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone to make it a 16-13 game with 5:13 left in the first half. Later in the second quarter, Allentown drove to Hopewell’s 7-yard line before eventually missing a 33-yard field goal as time expired. The Bulldogs then regrouped at halftime and talked in the locker room about how they could stop beating themselves, starting with better tackling. “That was good for us,” Lengle said. “I’m glad that happened in the first half. We needed to face some adversity. It proves the resilience of our team. We came out, we didn’t roll over, we came out in the second half, we played our football and we got the job done.” After forcing an Allentown three-and-out to open the second half, Hopewell drove 44 yards for another touchdown on only three plays. Defensively, Caldwell recorded two of his three interceptions in the final two quarters as Hopewell didn’t allow Allentown to advance past the Bulldogs’ 41-yard line for that stretch of time. “Their offense is so explosive, so we knew coming into this game we were gonna have a really hard task on our hands,” Caldwell said. “This week we came out, practiced hard, the scout team gave us a great look in practice, and we just played great team defense. It’s all props to all my teammates and coaches for putting me in the position to get those picks.” Allentown coach Andrew Lachenmayer could only tip his cap to Hopewell coach Dave Caldwell’s veteran staff for making a variety of adjustments that helped shift the tide. “We played one really good half of football, and then things went wrong and snowballed, and that can’t happen. Good teams don’t allow that to happen,” Lachenmayer said. “They’re a very well-coached football team. They are a complete three-phase, really strong team. That’s what we’re aspiring to be right now.” Hopewell has another big litmus test next Friday when it hosts 4-1 Seneca, a physical featuring wrestlers who thrive on running the ball, as it continues chasing a high seed in the South Jersey Group III playoffs. “It’s gonna be awesome,” Lengle said. “We had Allentown circled on our calendar, and now moving we’re on to Seneca. It’s gonna be another week like Allentown. We’ve got to come out, we’ve got to practice hard and we’ve got to play hard.” Hopewell (5-0) 14 2 16 13 – 45 Allentown (3-2) 7 6 0 0 – 13 First Quarter H – Klotz 86 return (Lengle kick) A – Cunningham 18 pass from Schweitzer (Cunningham kick) H – Desai 1 run (Lengle kick) Second Quarter A – Visconti 4 run (kick failed) H – Allentown safety Third Quarter H – Yasher 7 run (Lengle kick) H – Lengle 24 field goal H – Lengle 22 pass from Desai (pass failed) Fourth Quarter H – DeCore 4 run (run failed) H – Yasher 4 run (Lengle kick)