LAWRENCE TWP. — No one can question the resiliency and depth of the Notre Dame High football team after what the Irish pulled off Friday night at Msgr. Walter E. Nolan Stadium. Notre Dame was playing one of the top teams in the area without its starting quarterback. Notre Dame also lost its top running back to an injury late in the fourth quarter. Yet the Irish simply kept fighting long enough to pull off a 31-28 overtime win at home against Allentown. The hero at the end of it all was senior Sebastian Swiatek, who booted a 24-yard field goal in overtime before the Notre Dame (6-3) defense clamped down on Allentown (6-3) with two sacks and two forced incompletions to seal the victory. It was a stunner when you consider that despite leading at halftime, 7-6, Notre Dame was struggling to sustain drives with only 74 total yards of offense at that point compared to Allentown’s 163. But the Irish erupted for 188 yards in the second half through several big runs by junior running back Jaylen Davis plus the arms and legs of junior quarterback Dillon White, who replaced injured senior Julian Matera during a game against Nottingham last Saturday. Notre Dame converted 7-of-13 third downs including touchdown catches by senior wide receiver Wyatt Moore on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter. That tied the game at 28 with 3:45 remaining, at which point both teams had exchanged six straight touchdown drives and it seemed whoever held the ball last was going to win. But senior linebacker Cameron Bailey and the Irish defense buckled down after that by forcing Allentown to go three-and-out before doing it again in overtime. Junior running back Jeylon Billups became the workhorse for that offense at that point with four straight runs for 23 yards to put the Irish in position to kick the go-ahead field goal. Davis got banged up on the previous scoring drive after having previously rushed for about 150 yards. White, making his first career varsity start, totaled for touchdowns (two rushing, two passing). On the other side, Allentown’s offense did all it could to snap the program’s five-game losing streak to Notre Dame dating back to the 2019 season. Senior quarterback Matthew Schweitzer totaled about 278 yards as a passer and runner and tied his career high with four touchdowns including a 71-yard pass to senior wide receiver Matthew Woode. Allentown, which had to persevere through an injury to senior running back Sean McCaffery early in the third quarter, was playing to likely clinch a first-round home game in the South Jersey Group III playoffs. Ultimately, though, the Redbirds struggled too much defensively to finish tackles and win matchups around the line of scrimmage against Notre Dame’s physical front lines. They also had issues with kicking and punting the ball that often gave Notre Dame short fields. Allentown will now await its fate like the rest of the public schools when New Jersey’s public sections are seeded on Sunday. Notre Dame, meanwhile, has one more regular season game at home next Friday against Pennington before the Non-Public B Tournament is seeded. A gutsy win like this one over Allentown can only help the Irish’s playoff standing. Allentown (6-3) 6 0 14 8 3 – 31 Notre Dame (6-3) 0 7 7 14 0 – 28 First Quarter A – Schweitzer 3 run (kick failed) Second Quarter ND – White 1 run (Swiatek kick) Third Quarter A – Schweitzer 1 run (Goluch kick) ND – White 2 run (Swiatek kick) A – Woode 71 pass from Schweitzer (Goluch kick) Fourth Quarter ND – Moore 10 pass from White (Swiatek kick) A – Schweitzer 4 run (Schweitzer run) ND – Moore 4 pass from White (Swiatek kick) Overtime ND – Swiatek 24 field goal