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Just when it looked like Northern Guilford had run out of options, in came Keenan Allen to the rescue.

With the Nighthawks clinging to a one-point lead in the fourth quarter, Allen came in to punt on fourth down. But it was a fake, and Allen's pass hit Maurice Harris for a 12-yard gain. Two plays later, Allen threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Downing that helped Northern Guilford secure a 42-27 win over Northwest Guilford on Friday night.

“I just had to suck it up and step up for my team,” said Allen, who finished with 64 yards passing and a touchdown, 57 yards rushing and three touchdowns and 80 yards receiving and another score. “We wanted this game real bad. We just had to follow through with it.”

Allen said he wasn’t throwing to Downing on the touchdown, but he was glad that Downing stepped up.

“I saw him scrambling and then he dropped back, so I was sitting there waiting for a pass,” Downing said. “I just went up and got it.”

Northwest coach Joe Woodruff said it was a frustrating loss because of so many strange plays, including the fake punt. But he had to give all the credit to Allen.

“He’s a one-man wrecking crew,” Woodruff said. “We knew what he was before the game and we couldn’t stop him. It’s not like he surprised us.”

Both teams started fast, scoring at will in a 14-13 first quarter. The difference was a missed extra point by Northwest.

Northern took control in the second quarter when it scored on two long touchdown plays, one of them happening on a very unconventional play. With the Nighthawks at their own 47, quarterback Rocco Scarfone tried to throw a deep pass.

The pass was picked off by the Vikings’ Nolan Carper, but his momentum carried him into another Northwest defender and he fumbled the ball. The Nighthawks Joseph White picked up the ball and ran the wrong way at first, but corrected himself and trotted into the end zone untouched from 7 yards out, making the score 21-13.

On the Nighthawks next possession, Scarfone saw Allen flying down the right sideline. Allen out-jumped a defensive back, caught the ball and ran it in for a 66-yard scoring play and a 28-13 lead.

The Vikings tried to strike back right before halftime, but after a long drive, quarterback Matthew Pawlowski was intercepted in the end zone with 15 seconds to play in the half. Northern's Maurice Harris returned the interception to the Vikings 10-yard line but was shoved out of bounds and time had expired.

The Vikings used up almost the entire third quarter with a 16-play, 87-yard drive. Running back Dalton Dillon finished it off with a 1-yard plunge on fourth down to cut the lead to 28-21.

Northwest Northern

Guilford Guilford

First downs -- N 16, NW 17

Carries-Yards rushing -- N 43-245, NW 24 -145

Comp.-Att.-Int. -- N 9-17-2, NW 11-19-1

Passing yards -- N 159, NW 209

Fumbles-lost -- N 2-0, NW 2-1

Penalties -- N 4-50, NW 7-60

Punts -- N 2-32.5, NW 3-38

SCORING

Northwest Guilford 13 0 8 6 -- 27

Northern Guilford 14 14 0 14 -- 42

NG – Keenan Allen 4 run (Kris Gafford kicks)

NWG – Jordan Browning 80 pass from Matthew Pawlowski (Skyler Thomas kicks)

NWG – Dalton Dillon 11 run (kick fails)

NG – Allen 11 run (Gafford kicks)

NG – Joseph White 7 yard fumble recovery (Gafford kicks)

NG – Allen 66 pass from Rocco Scarefone (Gafford kicks)

NWG – Dillon 1 run (Pawlowski run)

NWG – Pawlowski 5 run (kick fails)

NG – Daniel Downing 28 pass from Allen (Gafford kicks)

NG – Allen 4 run (Gafford kicks)