Shortly before the game, along LaSalle High's sideline, an assistant coach flipped a football to do-it-all back Jamal Abdur-Rahman from maybe 3 feet away.

Clang! It hit off his hands and fell to the turf.

Soon, LaSalle and George Washington were bangin' bodies at Northeast High's Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium to decide the Class AAAA City Title and a short pass was heading Abdur-Rahman's way.

That sound was repeated.

"He was dropping every other pass in warmups," muttered Brett Gordon, LaSalle's offensive coordinator.

By game's end?

Abdur-Rahman, a 5-10, 170-pound junior, was darn near doing commercials for Allstate.

"I caught most of them in the game," he said, smiling.

He could say that again. And he did. In a slightly different way:

"I caught them when I had to."

As the Explorers triumphed, 31-20, in borderline-easy fashion, thus erasing at least some of the pain caused by last year's CT setback to the same opponent, Abdur-Rahman made multifaceted contributions: 122 yards of rushing/receiving highlighted by a 44-yard touchdown catch, two interceptions, and a 36-yard fumble return for a score.

That crucial play required good hands, too, because he made the scoop-and-go while running.

"I don't know how or why the guy dropped the ball, but he did and it came right to me," Abdur-Rahman said. "I took advantage of the opportunity. I saw him coming toward me, and was preparing to make the tackle. Then the ball was out."

In all, Abdur-Rahman caught seven balls - five from teammate Drew Loughery (for 82 yards) and two from GW's Aaron Wilmer (off battle-for-'em leaps).

"Nothing special," he said of the picks. "Just stayed with my man and made the catches...Teams don't usually throw to my side. Today they did."

Loughery had to do the same. Stay with his men, that is.

"In warmups," he said, "it seemed like everybody was dropping balls. I guess it was tough to adjust to the wind. At crunch time, though, I knew these guys would make the plays. They've been doing it all year."

Said Abdur-Rahman, who already has an offer from Maryland: "The dropped warmup passes didn't phase me at all. I was confident. Once the game starts, I'm in a different mind-set."

In the teams' 2008 meeting, Abdur-Rahman managed just 24 yards of rushing/receiving and Loughery, though he finished with 248 passing yards, went just 12-for-33 and was sacked six times.

The QB thrived in this one, going 13-for-21 for 188 yards and three TDs and just once tasting the artificial turf behind the line.

Loughery's other TD passes went to Sam Feleccia (10 yards) and Connor Hoffman (40). He dropped the snap on that latter one, but recovered nicely and hit a pretty-much-alone Hoffman along the left sideline.

Shortly after game's end, looking downfield at '09 grads wearing LaSalle grid garb, Loughery said over nearby noise, "Lots of guys from last year's team are here. I know we're glad we got back.

"All week, everybody was talking about the wind and the weather and how it was going to be a nightmare like last year. I let that talk blow over my head. I knew we had a better team. We were coming off two big wins in the Catholic League playoffs. I felt like nothing was going to stop us."

The wind, though occasionally strong, hardly was brutal and offensive coordinator Brett Gordon, son of head coach Drew Gordon, showed faith in his unit when he chose to receive after Washington deferred in the pregame coin toss.

Abdur-Rahman's early drop was followed shortly thereafter by a pair of snags for 8-yard gains. Feleccia's TD catch opened the scoring four plays later.

Abdur-Rahman's fumble return score, which came 2 minutes after Mike Bennett's 37-yard field goal, made it 17-7 with 3 minutes, 9 seconds left in the half. Loughery's third-quarter strikes to Hoffman and Abdur-Rahman expanded the lead to 31-7.

Opting to waste clock, LaSalle tried just one pass on nine fourth-quarter plays. Passing or running on 17 of 19 plays, Wilmer rallied the Eagles to two scores.

Overall, he accounted for 306 yards. He passed 16-for-28 for 166 and one TD apiece to English Peay and Daquan Cooper (with 17.9 seconds left), and ran 18 times for 140 more.

As Drew Gordon noted, Abdur-Rahman is quite the weapon.

"When we put him out wide," he said, "it can really mess up defenses. You're lucky in high school to have two good cornerbacks. Teams better have three when we put him out there . You can't cover him one-on-one."

Meanwhile, what about that pregame misconnection with the assistant coach, Jamal?

"He surprised me," he said, laughing. "I didn't expect him to toss me the ball. It was at the last second."

Clang was followed by a bang-up performance.

Title tidbits

In the City Title series' first go-'round, LaSalle triumphed in 1955, '57 and '60...Four of Mike Bennett's six kickoffs resulted in touchbacks...Shane Brady made 11 tackles while Ryan Saraceni notched seven with a forced fumble (recovery by Steve Sinnott)...Washington's Sharrif Floyd, considered by many the country's top defensive line prospect, logged seven stops (one for a loss)...LaSalle (11-1) will meet Distirct 11 champions Easton (12-1) in a state quarterfinal Saturday at Banko Field at the Bethlehem Area School District Stadium in at 1 p.m.