Former LWE Player Scores TD Sunday In NFL Playoffs

FRANKFORT, IL — A former Lincoln-Way East student and Frankfort resident caught a lot of people's attention on national TV this past weekend when the Kansas City Chiefs played the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday's NFL wild-card game.

Nick Allegretti — a 6-foot-4, 320-pound guard for the Chiefs — caught a touchdown from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes with 10:13 left in the third quarter. It was Mahomes' fourth TD pass of the night, and arguably the most unlikely.

The Chiefs lined up just short of the goal line on third down. Mahomes faked the handoff, rolled to his right and found a wide open Allegretti, who had checked in for the play as an eligible receiver, for the score.

Allegretti initially engaged with Steelers' linebacker T.J. Watt on the play action pass. Allegretti shoved Watt to the ground, turned around and found himself wide open for the TD.

“We kind of just tell Allegretti to leak out late, not thinking that we’re ever going to throw it to him,” Mahomes told reporters during a postgame news conference. "It’s just the way it worked out. ... I threw it to him because everyone else was covered. I wasn’t trying to. It just happened. And of course, it happens in the game the exact same way.”

Big men on the offensive line don't often get the chance to take the ball in for a score, but Allegretti didn't miss his chance to show off his receiving, and celebration, skills. He was immediately swarmed by his fellow teammates in the end zone and threw down a monstrous spike to add an exclamation point to the play.

Allegretti graduated from Lincoln-Way East in 2014. After that, he played for the University of Illinois, where he was a captain of the team for two years.

The Chiefs drafted Allegretti in 2019 as a seventh round pick. That late-round selection has paid big dividends, as Allegretti helped the team win a Super Bowl in his rookie season, and was part of the 2020 Super Bowl team that lost to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. Allegretti is looking to go 3-3 with another trip to the Super Bowl this year.

Check out a clip of the touchdown here.