Big opening night

Wolverines take control of opener with early turnovers, seal the victory with solid second half

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – When Woodstown coach John Adams talks about Garrett Leyman being a possession guy for the Wolverines, he means for the offense. A down-the-field threat who’ll catch anything thrown remotely in his direction a veritable frisbee-catching-dog kind of receiver.

Woodstown 34,
Haddon Heights 7
NEXT: at Paulsboro,
Saturday, 11 a.m.

But the junior was a pretty good possession guy for the Wolverines’ defense in Thursday night’s opener, too, and at point was the opponent’s most reliable receiver.

He intercepted two of Haddon Heights’ first four passing attempts and a had fumble recovery in the first 14 minutes of the season to give the Wolverines short fields to work with on the way to a quick 20-point lead en route to a 34-7 victory.

“Just in the right place at the right time,” Leyman said. “I would have never imagined it happening. It was fun to finally be that guy.”

“People forget he’s really solid on defense; that’s where we actually started him first in our program,” Adams said. “Right away they ran that RPO and we were worried about that and Garrett was right there, played it perfect, got the pick. That was awesome.”

The Wolverines turned their visitors over on each of their first three defensive series and four of the first five times the Garnets attempted to possess the ball. Leyman spoiled two of the Garnets’ first three series with interceptions and later recovered a fumbled kickoff.

With the help of the takeaways, the Wolverines ran their first 25 plays of the game inside Haddon Heights territory, only two outside the 25. They didn’t run their first play in their own end until 4:30 remained in the first half. 

They scored 17 points off the first-half turnovers and came within two yards of adding another touchdown off one of them

“If you can win the turnover battle, you usually win the game, and that’s what we did tonight,” Adams said.

Meanwhile, kicker Jake Ware had a big night making his varsity debut on the field that bears his grandfather’s name.

He kicked field goals of 33 and 22 yards in the first half and his first three kickoffs found the end zone. His next kickoff was not quite as long, but the Garnets fumbled the return with Leyman there to fall on it. Another kickoff in the half found the end zone but was negated by a penalty. Altogether, he accounted for 10 points.

“It was great,” Ware said. “Once I got my groove, I was not missing; it felt great. It was as good as it could have been. It could have looked prettier, but everything went in.

“I thought I was going to get that much (work), but throughout the whole game not primarily in the first half, first quarter. It definitely helped me get my groove early and after those first couple kicks I was in my groove.”

It could have been a night for nerves. Ware went to the Woodstown schools through eighth grade, then transferred to Salesianum in Delaware to participate in that school’s nationally ranked soccer program. But he returned to his roots last winter to play on the field that bears his Hall of Fame coach grandfather Clint’s name and rejoin all his childhood friends.

“There was a little bit of emotion,” he admitted, “but I didn’t try to think about too much because I was trying to focus on doing my thing and not messing up at all.”

The Wolverines hadn’t attempted more than three field goals in any season over the last 10 years, but they almost tried that many in the first half. Adams thought about giving his new weapon a shot at a longer one when a first-and-goal got pushed back to the 25 by penalties, but recanted because of the distance (potentially 42 yards). The Wolverines almost scored when they went for it anyway, but Zach Bevis was stopped just short of the goal line on a pass from Max Webb.

For all that went the Wolverines’ way in the first half, it wasn’t a sharp half. Webb delivered an impassioned speech to the players at halftime about doing better, followed by a similar message from Adams, and the Wolverines were much cleaner in the second half.

They got two more takeaways and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first score was a pass from Webb to Bevis and the other was a 58-yard dash from Bryce Belanfanti.

The Wolverines were looking for someone to help keep their running game viable while they await the return of James Hill from offseason surgery. Belanfanti answered that call with 125 yards and two touchdowns Thursday night. Woodstown rushed for 206 yards as a team.

“I took a lot of responsibility in it,” Belanfanti said. “I know people didn’t believe in us without James, but we did what we could.”

And when Hill, a 3,000-yard career rusher, does get back sometime after Sept. 13, what then?

“It’s going to be hard for defenses,” Belanfanti said. “We’ll be running all over them, really.”

Woodstown 34, Haddon Heights 7

HHTS (7)		WOOD (34)
9	1st Downs	11
22-72	Rushes-yds	36-206
8-20-3	Passes	3-9-0
73	Passing yds	38
3-3	Fumbles-lost	0-0
3-34.0	Punts-avg	3-34.0
3-42	Penalties-yds	9-100

Haddon Heights (0-1)	0	7	0	0 —	7
Woodstown (1-0)	10	10	0	14 —	34

Scoring plays
W – Bryce Belanfanti 3 run (Jake Ware kick), 10:27 1Q
W – Jake Ware 32 FG, 8:45 1Q
W – Jake Ware 22 FG, 11:19 2Q
W – Max Webb 8 run (Jake Ware kick), 10:10 2Q
HH – Damier Outterbridge-Ali 7 pass from Drew Harris (Drew Harris kick), 4:39 2Q
W – Zach Bevis 9 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick), 8:18 4Q
W – Bryce Belanfanti 58 run (Jake Ware kick), 6:43 4Q

Bryce Belanfanti signals after scoring Woodstown’s first touchdown of the season. Belanfanti got the final TD of the game, too, on a 58-yard burst in the fourth quarter. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)

Looking for answers

Penns Grove’s defense plays well enough to win, but turnovers continue to handicap offense

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – Teachable moments on the football field take on all forms and often reflect the personality of the coaches delivering them.

Pleasantville 14,
Penns Grove 6
NEXT: Penns Grove
at Woodbury,
Sept. 9, 10:30 a.m.

The players from Penns Grove huddled around coach John Emel near midfield Friday moments after the post-game handshake for a quick breakdown of a 14-6 loss to Pleasantville that stung a lot. Then they looked across the field and wondering which of the teams that played lost the game.

Down in the far end zone, the Greyhounds, who should have been high-fiving their way back to the buses celebrating their first win of the season, were doing 40-yard up-and-backs to understand the effort they had just given was just not acceptable.

Pleasantville coach Malachi Timberlake said it was the first time he has ever resorted to such tactics, but he needed to get a message across early in the season.

“I felt it needed to be done,” he said. “We’re happy to get the win, but to be great they all need to be on the same page.

“We’re not playing our best brand of football. It’s the same mistakes week after week. We’re going to be in dogfights every single week until we get better. I’m proud of them that they got the win, figured out how they got the win, but it’s just not good enough for our standards. We have a lot of talent and it’s not showing on the field. We’ve got to get our point across or it’s going to be a long season.”

Over on the other side, the Red Devils were left to wonder what might have been. Their defense gave them every chance to win the game, but their offense sputtered for the second straight week under the weight of six more turnovers – five, if you discount fumbling loading up for a Hail Mary on the final play..

The Red Devils held their visitors to 172 net yards and one offensive touchdown. They made four fourth-down stops (three with lost yardage) – five if you count the time they pressured the Greyhounds to jump offsides on fourth-and-1 that forced them to punt to start the fourth quarter.

Dameon Wilson made a fourth-down stop and recovered a fumble on consecutive series, Willie Slocum had a fourth-down sack and Bryce Wright had an interception.

“We played way better than we did last week defensively; you see the scoreboard,” Wilson said. “I feel like I played better as an individual. I did my job. I feel like my team did their job. We’ve just got to keep the good defense up. We’ve just got to be able to score, that’s it. The defense is fine, we’ve just got to be able to score.”

It looked like the Red Devils were going to get another stop in the red zone in the second quarter, but left-handed sophomore quarterback Ahmad Jones zipped a sharp spiral to Dwayne Carter between two Penns Grove defenders on fourth down from the 19 for the only touchdown of the half.

Francisco Aguirre kicked the extra point and the way both defenses were playing it looked for the longest time like that would be the margin of victory.

“I thought first half down 7-0, we really controlled the game,” Emel said. “(But) there are no moral victories. It was a playoff type game and we lost 14-6. We’ve got to find a way to win these type of games.

“I think we played better than last week, but, again, five turnovers. You ain’t gonna win with five turnovers. Hey, our defense is pretty good.”

The Red Devils did punch it in early in the third quarter when Wright turned the left corner and went 25 yards to make it 7-6. But the Greyhounds stopped the Devils’ lead back short of the end zone on the conversion to maintain the lead. Wright rushed for 60 yards on 14 carries, several times carrying the pile for additional yards.

The touchdown was one of the few highlights for Penns Grove’s offense. The Red Devils, who had more than 300 yards rushing in their opener against Burlington City, were held to 60 yards net by the Greyhounds.

Of course, they were down three linemen during the course of the game and the Greyhounds took away the outside making it a more physical game, but it was ball security that once again was their main shortcoming.

After seven turnovers in the opener, they had six against the Greyhounds. They lost six fumbles in the opener and four Friday. All of the turnovers stole momentum, but the biggest was a strip by Kwalil Shepperson in the fourth quarter that Gabriel Rodriguez pounced on in the end zone for an insurance touchdown with 62 seconds to play.

The Red Devils still had time to get a game-tying score. They worked it to midfield, but their hopes for getting off a Hail Mary on the final play of the game never materialized as sophomore quarterback Ramello Erickson lost the handle going back to make the pass.

“A lot of people are going to put it on the quarterback,” Emel said. “We’ve got a young quarterback, but it’s a team game. We’re not doing him any favors.”

NOTES: Penns Grove had a short week to prepare for Pleasantville, but it gets eight days now for defending state champion Woodbury next Saturday … The Thundering Herd had to rally from a 12-0 deficit to beat the Red Devils in the finals of the Adam Taliaferro Foundation 7-on-7 in June … The 0-2 start is Penns Grove’s first since 2016. You’ll have to go past 2010 to find the last time they started a season 0-3 … If you were a little confused about matching names with the program today, Pleasantville was wearing an old set of uniforms. The Greyhounds wore their new duds for their Battle at the Beach opener and they hadn’t gotten back from the laundry before they left for Thursday’s game.

Pleasantville 14, Penns Grove 6

P’VILLE (14)		PENNS GR. (6)
7	1st Downs	6
32-74	Rushes-yds	30-31
9-24-1	Passes	6-17-2
98	Passing yds	29
2-1	Fumbles-lost	7-4
4-27.0	Punts-avg	7-22.4
15-138	Penalties-yds	6-33

Pleasantville (1-1)	0	7	0	7 –	14
Penns Grove (0-2)	0	0	6	0 –	6

Scoring plays
P – Dwayne Carter 19 pass from Ahmad Jones (Francisco Aguirre kick), 5:48 2Q
PG – Bryce Wright 25 run (run failed), 9:28 3Q
P – Gabriel Rodriguez fumble recovery in end zone (Francisco Aguirre kick), 1:02 4Q

Sky-high confidence

Pennsville feeling good about season going into opener; all 5 county football teams in action this week

SALEM COUNTY SCHEDULE
Thursday’s games
Pleasantville at Penns Grove, 10 a.m.
Pennsville at Lindenwold, 6 p.m.
Haddon Heights at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Friday’s game
Pitman at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s game
Camden at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Sky Eppes had never played running back on any level of organized football until Pennsville’s season opener last year against Lindenwold. But his first game – heck, his first carry – seemed to set him up as a natural.

Pennsville (0-0)
at Lindenwold (0-1),
Thursday, 6 p.m.

The then-junior admittedly was a little nervous going into it, but the first time he ever carried the ball in a varsity game he broke off a 20-yard run. He had two other long runs later, went for 200 yards and two touchdowns on 24 busy carries and the Eagles won by outscoring their visitors 34-26 when the clock ran out on the Lions.

The boys in blue seemed to be on their way to something special. But it didn’t continue. That spectacular beginning would be their only win as a bad mixture of internal and external forces conspired to tear their season apart.
 
Eppes and the Eagles open the new season against the same opponent Thursday – this time on the road — hoping for similar first-game results and confident about the needle trending upwards as they move forward.

“We won the game, but they had the ball driving it with time running out for a chance to tie it up, so it wasn’t like it was an easy game or anything for us,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “Obviously, it was great to get a win, but we knew we had some issues. 

“This year I feel more confident going into it, for sure. I think we’re just better overall (on) offense and defense right now going into it. We think we’re better prepared this year, better ready to go. We’ve played much better this preseason. We’re limiting a lot of mistakes. We still have some, but we’re doing a better job of limiting them going forward.”

The issues of last year behind them, the Eagles have brought in some new coaches with links to their most recent decorated past and the players are buying into what the coaches are selling. Now, it’s a matter of executing when they get on the field.

Lindenwold spread the Eagles out last year and exposed their coverage issues, but the Lions showed to be heavy run last week in their 19-0 season opening loss at Sterling.  

“We just want to execute properly, that’s really what it is,” Healy said. “We feel if we execute properly we can be in and win any game this year. I’m very excited with the group we have going this year. We’re still a young team but we have more experience coming back. There’s definitely anticipation because we think we can accomplish better stuff this year.

“We’re not dealing with internal things right now. We’re all focused on what the goal is. Everyone seems to have bought into their role on the team and understand that if we’re going to be successful we need all 11 guys on that field to do their job each time. We’re playing more as a team instead of 11 individuals.”

Eppes was as much a victim of whatever implosion was going on with the Eagles as anybody. He got moved to running back because Healy wanted some speed in the backfield and the move paid off with the 200 yards against Lindenwold, but he had only 452 in the eight games that followed.

His best rushing game the rest of the year was 97 yards against Schalick. In his defense, he also was used as a receiver and had 115 yards receiving against Cumberland.

“I was hyped,” he said about his first game at running back. “I was like we’re going to have a good year … and turn Pennsville around and bring it back to where it was in 2014. But it didn’t happen that way.”

This year promises to be better because attitudes are different and the Eagles have a scheme in place designed to put Eppes and the offense in situations to be able to do better. Now, he wants to set school rushing and touchdown records – once he learns what they are – and for the offense to have big games every week.

“This is my senior year; I’m trying to run as hard as I can and put up numbers,” he said. “I want to hit a big score again, I want to go hit a big score on everybody.

“We had bigger linemen (last year) but it isn’t about how big and strong you are, it’s about the heart that we have. The heart we have in this team will go very far. The heart and compassion for this team is what’s going to bring us along.”

PLEASANTVILLE (0-1) at PENNS GROVE (0-1): After suffering seven turnovers in their season opener – six lost fumbles – the Red Devils spent the week working on the highest priority for the offense – ball security. They moved the ball well enough to win, rushing for 328 yards, but the turnovers killed them. 

There wasn’t an idle moment in practice this week when a Penns Grove player didn’t have a football tucked tightly on their person. The thing coach John Emel didn’t want to see was a ball on the ground or the Red Devils would have, um, the hot place to pay.

“We made it a point of emphasis,” Emel said. “We practiced a lot of ball security drills. It’s not something we don’t talk about. Everybody has a Big 3 keys to win – we’ve done it forever – and the No. 1 on our board is always been ball security. If you take care of the ball, you win the turnover battle, no matter what else happens you have a better opportunity to win the game.

“We didn’t do that; that’s disappointing. We’ve definitely got to be better. I’m optimistic we’ll go out and play a lot better on Thursday and we’ll fix the things where we made mistakes. It wasn’t just a bad game, it’s the worst turnover game we’ve ever had in my 20 years of coaching high school.”

The most positive takeaway from the game was the debut of freshman Karon Ceaser. The Red Devils’ first true freshman skill position starter in 20 years rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns, but he wasn’t immune to fumbling either. The difference was he recovered his.

Pleasantville also is looking to get on the right track. The Greyhounds are coming off a 14-6 loss to Ocean City in the Battle at the Beach. They beat Penns Grove last year 26-2.

HADDON HEIGHTS (0-0) at WOODSTOWN (0-0): https://godaddy623.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/a-ware-of-history/

PITMAN (0-0) at SCHALICK (1-0): The Cougars’ dramatic season-opening win over their longest-tenured rival sets them up for another piece of history this week.

The Cougars have a chance to go 2-0 for the first time since 2017 when they opened the season with back-to-back shutouts of Wildwood and Riverside and set up what some observers think can be an even more historic start.

Coaches are notorious for not looking ahead (publicly, at least) so coach Mike Wilson’s focus this week was correcting the mistakes that were made in the opening – and there were some – and simply going 1-0 this week.

“It’s like I told the kids Saturday when we watched the film, we still haven’t played our best football yet,” Wilson said. “We did a lot of good things, but we left a lot of points on the field and made a lot of opening-game mistakes we’ve been fixing this week.

“The kids know we did a good job, but that’s over with now and we’ve got to get better. There’s a lot of room for growth. I expect us to make a big jump this week.”

Another thing the film revealed was just how good a game junior nose T.J. Hymer had. Hymer made the back-to-back stops on the goal line to keep Gloucester City from taking the lead at that point in the fourth quarter, but he did more than that.

“We knew T.J. played a great game, but he played probably the best football game of his life Friday night,” Wilson said. “What he did at nose Friday night, he played well, but watching the film, he played excellent. If I was grading his film, he would get high grades across the board.”

The Cougars lead the series 21-17. They have won 12 of the last 13 by some substantial margins, including an 11-game winning streak that was snapped in 2020.

CAMDEN (0-1) at SALEM (0-1): Now that they’ve sorted out where they’re going to play, the Rams can get back to the bigger business of fixing the things that went wrong in their opening-game loss to Executive Education.

The focus of the week has been tightening up their defense. The Rams were as close as 14-13 in the third quarter, then got outscored 28-6 the rest of the game.

“Our guys knew what we do, we just didn’t do it,” Rams coach Danny Mendoza said. “The discipline part of defense is what we need to focus on to get us on the right track. We’ve got guys who can make plays, we’ve just got to get those guys to do what we’re telling them.”

Now that he’s seen what his team has and needs at the speed of a real game, Mendoza can go about tweaking the defense to put players in more advantageous positions for their skill sets.

It’s a new experience for Mendoza, too. His experience has long been on offense, but the late timing of his hiring dictated Mendoza take the role of overseeing a defense for the first time. He’s brought a different look to the unit and it’s a work in progress for both sides.

“It’s a new role,” he said. “As an offensive guy you always make the defense the villain. Now, you have to even it out. The offense will always be solid, but we’ve got to make sure we’re just as solid on that side of the ball as well.”

The game was supposed to be part of the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic at Wilmington’s Abessinio Stadium, but conflicts at the site led to both teams pulling out. The game now will be played at Salem’s Walnut Street Field, the Rams’ long-time stomping grounds that fell into disrepair and led to the school building an on-campus stadium.

Photo: Pennsville’s Sky Eppes (1) runs the ball back during a recent scrimmage against Haddon Heights. Eppes and the Eagles make their regular-season debut Thursday night at Lindenwold. (Photo by Lorraine Jenkins)

Soccer scrimmages

Penns Grove boys, Pennsville girls take the field in first scrimmages of camp

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

BRIDGETON – Some days you play good, and some days you learn good.

The Penns Grove boys soccer team learned good Tuesday. The Red Devils lost their first preseason scrimmage under new head coach Mano Massari 4-0 at Cumberland Regional, but the rebuilding group picked up a lot to digest.

“We played a really good team,” said Massari, a homegrown talent elevated to head coach following the retirement of longtime head coach George Rhea. “I knew going into this year there were some big holes to fill and we probably wouldn’t get to the success we had last year. That being said, we’ve been working really hard this off season.

“We have a lot of new guys, a lot of young freshmen, a lot of first-year players. Going into this scrimmage we were plugging players in, seeing where they exceled at and still had a lot to learn at. I don’t want to say it was a bad day, because it wasn’t. I always tell the guys there are two things that happen at the end of the game – we can win or we learn, and if we learn it’s still a win.”

The Red Devils lost three-quarters of their 14-4-1 sectional semifinalist of a year ago and were missing two of their top returnees Tuesday, but they showed “flashes” of the team it can be going forward. Massari had been getting good reports before leaving on his honeymoon and was pleased with what he saw when he returned to the team from the trip Monday.

They fell behind the cohesive Colts 3-0 in the varsity portion of the match and the JVs yielded another goal in the final 20 minutes. Although the Red Devils didn’t score, Jayden Merga had one of their best chances, a shot that was turned away at the lower corner.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the effort, the heart that we showed today,” Massari said. “We were throwing together some pretty nice passes. We were able to transition and counter-attack pretty well a couple times. Had some nice chances to score, just weren’t able to capitalize on them.

“When you play a good team, it benefits them, it benefits us. We’re seeing what’s out there, we’re seeing what we need to work on. We’ve got some work we need to do, but I know we’re ready for it and they’re ready for it. They’re completely bought in and so am I.”

PENNSVILLE GIRLS SPLIT: The Eagles opened their scrimmage schedule with a tri-scrimmage and beat Buena 3-0 and lost to Haddon Twp. 1-0.

Returning striker Taylor Bass kept her scoring touch from a year ago and found the net against Buena along with freshman Karsen Cooksey and Riley Bowman. They had a few scoring chances in the half with Haddon Twp.

“I was overall pleased with what I saw,” Eagles coach Sam Trapp said. “The girls worked really well together. They were focused on taking the drills we’ve been placing in practice and putting them into action in the game, and that was well demonstrated today.

“We had really good set up there working with our midfielders. They did a lot of nice passing and working together. Defensively, our goalie stepped up big time and really took a little bit of ownership.”

Sophomore keeper Mara Widener is playing the position for the first and held her own against heavy pressure from Haddon Twp.

“She stepped up and kind of gave us a little bit more to work off of today, which was exciting,” Trapp said. “She’s finding more confidence every time she steps in the goal and she’s trying to learn the position the best she can.”

The Eagles scrimmage again Thursday at home against Haddon Heights and at Gloucester City Sept. 5.

Old home week

Salem will return to its old home field, Walnut Street Field, to play Saturday’s game with Camden; team plans walk-through Thursday

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – Once (maybe twice) more, for old time’s sake.

The headache that was trying to find a venue for this week’s Salem-Camden high school football game got resolved Tuesday morning when Salem High School and city officials confirmed the Rams’ old Walnut Street Field will be available, with limitations, to host the teams.

Camden (0-1)
at Salem (0-1),
Walnut Street Field,
Saturday, noon

The facility has been undergoing repairs and on target for the Junior Rams youth team to play there Sept. 17. Salem City Administrator Ben Angeli told Riverview Sports News today crews “kind of rushed things a little” and have the bleachers ready for Sept. 2 occupancy. However, the press box and electrical will not be available at that time.

Salem athletics director Darryl Roberts confirmed this morning the game will be played at Walnut Street Saturday at noon. He is hoping they can find power for the scoreboard that can be operated remotely.

“I’m extremely pleased,” Roberts said. “We planned on going to Camden, but (Camden AD Will Hickson) called me yesterday and let me know their field’s not ready because they’re getting new bleachers and they’re not completed yet, so that kind of put us in a situation where we really didn’t have anywhere to play at this point.”

The Rams had played their home games at Walnut Street until the bleachers there fell into disrepair expediting plans for the high school to build its own stadium. The campus project is on-going and is expected to be finished in time for the team to play two games at home in October, but everything else it played had to be on the road.

The Salem-Camden game originally was scheduled as part of Saturday’s lineup in the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic at Abessinio Stadium in Wilmington, but conflicts at the site prompted the teams to pull out and seek alternate venues.

“The field was great and people obviously came out,” Roberts said of Walnut Street. “The concern was always just the bleachers being unsafe, but the field is really great. We always said if we could just pick that field up and put it over here behind the school we’d be perfect.”

Rams coach Danny Mendoza doesn’t know a lot about the field except what he has heard, and he has heard some great things about its history. The plan is to take the team over for a walk-through Thursday.

“We’re excited to get back there,” he said. “There are a lot of years of tradition there. It’s a sacred field for the city there.

“There are a lot of great players who played there, all those guys who played on that field for like 60 years. The field’s been there a long time. It’s right in the center of the city and people come out to watch games from their porches and front yards. From what I hear it’s a great atmosphere and a place where a lot of people came together from the city to do a lot of good.”

Both teams are looking to bounce back from out-of-state season-opening losses. The Rams fell to Executive Education Academy of Allentown, Pa., 42-19, in Mendoza’s first game with the team. Camden lost 37-18 at Lake Taylor in Norfolk, Va.

Saturday’s game may not be the last time the Rams play in their old home this year.

“We might bring our (Sept. 16) Penns Grove game back over here also,” Roberts said. “If everything goes fine. As long as the City is fine with it. So, Penns Grove should technically be our last home game there at Walnut Street.”

A-Ware of history

Woodstown kicker will extend a family legacy when Wolverines open season Thursday, provides a needed piece to offense 

SALEM COUNTY SCHEDULE
THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Thursday
Pleasantville at Penns Grove, 10 a.m.
Pennsville at Lindenwold, 6 p.m.
Haddon Heights at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Friday
Pitman at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Camden at Salem (Walnut Street), noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The first game of every team’s season is always an exciting time, some more than others. Woodstown kicker Jake Ware has been looking forward to Thursday night’s season opener against Haddon Heights since the day he came back to the school last January.

WARE

Of all the places the junior could think of to play his first varsity game, the Wolverines’ Clint Ware Field could not be more appropriate or special. The place has his grandfather’s name on it. His father ran into the school record books there. It’s the reason he wanted to transfer back to Woodstown to finish his high school football career.

Jake has kicked on the field already this summer – in the Wolverines’ two home scrimmages against St. Joe (Hammonton) and Delsea – but this time it’ll mean a little more because now it’s for real.

“It’s going to be really cool,” he said. “My grandfather coached for over 20 years, my dad (Steve) had the running record, he still might have it.

“With all the history of my family being here for so long and then my dad playing here being coached by his dad, I think it’s just cool. I think it will be very exciting. I’m not too nervous about it because if I’m nervous about it I’ll think about it too much and I’ll get out of my flow of hitting it normal every time.“

Jake didn’t ever know his grandfather; he was born in 2007 and Clint died in 2001 at age 59 of complications from ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. But through all the stories he’s heard over the years he knows his granddad was a giant in the community.

Clint was the longest tenured coach in Woodstown’s history, leading the football team to a 164-139-10 record over a 34-year Hall of Fame career. As a player, he starred in football, basketball and baseball in high school and went on to play college football at the University of Delaware. He also was active in the community, serving as a Salem City Councilman for six years and a county freeholder for more than a quarter-century, initiating numerous programs that are still in force today.

“I just know he used to be really nice, and a really good coach,” Jake said. “I don’t really know too much.”

Jake went to the Woodstown schools through the eighth grade, then transferred to Wilmington’s Salesianum School to be part of the Sallies’ nationally ranked soccer program. He was still living in Woodstown and regularly attended Wolverine games on Friday nights, but drove back and forth across the bridge every day to go to school. 

Actually, he never started kicking a football until about a year ago and when he kicked for Salesianum it was on the junior varsity and only extra points. It wasn’t the commute to Delaware every day that ultimately led to his return, but rather a return to his roots to fulfill his destiny and rejoin his childhood friends.

“I’m just really excited to be able to start my first varsity game and it makes it even better that it’s here with all my friends I grew up with,” he said.

When Woodstown coach John Adams learned of Ware’s return in January, it was like getting a late Christmas gift. The kicker immediately brings the Wolverines an element they haven’t had in a while.

They could have used a reliable leg in each of their last two playoff losses. He’s true on PATs, regularly kicks off into the end zone and is comfortable kicking field goals from beyond the 30; he’s kicked a 55-yarder once in a private workout. And he can punt it high and deep depending on the need.

The Wolverines were just 8-of-16 on PATs last season and had no field goals. They didn’t even attempt to kick an extra point the year before. Over the past 10 seasons they’ve only attempted 10 field goals. Ware kicks that many every practice.

It was a real shortcoming in the biggest games of the year. They missed their two-point conversion attempt in last year’s 15-6 sectional semifinal upset to Paulsboro. It was an even more glaring deficiency the year before when they lost to Woodbury 8-6 in the sectional final. They missed a two-point conversion in the second quarter and were in the red zone two other times and came away with no points.

“Ever since we lost Conner Batten, our kicker who went to Rowan to kick, we struggled with kicking,” Adams said. “Last season we had to go with two-point plays and spent a lot of practice time on all that. To have a guy transfer in who’s a great kid, who’s a really good kicker and only going to be a junior, we were like this is awesome.

“It filled a need for us and he works on his craft every day out here. We’re excited to have him because in Group I that can be a blessing for you. We’re excited that if it gets to be fourth down and we’re in the red zone we can go get points now and that changes how defenses have to play you and all that stuff. It’s going to be huge for us.”

Jake has been aware the name on the scoreboard is his grandfather’s from the time he was in first grade, so the charge of seeing it has worn off a little. But that doesn’t diminish the strong sense of pride he carries every time he goes on the field. It’ll just be a lot stronger Thursday.

Adams called the chance for Ware to kick on the field that bears his granddad’s name “special for him, special for his family” and there will be many members of the family on hand to witness it.

The coach will feel something, too.

“For him to come and kick on the field that’s named for his grandfather is just unreal,” he said. “It’s a great story.”

Woodstown’s Jake Ware practices his kickoffs during a recent practice. The junior will make his varsity debut Thursday night on the field that bears his grandfather’s name.

‘Beautiful’ first scrimmage

Pennsville field hockey battles Deptford Twp. to a scoreless tie, but dominates the action

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Pennsville field hockey coach Lisa Doran isn’t quite ready to start making reservations for the sectional championship game just yet, but she did like what she saw from the Eagles’ first scrimmage of the fall.

Everybody uses COVID as the demarcation point for comparisons these days and Doran easily called Monday’s exercise from a Pennsville perspective the best first scrimmage since the pandemic turned everybody’s world upside down.

The Eagles’ young team played Deptford Twp. to a scoreless tie, but they dominated at every turn. And they still had several upperclassmen fulfilling their six-practice moratorium.

“We have a lot of new kids and some who never played before this year and … they had to get out there and they really stepped up,” Doran said. “I’m really proud of everything these kids did today. They’re working really hard. I’m very positive about the season. They look good.”

Most of the game’s action was in their attacking end. They outshot the Spartans 24-5, had 23 corners to their visitors’ three and goalie Ruby Hassler was required to make zero saves. The limited number of available players meant lots of minutes for many, but instead of wearing down they maintained their intensity and aggressiveness well into the fourth quarter.

“Because there were so many new kids and young kids playing, I expected them to be a little panicked, but they weren’t,” Doran said. “They were aggressive, they went to the ball; everything told them they were trying. That’s all you can ask of them, especially of a young team.

“In the last two years this was probably one of the better first scrimmages. I felt very comfortable and I can see that they’re getting it and they’re trying to get it. It was beautiful.”

Pennsville’s Kendal Hoyt (30) and Abby Beals (28) aggressively challenge the ball in Monday’s scrimmage with Deptford Twp.

This week’s schedule

Here is the Salem County high school sports schedule for the week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2. The football games are regular season, all others are scrimmages. For additions or cancelations, email al.muskewitz@gmail.com

Aug. 28
GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick at Kingsway, 9 a.m.
Cumberland at Penns Grove, 10 a.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Clearview at Schalick, 9 a.m.
FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at Timber Creek, 9 a.m.
Deptford Twp. at Pennsville, 10 a.m.
GIRLS TENNIS
Williamstown at Pennsville, 10 a.m.
Woodstown at Ocean City, 11 a.m.

Aug. 29
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem at Hammonton, 4 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Cumberland, 10 a.m.
Woodbury at Salem, 10 a.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Pennsville at Buena, 10 a.m.
Salem at Woodbury, 10 a.m.
GIRLS TENNIS
Woodstown at Kingsway, 9 a.m.

Aug. 30
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem, Schalick, Bridgeton at Cumberland, 8:30 a.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick at Cumberland, 9 a.m.
Penns Grove vs. Gloucester Co. Christian at Paulsboro, 10 a.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Cumberland at Schalick, 9 a.m.
Williamstown at Woodstown, 9 a.m.
GIRLS TENNIS
Cumberland at Schalick, 9 a.m.
Woodstown at Timber Creek, 9 a.m.
Pennsville at Deptford Twp., 10 a.m.

Aug. 31
FOOTBALL
Pleasantville at Penns Grove, 10 a.m.
Pennsville at Lindenwold, 6 p.m.
Haddon Heights at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
GIRLS TENNIS
Delsea at Pennsville, 10 a.m.
Penns Grove at Haddon Twp., 10 a.m. 
Salem at Bridgeton, 10 a.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Gloucester City at Woodstown, 9 a.m.
Haddon Heights at Pennsville, 9 a.m.
Penns Grove at Salem, 10 a.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Salem at Bridgeton, 10 a.m.

Sept. 1
FOOTBALL
Pitman at Schalick, 7 p.m.
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem at Buena, 10 a.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Woodstown at Haddon Twp., 4:15 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Haddon Twp. at Woodstown, 4:15 p.m.

Sept. 2
FOOTBALL
Camden at Salem, noon

Photo credit: Ellen Sickler

Salem drops opener

FRIDAY’S COUNTY SCORES
Burlington City 33, Penns Grove 22
Executive Education 42, Salem 19
Schalick 17, Gloucester City 14

By Riverview Sports News

EASTON, Pa. – The Danny Mendoza Era of Salem football got off to a rough start Friday night as Executive Education Academy of Allentown, Pa., played an inspired second half and pulled away from the Rams 42-19 in Lafayette College’s Fisher Stadium.

Executive EACS 42,
Salem 19
NEXT: vs. Camden,
Sept. 2, site TBA

The Rams were in the game for two and a half quarters, then the Raptors, playing for their starting quarterback Salem knocked out in the first quarter, outscored them 28-6 the rest of the way.

The Rams trailed 14-7 at the half and had a chance for a tie. They were driving for a potential game-tying touchdown late in the second quarter and had it fourth-and-1 from the 16, but a false start knocked them back and they didn’t get it on the next snap.

They did get to within 14-13 on a Ramaji Bundy touchdown pass to Terrance Smith with about seven minutes left in the third quarter, but they didn’t get the extra point and the Raptors started pulling away.

“The backup came in and those guys just rallied around their guy,” Mendoza said. “They really wanted to take care of business for their quarterback so they played with a different intensity and for a different purpose that we didn’t match.

“They just ran the ball down our throat. We couldn’t stop the run. We couldn’t hold contain. Plays were they to be made. They didn’t run anything out of the ordinary. They ran three run plays that we couldn’t stop. It was a game for a good amount. They took the wind out of us.”

Smith scored Salem’s first touchdown and Bundy scored its third to make it 28-19.

“I lost my first game as a head coach (in Florida), so it’s all right; we’ve lost before, you just figure it out,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got some soul searching to do.”

Last-minute heroics

Schalick lives up to its season theme by finding a way to win, driving to score the winning TD against Gloucester City in the final minute

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Kenai Simmons apologized for the quality of his voice as he talked about the game-winning drive, but it was that kind of game. It was one of those games that took all the encouragement he could muster to drive his team to victory.

Simmons capped a 59-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds to play Friday night to give Schalick a dramatic 17-14 win over Gloucester City in the season opener for both teams.

Schalick 17,
Gloucester City 14
NEXT: vs. Pitman,
Friday, 7 p.m.

The Cougars held the lead for most of the game until Gloucester scored on a 19-yard fourth-down pass with 4:38 left. The score came after Schalick had to punt from its end zone after its defense made two stops on the goal line, led by T.J. Hymer, to keep the Lions out of the end zone on the previous possession.

It would have been a tough way to lose considering the way the Cougars played all game against last year’s Central Jersey Group II finalist.

But Simmons, who just took over the quarterback job this season after not playing the position since youth football, flawlessly directed a seven-play drive to give Schalick back the lead. 

Nothing was going to keep him out of the end zone  He started the drive with a 24-yard pass to Dylan Sheehan. He moved the chains with an 8-yard gain on third down that looked like it was going nowhere off the snap. And then he slipped through a crowded backfield into open field on his go-ahead touchdown.

Schalick quarterback Kenai Simmons (1) races to the corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. Running back Reggie Allen (4) leads the celebration in the top photo. (Photos by Heather Papiano)

“I don’t think my words could explain how eager I was to  get in the end zone,” Simmons said. “We owed them one, No. 1, and we worked too hard for this to let them come back on us like that on our home turf.

“The way my team was pushing me around, like let’s go, we have this, we’ve got it in us. Before we started moving the ball down the field, I was like, OK, we’re on the same level right now and I like that. It encouraged me even more to get in there.” 

There was still some time on the clock, but the Cougars sealed it when kicker Hunter Dragotta drilled a rocket of a kickoff that bounced off the return man’s helmet and was recovered by Nylan Sutton at the 23.

Simmons took a knee twice and the Cougars had their victory in the longest running series in their program’s history.

“We’ve been preaching since the offseason and you’ll see it on our shirts, it’s called Find A Way To Win,” Cougars coach Mike Wilson said. “We told the kids it would take 48 minutes and play every play like it’s a new play and they did that tonight.

“They believed in themselves, they’ve been working hard and they truly found a way to win. We made some young mistakes tonight, but we persevered and found a way.”

Gloucester opened the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive, but Schalick answered with Levi Freeney-Childers’ 5-yard touchdown run and took the lead with Dragotta’s extra point. Dragotta also kicked a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to give the Cougars a 10-6 halftime lead.

The kicker was setting up for a 29-yarder late in the third quarter that would have extended the Cougars lead, but a bad snap foiled the attempt.

Schalick controlled the ball in such a fashion Gloucester ran only 16 plays in the first half and 21 through three quarters.

Those last five plays were the start of the drive that Schalick eventually stuffed at the goal line. The Lions had gotten to the 1 on third down, but Hymer and his linemates stuffed Lions quarterback Jake Seibert twice.

“The center couldn’t push me around; I stood my ground and made sure I was playing,” Hymer said. “That’s probably the tiredest I’ve ever felt in a football game, but I knew I had to fight. I had to.

“I knew it was coming right to me because they thought they could bully us through the way they charged the ball down the field. Well, I stood up and made a stop. We made a stop. I knew that center was nervous, he had to get the push but didn’t, and I took it and ran with it. I didn’t come this far just to sit down and cry. I had to keep on pushing.”

Wilson considered taking a safety when his offense didn’t move the ball off the goal line, letting Dragotta kick it deep on the free kick and putting it in the hands of his defense from long range.

He did put it in the hands of defense, but from only 25 yards away as the Cougars punted from their end zone. They almost held the Lions there, but Gloucester scored its go-ahead touchdown against a broken coverage.

Schalick lineman T.J. Hymer (56) made two huge stops on the goal line to keep the Lions out of the end zone. (Photo by Heather Papiano)

Schalick 17, Gloucester City 14

GLOU CITY (14)		SCHALICK (17)
11	1st Downs	13
21-111	Rushes-yds	38-134
5-9-2	Passes	5-5-0
91	Passing yds	34
3-2	Fum-Lost	0-0
0-0	Punts-avg	0-0
6-60	Penalties-yds	2-10

Gloucester City	6	0	0	8 —	14
Schalick	7	3	0	7 —	17

Scoring plays
GC – Jaden Garris 22 pass from Jake Seibert (kick failed), 4:52 1Q
S – Levi Freeney-Childers 5 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 0:35 1Q
S – Hunter Dragotta 32 FG, 0:00 2Q
GC – Justin Frazer 19 pass from Jake Seibert (Jaden Garris pass from Jake Seibert), 4:38 4Q
S – Kenai Simmons 20 run (Hunter Dragotta kick) 0:56 4Q

Schalick’s L.J. Loney (57) and Alec Bramell bring heavy pressure to Gloucester quarterback Jack Seibert. (Photo by Heather Papiano)