Salem’s only preseason scrimmage before season opener nets good results for new coach Mendoza; Schalick, Woodstown also scrimmage Saturday
TRI-STATE SCRIMMAGE
at Thomas McKean HS, Wilmington
McKean 8, Olney 0
Salem 0, Olney 0
Salem 14, McKean 0
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WILIMINGTON, Del. – It was about an hour before the not-so-meaningless preseason scrimmage and new Salem football coach Danny Mendoza was standing in the end zone inspecting the field on which his team was about to play.
As he watched the other two teams on the program – Philly’s Olney High and host Thomas McKean – warm up, he didn’t mind saying he was feeling butterflies for the first time in a while. It was a lot like the feeling he had before his first spring game as a head coach in Florida.
Here he was, a new coach with a new team, teaching a whole new offense and defense to a team that was about to face a couple outside opponents in live action for the first time – and only time before opening the season for real next week. What was there to be nervous about?
“It’s the new beginnings, taking over a program with the tradition that we have here,” Mendoza said. “It’s the unknown right now and seeing if they bought into what we were selling and what we were doing and hoping all the work we put and the belief that we have in them showed and it came to fruition.
“That’s always the deal. Not nervous for myself, more nervous for them and it worked out well at the end.”
Outside of the usual glitches that accompany a first time on stage, the Rams acquitted themselves well in their two halves of action.
They dominated Olney in their first half and by rights should have scored two touchdowns, but had to settled for a scoreless tie after two fumbles from inside Trojans territory killed their possessions. They came back and beat McKean 14-0, yielding only 31 net yards, with most of those coming on one disputed pass completion late in the game.
“I think they were a little nervous going out there and once we warmed up a little bit and got it going … we definitely saw what we wanted to see in the second half,” Mendoza said. “The offense we’ve got to clean some stuff up, kind of believe in what we’re doing, but at the end of the day solid performance from everybody. Without the mishaps, we should be a team to be reckoned with.”
One of the more intriguing parts of Mendoza’s first camp in Salem is implementing a new offense while replacing an All-Diamond Division quarterback with an All-Diamond receiver.
Ramaji Bundy, who has nearly 1,500 receiving yards the last three seasons, has been handed the keys to the Rams’ offense and even though he’s learning on the go, it’s as if he’s never left.
“I like it well,” Bundy said of the transition. “I played quarterback all my life since pee-wee league, so coming up playing quarterback again, it’s not really too hard. I just have to get that experience again because it’s on the high school level this time.
“(The offense) kind of fits me well. We’ve got a 50-50 pass-run offense and we’re mixing in a lot of stuff. Everything is running well, to be honest. It’s like the Baltimore offense and (he’s like) Lamar Jackson … I’m a big Lamar fan, but I like Jalen Hurts better.”
Bundy was 1-for-5 passing in the scrimmage with a 36-yard completion to Omarion Pierce against Olney, and had a couple other nice throws that didn’t connect. He rushed for 57 yards in the two halves and scored on a 13-yard run against McKean. He would’ve had more against Olney, but was charged with a big loss when he lost the handle preparing to pass and tried to kick the ball out of bounds.
“He’s a ballplayer and we knew that coming into it,” Mendoza said. “We saw a hell of a player that’s going to have a hell of a season and we just look forward to watching that kid shine.”
Terrance Smith scored the first touchdown of the Mendoza era with a 25-yard burst in the first series against McLean. Ethan Young kicked both extra points. Smith rushed for 38 yards and Jared Pew had 44.
The defense made several big plays with Markhai Brown delivering a bone-jarring hit, Kyree Little packing a sack, Detric Simmons making life miserable for opposing ballcarriers and Kaden Robinson snaring an interception. The Rams held their two opponents to a combined 1 net yard rushing on 10 total carries.
“Seeing guys fly around like that, I’m excited for our defense,” Mendoza said.
The Rams play their first real game of the Mendoza era Friday in Lafayette College’s Fisher Stadium against Executive Education Academy of Allentown, Pa.
Cougars come alive
DEPTFORD – Schalick played two live-ball varsity quarters against Deptford Twp. and after a slow start scored on its last two possessions to win that portion of the scrimmage 14-6.
Deptford opened the scrimmage with a 19-play drive, pushing it in from the 1, and then held the Cougars to a three-and-out. Once the Cougars got comfortable, they came alive.
Quarterback Kenai Simmons found the end zone from the red zone and Reggie Allen scored from the goal line. The defense had a three-and-out and takeaway on downs after the opening drive.
Sophomore kicker Hunter Dragotta hit both extra points, including a long first one backed up by a celebration penalty. Dragotta was 19 of 23 on PATs last season and at one point made 16 in a row.
“We kind of woke up a little bit, shook the cobwebs off and generated a lot of pressure,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “We could’ve played a whole game today. Our kids aren’t even tired. I like our conditioning. We’re definitely in football shape.
“We’ve got to clean stuff up, there’s things we have to get better, but for a game scrimmage we got better since Wednesday. Just get better next week and get ready for when it gets real.”
The Cougars open their season at home Friday 7 p.m. against Gloucester City.
Woodstown focuses on passing
PINE HILL – Woodstown continues to work towards enhancing its passing game and that was its main focus at Overbook. During some evenly matched 10-and-10 segments with the 1s, the Wolverines ran it only a couple times.
“We threw the ball a ton,” Wolverines coach John Adams said. “We really didn’t work our run game in much and when we did work our run game in we had some good runs.”
Garrett Leyman caught a touchdown pass from Max Webb and had another big play on a nice screen.
“I thought we got what we wanted out of it,” Adams said. “We really wanted to see the on film the route running, making sure our spacing’s correct, the timing’s correct, the O-line pass block a lot and set the pocket for Max and I thought we did really, really well with it.”
The defense also continued its progression. For the second scrimmage in a row it didn’t give up a live-ball touchdown.
“The last scrimmage was more split, pass and run, this one was more pass and the next one (Thursday against Delsea) will be more game-like, like calling it in the flow of the game,” Adams said.
Top photo: New Salem football coach Danny Mendoza gives his team a thumbs up after it dominated two opponents in Saturday’s scrimmage.
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