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.

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.”