Reversal of fortunes

After an impressive opening night, Pennsville falls flat in home opener, losing to Lower Cape May

ROYAL DIVISION SCORES
Lower Cape May 28, Pennsville 7
Cumberland 6, Pitman 0
Collingswood 19, Gateway 14

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – A rousing win in the season opener had the Pennsville football team brimming with confidence and feeling pretty good about the season ahead. But those good vibes didn’t carry over to their home opener.

In a time frame when tradition says teams make their most improvement, the Eagles fell flat against a much better team than they faced the week before and lost to Lower Cape May 28-7 Friday night in Lou D’Angelo Stadium.

“I think the whole team is sad,” said Malik Rehmer, a junior receiver who scored the Eagles’ only touchdown. “We came off a big win last week high and mighty and then we just get wrecked right now.

“This team (the Capers) came in with more heart. They were more conditioned. They just outworked us.”

The Eagles (1-1) allowed their visitors too many big-yardage plays in the first half while falling behind 21-7. Their offense, meanwhile, managed only 147 net yards total and just 43 on the ground.

Sky Eppes had 53 yards rushing on 20 carries. Rehmer caught six passes for 41 yards, including his 4-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter on a route he hadn’t run before this year to get the Eagles within 14-7.

Lower Cape May’s Isaiah Wing was the game’s leading rusher with 137 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Impressive receiver Braswell Thomas caught four passes for 78 yards and had an interception on defense.

The Capers (2-1) scored on three of their first four possessions and were approaching the 10 on their final drive when the half ended. Of their first 13 plays on offense, seven went for 10 yards or more and two others went for at least eight. They had three more in a row on their third scoring drive of the half.

“We were flat,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “We just didn’t come ready to play and they did and that was the big difference. They’re a good football team and against a good football team if you don’t come ready to play and play every play that’s what happens.

“Man for man they beat us up tonight. It’s a combination of us being flat and just not executing. We just didn’t come ready to play tonight. It was definitely disappointing. I had much higher expectations for us.”

The Eagles did much better in the second half, defensively at least, giving up only 86 yards and one touchdown after halftime. But it was hard to take solace in that when the offense continued to struggle, mustering only 71 yards in the second half.

“We played better defensively, but it’s such a small school, everyone playing both ways, you hope that carries over so it’s hard to be happy about one when we struggled some much on the other,” Healy said.

Lower Cape May 28, Pennsville 7

LCM		PMHS
18	1st Downs	11
32-217	Rushes-yards	31-43
10-18-1	Passes	9-25-1
124	Passing yards	104
0-0	Fumbles-lost	0-0
4-36.5	Punts-avg	3-31.3
14-120	Penalties-yards	3-35

Lower Cape May (2-1)	14	7	7	0 –	28
Pennsville (1-1)	0	7	0	0 –	7

Scoring plays
LCM – Isaiah Wing 12 run (Dennis Serra kick), 8:52 1Q
LCM – Logan Haggerty 1 run (Dennis Serra kick), 4:23 1Q
P – Malik Rehmer 4 pass from Robbie McDade (Jackson Leino kick), 8:35 2Q
LCM – Hunter Ray 25 run (Dennis Serra kick), 3:12 2Q
LCM – Isaiah Wing 24 run (Dennis Serra kick), 8:55 3Q