Schalick visits Pennsville Friday in its only scheduled game with Salem County foe this season; where once everybody played each other, only five such matchups are scheduled this season
SALEM COUNTY FOOTBALL
Friday’s games
Glassboro at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Schalick at Pennsville, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Penns Grove at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.
Salem vs. Cedar Creek at SHI Stadium (Rutgers), 3 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – There are certain games on everybody’s football schedule that bring a little more anticipation than others; the ones that draw that big, bold circle as soon as its announced.
Maybe it’s a game that got away the year before. Maybe it’s a key game with a division rival and playoff implications. Or one with all the pageantry, like Homecoming or Senior Night.
Schalick and Pennsville play one of those games Friday night that carries even more importance and intensity.
It’s a game between county rivals and when there are only five teams in the county those games mean just a little bit more.
“These kids know each other playing sports against each other their whole lives,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “You usually feel like it’s a little more competitive in terms of the environment and atmosphere.
“It is really for bragging rights because they play each other in everything, especially with social media now, how connected some of these kids are. It’s really important to us. We want respect in general, but having the bragging rights in the county is always something you want to have. You want to be the best of the bunch, for sure.”
Sadly, while there are enough teams and enough slots on the schedule to play an annual county series, they don’t all play each other anymore. Used to, but not anymore.
Everybody has at least one in-county game this season. Penns Grove plays the most – three, the first of which was last week at Salem. Penns Grove, Salem and Woodstown all get at least two because they’re all in the West Jersey Football League Diamond Division.
The traditionalist in Schalick coach Mike Wilson, a self-proclaimed history nerd, would like to see all five county teams play each other, but the realist in him understands with the WJFL’s desire for competitive balance in scheduling it’s not possible.
Woodstown was the last team to schedule all four of the other county teams and made it a point to play all four every year but one from 2004 to 2020. All five programs did it in 2018 and 2019, with Penns Grove going 10-0 over that stretch (including playoffs), Woodstown 6-5 and Salem 6-4.
“County games are always bigger than other games because these kids grow up playing each,” Wilson said. “It’s just a county thing. It’s county bragging rights. I think it’s huge that way.
“And the kids know each other. When kids really know each other it’s different. When we play at Riverside, they don’t know who Riverside is. When we play Wildwood, they don’t know Wildwood kids. We play Cape May, they don’t know Cape May kids. But these kids they know, so anytime you know the kids it’s a bigger game to them. A lot of these kids have probably been playing football against each other since they were 8 years old.”
There’s a lot on the line for both teams, too.
Schalick, No. 2 behind Woodstown in the South Jersey Group I power rankings, is looking to keep the train rolling and its undefeated record intact on the road against a team that’s improved from the one it beat by five touchdowns a year ago.
But they’re likely to be doing it without leading rusher Reggie Allen Jr., who took a big hit in last week’s win over Riverside. Wilson declined to comment on the status or availability of the player who called just last week the backbone of his team.
Pennsville, meanwhile, is looking to take another step forward after bouncing back from a flat second game to get its second win last week, doubling its win total of a year ago.
“Last year we didn’t put forth what we wanted to so there’s a little extra to this because we’re trying to get back to where we want to be and expect to be,” Healy said. “To be able to do it against a county team would just be that much better. Not only that, the kids are aware this is a 4-0 team we’re playing and No. 2 in the UPR rankings, so getting this win would be huge for us for what our goals are at the end of the season.”
Wilson knows that makes the Eagles a dangerous team.
“We are truly the hunted and we have to learn how to take that now,” he said. “We’re no longer the underdog in a lot of these games. The kids have to understand how to handle success and how to take care of business. It’s a huge game for us.”
Salem County Head-to-Head
| TEAMS | PGRV | PVILLE | SALEM | SCHAL | WOODS |
| PENNS GROVE | — | 10-4 (36-27-4) | 9-8 (56-45-6) | 9-0 (27-7) | 8-6 |
| PENNSVILLE | 4-10 (27-36-4) | — | 5-7 | 4-2 (16-8) | 6-7 |
| SALEM | 8-9 (45-56-6) | 7-5 | — | 3-4 (24-13-1) | 9-5 (64-39-10) |
| SCHALICK | 0-9 (7-27) | 2-4 (8-16) | 4-3 (13-24-1) | — | 1-11 (9-24) |
| WOODSTOWN | 6-8 | 7-6 | 5-9 (39-64-10) | 11-1 (24-9) | — |
GLASSBORO (1-2) at WOODSTOWN (3-0): The Wolverines, the No. 1 team in the South Jersey Group I power rankings, face their most physical opponent to date without their most dynamic player. Senior running back James Hill, a 3,000-yard career rusher, underwent surgery Thursday for a non-contact, non-football knee injury and will miss the rest of the season just when he was set to return from surgery on the other knee.
The Wolverines’ approach really doesn’t change much with the news. They went into the season with Bryce Belinfanti and Alex Torres the Nos. 1 and 2 running backs until Hill’s return and have elevated their games in the meantime. The only difference now is they’ll remain in those top tier spots the rest of the year.
Belinfanti has rushed for 413 yards and six touchdowns in the Wolverines’ first three games. Torres went for a career-high 120 yards and two touchdowns last week at Deptford.
“I don’t think it changes much because we had to prepare for not having (Hill) starting the season,” Adams said. “Bryce came into the season knowing he was the first running back and Torres knew he was the second running back and that’s been their mindset all along, so I don’t think anything really changes in that aspect.
“We said going into the season we needed to be able to execute the passing game better and last week we really showed that. We just need to keep that going and doing what we’re doing.”
As for being the early No. 1 in the SJ-I power rankings, the potential No. 1 seed in the sectional playoffs, Adams said the Wolverines don’t get caught up in all that, but admits it does change the way future opponents look at them.
“We don’t get wrapped up into it too much,” Adams said. “What it does for us is we know our opponents are looking at that going if we beat Woodstown we can get a lot of power points.
“We kind of talk to it from that aspect. We’ve got a bulls eye on our back and people are looking to beat us to jump up in their rankings … It’s a long season. We use it as everybody’s going to give you their best because they know it’s worth a lot to them if they can get a W over us.”
SATURDAY’S GAMES
PENNS GROVE (1-3) at HADDON HEIGHTS (2-1): The Red Devils go into another game with playoff implications experiencing life the week after playing a longtime rival and coming off a win.
it’s the first time this year they go into a game after a win and they did that only twice last year. They haven’t won back-to-back games since Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 2021.
And every game they’ve played this year seems to carry some kind of playoff implication. The opener against Burlington City has tiebreaker potential because the winner last year eventually was in and the loser was out. It was suggested the winner of last week’s game with rival Salem was in a good spot to make the playoffs. It’ll be more of the same this week.
The Red Devils are currently No. 18 in the South Jersey Group I power ratings, right behind Pennsville and currently on the outside of the playoff cutline. Haddon Heights is No. 20 in SJ-II.
“It’s a huge game, both teams need the game,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said. “I’m telling our kids with our schedule we win this game we’re clinching a playoff spot. We got in last year with two (wins) and to get two this early in the season and having a heads-up win over Salem and over Haddon Heights with three wins we can start working toward getting a home playoff or some of the goals we set throughout the year.
“I know our kids are excited to be coming off a win. It’s been a while since we came off a win, so I’m excited with how hungry our kids show up to be Saturday.”
The Garnets have a dynamic passer in Drew Harris who three for three touchdowns last week and is expected to provide a big test for the Red Devils’ young secondary of freshmen Karon Ceaser and Jayden Days, Knowledge Young and Kylee Goodson.
“We’re better than we’ve been the last couple years on the back end, but we’re young,” Emel said. “Those guys have gotta play big for us to have a chance to win.”
A late-developing intangible impacting the game is the weather. Haddon Heights officials have been considering an alternate site or moving the date if it looks like the expected weekend storms will make it too difficult to play the game as scheduled. A decision is likely to come sometime Friday.
(UPDATE: At 10:20 a.m. Friday, Haddon Heights officials told Riverview Sports News the game will be played as scheduled.)
SALEM (0-4) vs. CEDAR CREEK (3-1): The Rams will be seeking their first victory of the season against the No. 7 team in the South Jersey Group III power rankings in the Rumble on the Raritan at Rutgers’ SHI Stadium. It’ll be their second game in a college facility this season, having opened the year against Executive Education Academy at Lafayette College.
2023 SALEM COUNTY SHOWDOWNS
Penns Grove 21, Salem 6
Schalick at Pennsville, Friday
Salem at Woodstown, Sept. 29
Pennsville at Penns Grove, Oct. 13
Woodstown at Penns Grove, Oct. 21
Cover photo by Lorraine Jenkins
Riverview Sports News 