Fisher’s fast foot from in front of the net delivers first-half goal to send Schalick past hard-luck Penns Grove
THURSDAY’S BOYS SOCCER Glassboro 3, Pennsville 0 Schalick 1, Penns Grove 0 Wildwood 4, Salem Tech 0 Gloucester Catholic 4, Salem 0 Woodstown 5, Overbrook 2
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – Seth Fisher couldn’t believe the good fortune that fell at his feet in the first half Thursday afternoon.
The Schalick sophomore just happened to be in the right place at the right time when a ball off a free kick landed at his feet an empty section of goal staring him right in the face. All he had to do was not mess it up.
Fisher couldn’t have finished it off any more solid and drilled the ball into the back of the net for the only goal in the Cougars’ 1-0 victory over Penns Grove. It was the center midfielder’s second goal of his career – he scored the second goal against Gateway Sept. 9 – and his first game-winner.
“It was like this natural instinct,” he said. “I just saw the ball pass on my right side, it bounced off the keeper and it was right there on my right foot right in front of the goal. I couldn’t believe it was there. It fell right to me.”
The Cougars (5-2) were carrying the play, spending most of the game in the attacking end, but Fisher’s goal with 15:22 left in the first half was the only ball they could get past Penns Grove keeper Dwayne Guzman. They had several chances, but couldn’t cash in, thwarted either by Guzman or the Red Devils’ defense, led by first-year starting stopper Erlin Mondragon and sweeper Jason Cisneros.
Their best chance for a second goal came with 21 minutes to play when Bradford Foster hit the crossbar and Cooper Willoughby headed the rebound into the chest of Guzman. But all you have to do is score one more than the other team to win and the Cougars, thanks to Fisher’s fast foot, got that one.
“Tuesday (a 1-0 loss to Glassboro) was a physical beating so I really wasn’t sure how much we had left and we had some guys have to come off the bench and give minutes,” Cougars coach Joe Mannella said. “They have to get comfortable playing in close games, there are going to be a lot of them, and this is a good step forward to do that.”
Both teams were coming off a spate of one-goal losses. The Cougars had lost two in a row. All four of the Red Devils’ losses (1-4) have been by one goal. It might be the kind of thing that could get a team down, but first-year Penns Grove coach Mano Massari remains positive.
“I have a very young team, a very green team,” Massari said. “We’re keeping up with these top-tier teams in our division and conference, so, yeah, it stings now, but the optimism in me is looking towards the future and thinking, man, we’re going to be a force to deal with for the next couple years.”
WOODSTOWN 5, OVERBROOK 2: Adrian Ibarra scored a hat trick for the Wolverines (5-1).
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 4, SALEM 0: Trey Battle and Zack Payne scored two goals apiece for the winning Rams. Both of Battle’s goals came in the first 17 minutes of the game.
GLASSBORO 3, PENNSVILLE 0: Emirhan Kir scored a goal in the first half and Christopher Martinez and Atakan Ozdemir found the back of the net in the second as the Bulldogs remained unbeaten (7-0). It was their third straight shutout.
Schalick’s Luke Price (3) controls the ball deep in Penns Grove’s end. Top photo: Cougars’ goal-scorer Seth Fisher (16) tries to move around Penns Grove’s Jayden Murga Santos.
PENNS GROVE – Whenever presented a chance to do something nice for one of his players, Will Kemp will never hesitate.
The Schalick girls soccer coach got the chance to give career keeper Carly Hayman the chance to fulfill a goalie’s dream. He brought the senior into the field with about 15 minutes left and she scored the final goal of the Cougars’ 7-0 win over Penns Grove.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just scored my first goal;’ it was awesome,” Hayman said. “I’ve wanted to score for the last four years I’ve been there, so it was definitely great to score.”
it wasn’t just one of those right place, right time kind of things. She took a pass from Mikayla Caputo, dribbled past a couple defenders and fired into the upper corner. When the ball finally settled into the back of the net she sat there stunned before realizing what just happened and then it touched off a wild celebration.
“(The girls) went ballistic,” Kemp said. “That was the most important goal of the entire game. Forget everything else. That’s the most important goal of the entire season pretty much right there.”
Hayman had scored goals in scrimmages before and she’s assisted on other goals, but Thursday was her first goal in a formal game setting. She came out of the goal with the Cougars leading 6-0, pulled freshman Kyleigh Cutter’s No. 3 jersey over her shoulders and headed out to the midfield. She was excited when Kemp gave her a chance to come off the line and made the most of it.
“I definitely give players opportunities inside matches like that just to get on the board, get some stats, make them feel great about themselves, because they deserve it,” Kemp said. “Like last year I moved one of my center backs up to playing a striker role, giving them some up-top time, and they ended up scoring a goal.
“Carly is a good field player; I know she wanted to score. Of course we were all happy (when she did). She always smiles, but seeing her smile as big as it was today, it means the world to her and, of course, to me, too.”
Before Hayman lit the lamp, Emily Miller scored a natural hat trick in the first half – giving her 13 goals for the season – and Abby Willoughby, Jael Winnberg and Quinn Berger scored goals.
Now that she’s gotten a taste for the goal, she hopes to score at least one more time this year, perhaps in her Senior Night game. Kemp already has shown he’s willing to give it a shot.
The Cougars (4-1) have been a scoring machine this season. They’ve scored at least three goals in every game, have outscored their opponents 26-8 and have won their last two by a combined 13-0.
WOODSTOWN 4, OVERBROOK 0: Emma Perry scored twice for the second game in a row and Ellie Wygand posted a shutout as the Wolverines won for the third time in their last four games to even their record for the first time this season. Ally Sheppard and Lia Covely scored Woodstown’s other goals. The future looks bright: All of their goals came from freshmen and sophomores.
GLASSBORO 2, PENNSVILLE 1: Amina Brown scored two goals in the first half and Glassboro held on through the second half. Molly Gratz scored for the Eagles.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 9, SALEM 0: Hailey Molis and Lauren Narolewski both scored a pair of goals for the Lady Rams. Narolewski made five saves before coming out of the goal.
FIELD HOCKEY Woodstown 9, Overbrook 0: The Wolverines erupted for five runs in the third quarter to pull away from a 3-0 halftime lead. Seven players scored goals in the game with Megan Donelson and Kayla Brown each getting a pair. The Wolverines (3-0) have outscored their three opponents this season 22-1.
Salem 4, Gloucester Catholic 0: Rhionna Timmons scored two goals in the first quarter and Morgan VanDover had the other two to help keep the Rams unbeaten (4-0). The Rams have outscored their opponents 25-1.
Schalick 5, Deptford Twp. 0: Phoebe Alward scored twice, Ava Scurry had a goal in two assists and the Cougars (3-1) posted their second straight shutout since suffering their first loss of the season. GIRLS TENNIS Woodstown 5, Glassboro 0: The Wolverines ran their record to 6-0 with a straight-set sweep. No. 2 doubles team of Alyssa Berry and Nathalie Neron won 6-0, 6-0.
Pennsville 5, Gloucester Catholic 0: The Eagles (5-1) swept their second straight opponent and fourth of the season.
Tuesday roundup: Woodstown soccer finds a way to close out opponent; Penns Grove, Schalick do not, suffer one-goal losses; also includes girls soccer and girls tennis
TUESDAY’S SALEM COUNTY SCORES BOYS SOCCER Clayton 3, Salem Tech 1 Glassboro 1, Schalick 0 Overbook 2, Penns Grove 1 Woodstown 3, Pennsville 2 GIRLS SOCCER Schalick 6, Glassboro 0 Woodstown 4, Pennsville 1 Penns Grove at Overbook GIRLS TENNIS Woodstown 5, Overbook 0
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – There was a lot of activity around the scorer’s table Tuesday afternoon when Woodstown scored twice in a little over 90 seconds late in the second half. Everyone was trying to figure out who got the goals. Was it Bryce Ayars?
“Yes, it was Bryce – on both,” one of the coaches said from the bench area. “He’s everywhere.”
Indeed. The slender sophomore with the orange headband started the game at center back, but when the Wolverines needed him most he inched his way into the offense and scored twice in rapid succession to turn a halftime deficit into a 3-2 victory over Pennsville at the Ronald Udy Soccer Complex.
“With every team I’ve ever played with if we’re down goals and my offense isn’t making things happen, I go up there and help them up out a little bit,” he said. “Mostly it pays off.
“Even though I’m not a captain I normally help my team out as much as I can. Say we’re down 2-0 and I know my offense isn’t sparking anything, I try to push them to keep going and potentially win the game.”
Ayars’ first two goals this season came in the Penns Grove game under similar conditions to Tuesday. He scored the tying goal in the second half and game-winner in overtime after the Wolverines fell behind 2-0.
His game-tying goal Tuesday came with 11:12 to play. He took a pass from the corner, got around one defender, avoided a second and then banged it home into the upper left corner.
No sooner had things settled back down, he found the back of the net again, this time as a striker with 9:24 left on a header off a free kick by Dante Holmes from 35 yards out. All three goals Ayars scored last year came off set pieces.
“We’ve done this before, so it wasn’t something brand new where he was thrown into a space he wasn’t familiar with,” Woodstown coach Darren Huck said. “He’s comfortable up there. He’s one of our better defenders, so it could be a little risky at times because what we lose on one end we might gain on another and vice versa.
“As coaches we have to make sure we stay within our frame and balance and sometimes we have players who because of their aggressiveness will go out of that space you really don’t want them to. It’s a gamble because sometimes it’ll work out and sometimes it can hurt you, but everything worked out in the second half for us today, which was nice.”
Pennsville, meanwhile, couldn’t have had a better start. The Eagles (1-4) went up 2-0 in the first 10 minutes on goals by Stone Mumink and Dylan Waller four minutes apart.
Mumink beat a defender to a 50-50 ball in the box and tucked a shot just inside the right post with just 5:13 gone in the game. Waller took a pass from Maddox Efelis and scored from the left side less than five minutes later.
“One of the things I’ve been preaching to this team all season is there are going to be a lot of tough games where you’re going to look at the score lines and you’re going to look at the two rosters (and) we’re probably not going to be favored,” Eagles coach Derek Foglein said, “but those are the games if we play like we want to win, we will win and we’ll give ourselves a chance.
“I think the guys really showed today that they played like they wanted to win and I think the first 15 minutes showed that. I think they showed that they wanted to win and it was just a matter can we be good enough defensively. A few bounces don’t go our way, but overall the start was really, really positive and that’s the thing I’m going to take away from this game as we move forward.”
After watching the Eagles get the better of his team in the first half, Huck got his players’ attention during the break. The Wolverines (4-1) picked up their attack in the second half and went on to win their fourth straight game and third by one goal.
“I had to wake them up a little bit,” Huck said. “I had to shake the bed and they responded.”
Pennsville’s Michael Veasy (19) clears away another Woodstown attack late in the first half Tuesday.
Glassboro 1, Schalick 0: The young Cougars were an early-season surprise, overcoming the loss of their senior striker 15 minutes into the season opener and winning their first four games by large margins and back-to-back shutouts, but now they’re facing a bit of adversity after two straight one-goal losses.
It’s just a matter of finishing, coach Joe Mannella says. The Cougars (4-2) had a goal disallowed in first half and it changed the momentum. After Glassboro (6-0) capitalized on a defensive mistake to score early in the second half, Schalick had several chances for the tying goal, but just couldn’t connect to light the lamp.
“It seems to be a team the last two games where we’re not able to finish,” Mannella said. “You let teams hang around and we’re not finding a way to win right now. It’s kind of tough, but I thought the boys played well.”
The Cougars started the year by outscoring their opponents 16-3, but in their last two games, even though the defense was stout, they’ve been held to one goal by Buena and Glassboro.
“We do have a very young team, so ups and downs are sort of expected,” Mannella said. “You build confidence, but it only takes a couple bad outings to kind of start to take that away from you. Goal scoring, like anything, when it dries up, sometimes it just dries up, and you just need that one lucky break here and there that we’re not getting to really get you kick started.”
Their first chance to snap out of it comes Thursday when they host Penns Grove, a team going through some of the same trials the Cougars are.
Overbook 2, Penns Grove 1: The Red Devils can feel the Cougars’ pain. All three of their losses this season are of the one-goal variety and the last two have come after they’ve had the lead.
Jayden Merga put the Red Devils (1-3) on top with a penalty kick. Overbrook (3-2), which won only four matches a year ago and didn’t get their third until the 12th game, tied it on what PG coach Mano Massari called “the best goal I’ve seen all season so far” and got the game-winner on a shot from outside the box that keeper and newly appointed captain Dwayne Guzman couldn’t see.
“Our guys just seemed to take their foot off the gas pedal after taking the lead,” Massari said. “We’re still trying to work a lot out and this is what happens with a young team.
“We’ll get there. We just have to stay calm. We’re not hitting the panic button … We just need to close.” GIRLS SOCCER Schalick 6, Glassboro 0: Emily Miller scored four goals, three in the second half, as the Cougars (3-1) bounced back from their first loss of the season. Freshman Karlie Bakley and Cali Fisler had Schalick’s other goals and Carly Hayman posted her second shutout. Miller leads Salem County girls with 10 goals in four games.
Woodstown 4, Pennsville 1: Emma Perry scored twice and Lia Covely and Sophie Wells had one goal apiece for the Wolverines (2-3). Marley Wood scored the Pennsville (0-4-1) goal.
GIRLS TENNIS Woodstown 5, Overbook 0: After winning their last three matches 3-2, the Wolverines cruised to their second sweep of the season to remain undefeated (5-0). They won all five matches in straight sets with both doubles teams never dropping a game.
Just when Woodstown senior running back appeared set for a courageous return from knee surgery, he faces injury to other knee
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Just when it looked like Woodstown running back James Hill was all set for a courageous return from off-season knee surgery, an injury to his other knee has surfaced to threaten his senior season.
The 3,000-yard career rusher was set to make his 2023 debut Friday night at Deptford, but he watched from the sidelines in street clothes as the coaches held him out for precautionary reasons after feeling something uncomfortable in his left knee jumping over a ball in a mid-week gym class.
The rumor making the rounds is a torn anterior cruciate ligament, but Wolverines’ coach John Adams urges caution and await the results of additional tests that could come as early as Monday.
“He jumped up in phys-ed and just felt like some grinding and it freaked him out because of what he just went through with his other knee,” Adams said. “We’re playing it cautious. We’re playing it very, very cautious. One doctor saw him and then referred him to go get evaluated again; let’s go get it double checked.
“There are some rumors flying around school. Guys, just pump the breaks. Let’s make the doctors make decision … but it’s up in the air right now is it good or bad news.”
Hill suffered a torn ligament in his right knee jumping in the wrestling room last winter, then spent the last six months aggressively rehabbing after surgery and beat the traditional timeline for such an injury by nearly three months. His teammates were amazed with the regimen he put himself through to be there for his team.
If a similar surgery is required for this latest injury, provided he’s up for a similarly aggressive rehab program, he would miss all of the football season and most of the wrestling season. The typical timeline for such an injury is six to nine months.
The impact any of that would have on his college recruitment is uncertain.
The running back was excited about the prospects of returning to the field earlier in the week, but Adams described him as “in the dumps a little bit” Thursday when he was held out of practice. By Friday night he was on the sideline excitedly supporting his team in a 49-7 victory, a game he likely would have been out by halftime given the nature of the game.
“I just feel bad; it’s a setback for him again,” Adams said. “We were really, really excited to get him back and now we don’t have him right now. You feel more for him as a player. He was itching to get back. Even last year it was always get back for the Glassboro game and then when we saw he could get back earlier it was (exciting), and then to have something come up again you feel bad. How many setbacks can a kid handle?”
While Hill’s presence is a big piece of the Wolverines’ offense, softening the blow of his now extended absence is the productivity of the backs who have kept them moving while they awaited his return.
Bryce Belinfanti has rushed for 413 yards and six touchdowns on 46 carries in the Wolverines’ first three games. He only had six carries Friday because they had gotten so far ahead so early. Back Alex Torres had a career-high 120 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries against Deptford.
“I even said that to the team,” Adams said. “It’s different when you won several games and then you lose a guy and then you have that will the players be able to understand they can win without that guy in there? For us to start the season off without him and win, not having him last night, it wasn’t a foreign thing for them. They already prepared coming into the season knowing they weren’t going to have him. It was like let’s go to work – and obviously we did last night.
“I’ve been through seasons where midway through or towards the end of the season you lose a guy and it mentally can take a whole toll on the team and take the wind out of your sails. But for us, we’ve had to step it up without James, we had no other choice. Our team had time mentally to prepare to be playing without him and I think they’ve done a good job since.”
Penns Grove wins final high school football game on Salem’s Walnut Street Field, beating the Rams with a former Salem starter at the helm
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
SALEM – Penns Grove football coach and Salem alum John Emel did not pick up a handful of dirt or stick a commemorative clump of turf in his pocket on the way out of Walnut Street Field Saturday. The good feeling of getting the team’s first win of the season would have to be a sufficient enough memento of the historic day.
PENNS GROVE 21 NEXT: Penns Grove at Haddon Heights, Saturday, 11 a.m.
Emel’s Red Devils took control of the game early and then closed out the Rams 21-6 in what likely will be the final high school football game played at Walnut Street Field, where Emel played his home games as a Salem starting lineman back in the day.
The Rams are scheduled to move into a new on-campus stadium next month, a project precipitated by the city condemning the decades-old wooden bleachers at The Nut. City officials were working to bring the field back for its youth teams, but ramped up their work for the high school after the Rams ran into a conflict with a Labor Day weekend neutral site game.
SALEM 6 NEXT: Salem vs. Cedar Creek, Rumble on the Raritan, SHI Stadium, Rutgers, Saturday, 3 p.m.
The facility held up well enough for the Rams to move their Penns Grove game back there with, ironically, Emel providing the opposition for the venue’s final high school game. Salem’s on-campus stadium is schedule to host its first game Oct. 7.
“I did not grab any dirt in the moment,” Emel said. “Like I said before, it’s not something I make a habit of. My AD (Anwar Golden, also a Salem alum) came up to me at halftime and said it’s kind of sad this is the last game here, right. I said yeah, but we want to go out with a win.”
The Rams wanted to lock the gates for the final time with the same reward.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t get it done for the city and our seniors’ last ride there,” first-year Salem coach Danny Mendoza lamented.
Penns Grove took advantage of Salem’s continuing shortcomings on special teams to build a 15-0 halftime lead.
The Red Devils (1-3) blocked two punts. Isaiah Upshur snuffed one on the first series and almost returned it for a touchdown. Bryce Wright caught the second one in midair and he did return it for the game’s first score and then ran in the conversion to make it 8-0.
Wright scored the second touchdown with less than 90 seconds left in the half on a short run that capped a long drive. Anthony Brown kicked the extra point. Freshman Karon Ceaser scored their final touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Wright finished with 118 yards rushing on 18 Carrie’s. Ceaser had 109 yards on 17 carries.
“Every time we’ve gone there, whether it was a big win or a heartbreaking loss, we always started fast and, really, that’s the key to beating those guys every time, because Salem is known to be a second-half team,” Emel said. “So, you have to really jump out on them and then hang on for dear life. That’s always how we played them.”
The Rams (0-4) made it interesting when Daveon Jackson scored on a short run with 10:01 to play. Jackson also recovered a fourth-down fumble on Penns Grove’s ensuing drive, but the Rams couldn’t take advantage of the turnover.
“Daveon Jackson is probably the heart and soul of our team and we should be inspired by his play,” Mendoza said. Expect to see more of Jackson next Saturday when the Rams play Cedar Creek in the Rumble on the Raritan at Rutgers’ SHI Stadium, he added.
“They’re athletic, they’re dangerous, so keeping those guys out of the red zone is a big key to defending them,” Emel said. “When you’re playing Salem, they’re notorious for big play.”
But the Rams couldn’t turn any on this historic day. They’ve scored only two touchdowns in their last three games. The biggest play they made Saturday was Ramaji Bundy’s run on third-and-9 from the 13 to keep the chains moving on their touchdown drive.
“We’re just so hot and cold,” Mendoza said. “We just haven’t put together four quarters of football. We have to understand it’s an 11-man game; sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.
“We’ve just got to keep chomping at the bit. We’ve got to understand it’s a four-quarter game. The fun part of the game is the battling, it’s the fight, and we’ve got to learn to keep fighting. I still think this team has the talent to win some games and beat some teams on our schedule, but we’ve got to do our talking with our pads and play for four quarters. That’ll be the make or break.”
Penns Grove 21, Salem 6
Penns Grove (1-3)
0
15
0
6 –
21
Salem (0-4)
0
0
0
6 –
6
Scoring plays PG – Bryce Wright 15 blocked punt return (Bryce Wright run) PG – Bryce Wright 5 run (Anthony Brown kick) S – Daveon Jackson 5 run (pass failed) PG – Karon Ceaser 25 run (kick failed)
Wolverines strike quickly, take control early, get starters out and turn it over to the rest; Hill held out for precautionary reasons
By Riverview Sports News
DEPTFORD – Woodstown went on the road, took control of the game early and got the chance to get a lot of players meaningful minutes.
The Wolverines scored four touchdowns on their first six plays and rolled over Deptford 49-7 for their third straight win.
“Complete execution like I have never seen us have,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “It was insane. I was like we just scored four touchdowns in six plays; we don’t even do that in practice.”
The Wolverines’ starters played most of the first half, with the second unit going in late in the second quarter and playing the entire second half.
That situation gave cousin quarterbacks Max Webb and Jack Holladay the chance to play significant minutes in the same game. Webb completed all six of his pass attempts for 140 yards and three touchdowns.
“Max Webb was just on fire,” Adams said. “Orlandini the one time was wide open, but all the other ones Max just like threaded the needle. They had good coverage on us, he just made the right decisions, stepped up in the pocket and then halfway through the second quarter the varsity was out.”
While the starters were in the game, lead back Bryce Belinfanti had six carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Backup Alex Torres followed him with 12 carries for a career-high 120 yards and two touchdowns. Zach Bevis caught two touchdown passes and the Wolverines’ defense collected four takeaways, including opening the game with an interception.
“It was awesome,” Adams said of getting so many players in the game. “We got to get our next quarterback in for a series with our varsity guys and then we started subbing in a lot of other seniors who we have who don’t start. And then our JVs were in there for a good portion of the second half and they played really well, too.”
It wasn’t all rosy, however. Wolverines’ star running back James Hill was on the sideline in street clothes and did not play. He was set to start Friday in his first game back from off-season surgery on his right knee, but the coaches held the 3,000-yard career rusher out for precautionary reasons after he felt something uncomfortable in his left knee jumping to avoid a ball in gym class earlier in the week.
Woodstown 49, Deptford 7
Woodstown (3-0)
28
14
0
7 –
49
Deptford (0-3)
0
0
0
7 –
7
Scoring plays W – Carter Orlandini 38 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick) W – Bryce Belinfanti 12 run (Jake Ware kick) W – Bryce Belinfanti 51 run (Jake Ware kick) W – Zach Bevis 46 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick) W – Zach Bevis 8 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick) W – Alex Torres 13 run (Jake Ware kick) W – Alex Torres 24 run (Jake Ware kick) D – 57-yard run (kick good)
Woodstown backup quarterback Jack Holladay hands off the ball to Bobby Donahue during Friday’s game at Deptford. Inset photo: The Wolverines celebrate another TD. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)
Cougars wear down Riverside, go to 4-0 and grab share of Horizon Division lead
By Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – Four games into the season two things have become quite clear about the Schalick football team: The Cougars are getting closer to the complete game coach Mike Wilson is seeking and their work in the weight room is giving them an edge that simply wears people down.
That’s what they did Friday night in a 42-18 victory over Riverside for their fourth victory of the season.
“Four games in that’s who we are,” Wilson said. “We just wear on them and kind of wore them down. We just had more bullets than they did.”
Reggie Allen rushed for 172 yards and scored three touchdowns for the second game in a row. Quarterback Kenai Simmons rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns and threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Jake Siedlecki.
Riverside got as close as 14-12 in the third quarter, then the Cougars outscored them 28-6 the rest of the game.
“Our identity is in the weight room and I think it shows in games like that,” Wilson said. “We just wear on them. We wore them out tonight.”
The Cougars have now nine division games in a row.
Schalick 42, Riverside 18
RIV (18)
SCH (42)
18
1st Downs
16
36-170
Rushing
30-291
9-22-1
Passes
4-8-0
118
Passing
145
0-0
Fumbles-lost
0-0
1-29.0
Punts-avg
0-0
9-85
Penalties-yds
4-36
Riverside (2-1)
0
6
6
6 –
18
Schalick (4-0)
14
0
7
21 –
42
Scoring plays S – Reggie Allen 49 run (Hunter Dragotta kick) S – Kenai Simmons 17 run (Hunter Dragotta kick) R – Justin Mary 4 run (PAT failed) R – Justin Mary 13 run (PAT failed) S – Reggie Allen 13 run (Hunter Dragotta kick) S – Reggie Allen 15 run (Hunter Dragotta kick) R – Justin Mary 19 run (PAT failed) S – Kenai Simmons 55 run (Hunter Dragotta kick) S – Jake Siedlecki 82 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick)
Pennsville scores three quick touchdowns in the second half to beat Gateway, 23-7
By Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – It’s amazing how the script can flip when a team cuts out its mistakes and starts building a little momentum.
Pennsville got off to a balky start Friday night, but wiped the cobwebs and scored three touchdowns in a 3 minutes, 30 second stretch over the third and fourth quarters to beat Gateway 23-7.
“We were moving the ball in the first half up and down the field, but we weren’t able to finish on drives,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “But we were able to refocus and get done what we needed to get done and come out with the win. It feels great to get and happy for the kids.”
The Eagles were beset with missed blocks, dropped passes and penalties in the first half and trailed 7-0 at halftime. They finally broke through on Robbie McDade’s 11-yard run with 1:30 left in the third quarter and took the lead on Sky Eppes’ two-point conversion run.
They got the ball back when Conner Ayers recovered a fumble on the first play after a touchback on the ensuing kickoff and Eppes extended the Eagles’ lead on a 10-yard run and conversion with seven seconds left in the quarter.
They made it 23-3 less than two minutes into the fourth when Eppes ran it in from the 4 and Jackson Leino kicked the extra point.
“In the second half we settled down,” Healy said. “The kids did a great job doing their jobs and doing what needed to be done. I think that’s what we’re capable of doing. It made me real happy to see the team in the second half come back out, correct the mistakes and do what we’re supposed to do.
“At halftime it was more about fixing the little things that were stopping us from being successful offensively and we managed to get that done. The score shows for itself that when we take care of our mistakes, we’re able to score points and defensively we’re able to stop people.”
Eppes rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. McDade rushed for 62 yards and was 8-of-22 passing for 109 yards. Malik Rehmer caught five passes for 87 yards. Ayers led the defense with seven total tackles.
The win snapped a six-game WJFL division losing streak for Pennsville. It’s the earliest the Eagles have earned their second victory of the season since starting 2-0 in 2020.
Pennsville 23, Gateway 7
Gateway (1-2)
7
0
0
0 –
7
Pennsville (2-1)
0
0
16
7 –
23
Scoring plays G – Aiden Bender 14 pass from Sean Simmons (PAT kick), 1:41 1Q P – Robbie McDade 11 run (Sky Eppes run), 1:30 3Q P – Sky Eppes 10 run (Sky Eppes run), 0:07 3Q P – Sky Eppes 4 run (Jackson Leino kick), 10:01 4Q
Part of John Emel’s family legacy is playing football on Salem’s Walnut Street Field; Saturday he brings his Penns Grove team to play there in the facility’s final high school game
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
SALEM – John Emel has never taken dirt from another team’s field either as a player or a coach, but this time he might make an exception.
The Penns Grove football coach is genuinely going to miss Walnut Street Field.
After serving as the home field for the Salem High School football team for decades, The Nut will host what likely will be the last high school football game Saturday when, ironically, Emel brings his Red Devils (0-3) to play the Rams (0-3) in what is always a big game for both teams regardless of their records.
“For starters, it’s a great place to play a game,” Emel said. “You know, people get hung up in the facilities and the weight room and the locker room and things like that and that place doesn’t have that, but it’s an awesome place to play and coach a big game. There have been a lot of big games there over the years.”
The field holds a lot of memories for him. Five generations of Emel men have played on it. His great-great grandfather, great grandfather, grandfather and dad all played there. John Emel was a starting lineman for the Rams when he played there from 1998 to 2001. His brothers played there, as well as several cousins and uncles. His uncle Dave, a two-way starting lineman on Salem’s 1983 championship team, is a member of the chain crew there now.
As other long-standing schools have moved their athletics program into more modern facilities on their campuses, facilities like Walnut Street have remained vigilant gatekeepers of bygone days. Sadly, many have fallen into disrepair.
The field has virtually been unchanged since 1962, but there was a time before that when it looked a lot different. It actually ran diagonally to its present configuration to accommodate a baseball field. The current design has the scoreboard, entrance gates and concession stand on the Walnut Street end of the stadium.
“There are just a lot of memories there,” Emel said. “I haven’t been there since the bleachers came down, but to me what made it so unique was the big old-style home bleachers.
“The field is always in awesome shape. The Salem field playing surface, to be honest, is as good as any around. I’ve played there over the years in wet, sometimes rainy, conditions, all types of conditions, and no one ever complained about the playing surface.”
Some of Emel’s fondest members as a player and a coach have been created on that field.
His two fondest memories as a player were his first-ever start against Glassboro and winning his final home game. The start came as a sophomore against one of the best Glassboro teams ever in a game that was forced to a Monday by the arrival of Hurricane Floyd; ironically, he would be blocking for his future Penns Grove athletics director Anwar Golden, then Salem’s senior starting running back and safety, in that game. Glassboro won 33-14, pulling away from a game that was tight for a while and going on to be 12-0, but Emel played one of his better games and it “helped further my love of football.”
His final home game was Senior Day against Pennsville. The Rams won and went on the road for the playoffs the next week. “I felt the year before against them I didn’t play that well and came back and played one of my better games,” he said. “That year I got to play with my brother on the field a little and other guys I was really close with. It was just special.”
Two of his fondest memories as a coach are the last two times he took a team to Salem. In 2016, an 0-2 Red Devils teams trekked down Rt. 49, held future NFL All-Pro Jonathan Taylor out of the end zone and beat the Rams 20-8. In 2018, they were the best two teams in Group I and the Red Devils prevailed again 26-20 and then beat their rivals in the rematch at Penns Grove for the South Jersey championship to cap an undefeated season.
In the interest of full disclosure, Emel admitted a couple of his toughest losses came on Walnut Street as well, including a playoff loss to the Rams his first year as Penns Grove’s coach.
“I want to end up a high note,” he said.
It looked like Walnut Street had seen its final days last season when the city condemned the old wooden bleachers. That decision led Salem school officials to start building an on-campus facility, but with that project on-going it also was going to force the football team with a new coach to play all of its games on the road until October.
The city continued to work to make the field ready for its youth team, but It picked up the pace when logistical issues at Abessinio Stadium in Wilmington forced Salem and Camden to pull its game out of the Mid-Atlantic Classic without a place to go. The city got Walnut Street put together well enough to host the game and it worked so well Salem moved the Penns Grove game back there as well.
The Rams are expected to open their on-campus facility Oct. 7.
Not even some off-the-field drama following the Camden-Salem game that forcing Saturday’s contest to be played without outside fans in attendance due can put a damper on the significance of the day.
“I don’t think I’m crying like (Eagles head coach) Nick Sirianni during the national anthem of the Super Bowl,” Emel said. “But football is an emotional game. You want to play with emotion and coach with emotion.
“I want to win every game, but I really want to win this one because not only is it the next one, but it’s Salem, it’s a rivalry and the fact that it’s the last game on Walnut Street it would make some of these other memories coaching that I mentioned that much sweeter. We want to close it out with a victory.”
Because the field means so much to him, perhaps when no one is looking Saturday, maybe as he walks through the gates for the final time, Emel will reach down and sneak a little souvenir to remember it by.
“I’ve never taken dirt from any other stadium,” he said. “Maybe this one should be the first.”
Riverview Sports News 