In a couple riverview rivalries this week, Pennsville-Penns Grove and Schalick-Cumberland both have historic trophies for the winners to claim
THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Friday’s games
Schalick at Cumberland, 6 p.m.
Pennsville at Penns Grove, 6:30 p.m.
Woodstown at Haddonfield, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s game
West Deptford at Salem, noon
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
Mike Healy has never beaten Penns Grove in his tenure as Pennsville’s head football coach. In some circles that lack of success in a storied rivalry might get a coach a change of address. Strangely, even if he pulls it off this week he knows he’s going to get the Boot.
The same holds for Penns Grove coach John Emel. Even if his team wins the game under the temporary lights at home Friday night, he’ll get the Boot as well.
Relax. Nobody’s getting fired. The two schools, 8 miles apart, are just playing for The Boot – the trophy that has gone to the winner of this riverview rivalry for years. It’s such a prized possession, winning coaches have used it as the centerpiece next the turkey on their Thanksgiving table back when the game was played on that day.
“It’s a huge deal,” Healy said. “Our towns border each other. The kids all know each other, do social media and all that stuff, and play against each other. For me, you want to win the rival game, it’s big as a coach, but for the players it means more, the bragging rights and just the ability to pump your chest a little bit and have that for the year.
“It’s a feeling we haven’t had in a while, so it’s something that means a lot to the town. It was a Thanksgiving Day game. Thanksgiving Day games mean a lot in New Jersey. We don’t have them anymore, but still that rivalry is there.”
The trophy awaiting the winner is named in honor of Norm “Wildman” Willey, the three-time Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro defensive lineman of the ’50s who taught PE and drivers ed at Pennsville for 30 years. He still holds the NFL record for sacks in a game – 17 against the New York Giants – at a time before sacks were an officially recognized league stat. He passed away in 2011.
The reason it’s called The Boot is because one of Willey’s football cleats is part of the trophy.
“Nowadays it’s pretty cool for the kids to play for a trophy,” Emel said. “It’s a pretty cool trophy. Adds something to the game.
“To be honest, we don’t spend much time talking about it outside of the one week a year we play Pennsville, but … it’s something we’re excited to currently have and we’re going to play this week with the goal to keep it. I’ve been in this program long enough where we’ve watched the other side walk off with it (and) it’s not a fun feeling.”
Pennsville is trying to get The Boot back. The Eagles haven’t won it since 2016 and the games have been quite one-sided, too. Penns Grove leads the series 36-27-4 and is 10-4 since 2010.
Both teams are on a roll and have their sights on a playoff berth. Both have won three of their last four and are looking to win their third straight.
The Eagles (4-2) haven’t won three in a row since 2016. Their four wins already are the most in a season since 2017 (4-6) and getting the Boot would guarantee them their first winning regular season since 2016.
The Red Devils (3-4) have steadily eliminated their turnovers in recent weeks and are working on a string of six straight shutout quarters. They haven’t won three in row since 2020. They’ve already matched their win total from last year and keeping the Boot gives them a chance to guarantee a winning regular season when they play for the Diamond Division title against Woodstown next week.
“It’s hard not to be a little more excited for this game than other games,” Healy said. “There’s always the competitive side, but any time it’s a rival, especially when you haven’t been successful against them and just feeling we have a good shot this year, it’s hard not to be a little more juiced up for it.
“That being said we still have to make sure we’re doing what we’re doing. We can’t just rely on adrenaline out there. I felt like today we were more focused at practice. You really don’t have to do anything to get your kids excited when it comes to this week.”
This one’s personal
SCHALICK (7-0) at CUMBERLAND (3-4): Mike Wilson has played and coached in a lot of rivalry games in his day, but the one his undefeated Schalick Cougars play this week is about as intense as they come.
They don’t call this one “The Neighborhood Game” for nothing. The schools are 6 miles apart. The players know each other, they’ve played with and against each other for years. The coaches and administrators overlap. Current Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar’s last game as Cumberland’s head football coach was in this game in 2002, so he has seen it from both sides.
The Gloucester City game might be the Cougars’ longest-standing football rivalry, but this one is personal.
“It definitely has that kind of taste to it,” Wilson said. “I’ve been on staffs where the people in town only care about one game; this game has that same type of level. Whether both teams are 7-0, 0-7 or whatever it doesn’t matter.
“This one checks all the boxes. It used to be Schalick and Cumberland’s Super Bowl when Thanksgiving kind of ended your season. I still think it’s a mid-year Super Bowl. It’s a big deal. These kids are going to come out ready to play and you’re going to see the best effort on both sides.”
There is a trophy, the Hars-Lake Memorial Trophy, established last year and named in the memories of longtime Cumberland coach Tom Lake, who oversaw the most successful stretch in Colts history, and former Schalick history teacher Mike Hars, who served as an assistant coach at both schools. Each team names an MVP when it’s over.
For the record, Schalick holds a 14-8 lead in the series, which began in 1977 with the first varsity football games in both schools’ history and then broke until 2002 when the Colts joined the Tri-County Conference. Cumberland won last year’s game in Pittsgrove 21-16 in front of about 1,200 people, snapping Schalick’s six-game winning streak under the weight of more turnovers in one game than the Cougars had to that point all season.
Nobody has won back-to-back since the Cougars won in 2018 and 2019. The Colts’ last won back-to-back games in 2007 and 2008.
The Cougars should be especially amped to play. They’ll be back on the field for the first time since Sept. 22 after getting two forfeit victories that earned the top spot in the South Jersey Group I UPR ratings and a second straight Horizon Division crown. They stand to pick up a lot of ratings points if they can knock off a Group III team with three wins.
“Looking at the big picture our ultimate goal is to secure home field advantage in the playoffs,” Wilson said. “That adds an extra layer in this game for us.”
Cover photo: The Hars-Lake Memorial Trophy (right) and the Norm Willey Boot, the trophies awarded the winner in the Schalick-Cumberland and Pennsville-Penns Grove games.
CURRENT SJ-I UPR
(Updated Oct. 8)
(Top 16 qualify for playoffs)
1. Schalick (7-0) 2.6
2. Woodstown (5-1) 4.2
3. Glassboro (3-3) 4.4
4. South Hunterdon (6-1) 5.2
5. Florence (5-0) 5.8
6. Shore (4-2) 6.0
7. Middlesex (5-1) 8.4
8. Woodbury (3-3) 8.4
9. Audubon (3-2) 9.0
10. Penns Grove (3-4) 9.4
11. Keyport (6-1) 10.6
12. Riverside (5-1) 11.0
13. Burlington City (5-2) 12.8
14. Clayton (3-3) 12.8
15. Pennsville (4-2) 13.6
16. Dunellen (4-2) 16.6
17. Salem (1-6) 17.0
18. Manville (2-5) 19.0
19. Maple Shade (2-5) 20.8
20. Asbury Park (0-5) 21.4
Riverview Sports News 