Red Devils win Norm ‘Wildman’ Willey Trophy for record seventh straight year after dominating Pennsville
SALEM COUNTY SCORES
Friday’s games
Penns Grove 32, Pennsville 3
Schalick 35, Cumberland 8
Haddonfield 48, Woodstown 16
Saturday’s games
West Deptford at Salem, noon
ROYAL DIVISION SCORES
Friday’s games
Lower Cape May 60, Buena 0
Penns Grove 32, Pennsville 3
Pitman 20, Gateway 6
Schalick 35, Cumberland 8
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE — Former Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro Norm Willey hung his hat as a teacher in the Pennsville school district for more than 30 years, but one of his shoes has been missing since 2017.
For the last seven years now his Boot has been sitting in the trophy case at Penns Grove.
Knowledge Young scored touchdowns the first two times he touched the ball, Bryce Wright scored three the rest of the game and the defense held the opposition out of the end zone for the second straight game as the Red Devils beat back rival Pennsville 32-3 Friday night.
There was a lot at stake. Both teams were riding three-game winning streaks and looking to score some major points towards the playoffs, which Penns Grove all but locked up with the win and Pennsville probably needs a win next week. They also were playing for the Pennsville Lions Club Award, better known as the Norm ‘Wildman’ Willey Trophy atop which one of the former Eagles great’s bronze cleats rests.
The Red Devils, now 4-4 after an 0-3 start, have won it each of the last seven years, their longest streak in the series. Their captains carried the Boot onto the field with them for the coin toss and they carried it back to the trophy case when the game was over.
“The Boot means a lot to me,” Wright said. “Because every time I came to a Pennsville High School game I saw them holding the Boot. I always wanted to do that since I was yay-high. So when I came out here and I went for three touchdowns I wanted that to be on the Boot.”
“I told them yesterday for the older guys they never lost to Pennsville, so that’s special,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said. “They were looking at The Boot today. I tried to hide it from them throughout the year, but it was out today and about and we probably spent a lot of time with it. This is a big win for us.”
The first time Young touched the ball he electrified the Homecoming crowd by returning the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. It set the tone for the rest of the game.
It was the first he’d ever returned a kickoff for a touchdown in a varsity game, although he’d come close to breaking one several times this season.
“The guys were talking to me before the game,” Young said. “They’ve been trying to get me in the end zone. They missed a couple blocks before. They said they got me on this one and they did. As a ballcarrier it’s my job to read the lanes and they gave amazing blocks, so they got me there.”
“The momentum swing there is huge,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said.
“When you play Pennsville you know you’re in for a high-scoring game,” Emel said. “They won the toss and they gave the ball to our offense and we’re a defensive team, so if you don’t score there and they’re able to get the ball in good field position and start fast like they have in their winning streak, it’s a whole different game.”
The next time Young touched the ball he went 61 yards for a touchdown. It was the only play the Red Devils ran in the first quarter.
“It felt like I’ve been trying to get there for a minute now,” Young said. “It’s been a long time since I got in there. It just feels good.”
“I liked seeing No. 7 get in there,” Wright said. “He’s been my best friend since we were little. We dreamed of this, man, coming out here doing our thing together.”
Pennsville tried to counter the explosiveness, moving the ball into the red zone all three times it had it in the first half – twice inside the 10 – but had only Jackson Leino’s 25-yard field goal that made it 8-3 to show for it. The other two drives ended with a missed field goal and failed fourth down conversion. Quarterback Robbie McDade moved them along with 119 yards passing.
“We let up too many big plays on defense and then offensively we just didn’t finish,” Healy said. “They’re on the upswing right now, they’re playing real good football right now and we did not play our best at all today.”
The Penns Grove defense held the Eagles to 34 yards rushing in the game and 46 yards total in the second half. The Red Devils have held their opponents out of the end zone for 10 straight quarters and have allowed only four offensive touchdowns in the five games since their blowout loss to Woodbury.
“It’s definitely gotten better from Week Zero because Burlington City put 33 on us, so it feels good to know the hard work is paying off,” freshman defensive back Karon Caeser said of the defense.
“The mood and battery in our guys’ back have changed,” Wright said. “We lost 42-6 to Woodbury and we didn’t like that. We came back on Monday and it was time to work and ever since then we’ve been the team we knew we could be.”
Wright scored on runs of 8 and 26 yards in the first half and 9 yards in the fourth quarter. He finished with 106 yards rushing in the game. Caeser, who ran the offense at quarterback, had 119 yards rushing, including bursts of 40 and 23 yards. Young had 91 yards rushing and, of course, the long kickoff return.
Penns Grove 32, Pennsville 3
| PVILLE | PGROVE | |
| 9 | 1st Downs | 15 |
| 25-34 | Rushing | 41-299 |
| 12-19-1 | Passes | 2-2-0 |
| 159 | Passing | 28 |
| 0-0 | Fum-lost | 1-0 |
| 1-45.0 | Punts-avg | 0-0 |
| 4-20 | Penalties | 5-30 |
| Pennsville (4-3) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 – | 3 |
| Penns Grove (4-4) | 14 | 12 | 0 | 6 – | 32 |
Scoring plays:
PG – Knowledge Young 93 kickoff return (Bryce Wright 1), 11:45 1Q
PV – Jackson Leino 25 FG, 4:33 1Q
PG – Knowledge Young 61 run (PAT fail), 4:12 1Q
PG – Bryce Wright 8 run (kick failed), 6:52 2Q
PG – Bryce Wright 26 run (pass failed), 0:28, 2Q
PG – Bryce Wright 9 run (run failed), 3:44 4Q
Riverview Sports News 