The final push

All 5 Salem County football teams playing to nail down playoff spots; Woodstown, Penns Grove playing for division title, Schalick chasing an undefeated season, No. 1 seed

SALEM COUNTY FOOTBALL
Friday’s games
Gloucester Catholic at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Pennsville at Pitman, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Salem at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Woodstown at Penns Grove, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

All any team wants is to have a chance to play for something at the end of the season. All five Salem County football teams will be playing for something this week.

Above all, they’ll all be playing for their playoffs lives or at the very least to better their positions in the Group I South/Central Jersey bracket.

Penns Grove and Woodstown will be playing Saturday morning for the Diamond Division title. A Woodstown win would give the Wolverines the title outright. A Penns Grove win could give the Red Devils a share and Woodbury beats Salem (also on Saturday), it would be a three-way tie.

But like Penns Grove coach John Emel said, “I don’t think anybody goes around saying we were co-champs. We’ll let the naysayers worry about the technicalities.”

A potential No. 2 overall seed (and No. 1 in Central Jersey) could also be awaiting the Woodstown-Penns Grove winner.

Salem will be looking to enhance its playoff position. According to the latest South Jersey Group I UPR ratings, the Rams are in, it’s just a matter of where they’ll place.

Pennsville is looking to nail down its place in the bracket as well. The Eagles are No. 16 this week and a win at Pitman would solidify its spot.

Schalick has a lot on the line. When the Cougars play Gloucester Catholic at Homecoming, they will be looking to complete their first undefeated regular season since 2006, secure the most wins in a season since 2004 (12-0), close out the Horizon Division title undefeated for the second year in a row and nail down the No. 1 seed for complete home-field advantage in the South Jersey playoffs.

“If we win Friday night I don’t see us dropping,” Cougars coach Mike Wilson said.

Schalick was last a No. 1 playoff seed in 2006. In the wacky world of mathematics that now controls the playoff criteria, there’s speculation the Cougars could get jumped if a couple things happen over the weekend. A big consideration is if Shore Regional upsets undefeated Group III Holmdel.

“I think it’s wide open, really,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “When they started using this method I told our coaches you can’t even predict who you’re going to play anymore, so go out and try to take care of what you can control and hopefully go out a win and hope it falls right when they do the seedings.”

WOODSTOWN (5-2) at PENNS GROVE (4-4): Even when his team was 1-4 and trailing by 19 at halftime in its sixth game, Penns Grove coach John Emel believed his team had what it took to be a viable playoff team in Group I. They were skilled enough in most areas, all they had to do was tighten up a couple things.

The Red Devils have come around, justifying their coaches belief, and in the final game of the season have a chance to do what many didn’t think possible a month ago – win the WJFL Diamond Division and secure a prominent position in the South Jersey Group I playoffs.

The Red Devils have won three in a row to get to .500 for the first time since the second game of last season. They’ve gotten healthy and all their players available, cut down on their turnovers and have held the opposition out of the end zone the last 10 consecutive quarters. If they win Saturday, they’ll claim a share of the Diamond Division title.

“The big one for us was having Woodstown beat Woodbury and now we have an opportunity to, depending on what happens, earn a share of the division,” Emel said. “It’s just exciting to be playing well at the right time of year and to be able to play for a lot of things. This is a one-game season with an opportunity to win a division championship. For us, this is our Super Bowl. 

“Any way you split it, we control our own destiny. I’m excited for our guys to be in this position. When we were 0-3, 1-4 and down at the half (against Paulsboro) and things could’ve gone the other way, we didn’t allow it to. We’re excited to play a big game. You want to be in contention; we’re in contention on the last game of the regular season … I just want our guys to be up for the task.”

Bryce Wright, the Red Devils’ leading rusher (783 yards) and tackler (48), is excited about the way the season has turned and what could be waiting for his team after Saturday’s game. It also excites him the game could turn into a Battle of the Bryces. Woodstown’s leading rusher in Bryce Belanfanti.

“They’ve got a running back named Bryce; he’s got my name, so I’m coming. I’m really excited,” he said. “I never lost faith in my team. After the first game (a turnover-laden 33-22 loss to Burlington City), that was just a battery for me being a leader on my team. I just came in on Monday and told the guys you don’t want this to happen every game, it’s not the team we’re going to be and I think they turned it around themselves.”

The Wolverines, meanwhile, have beaten the Red Devils each of the last two years. A victory Saturday, regardless of the Salem-Woodbury outcome, would give them a sweep of the Diamond Division and their first outright division title since 2013.

“Our division is like the SEC of Group I, so to be able to play a meaningful game for the division, to win it outright this late in the season, is awesome,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “We always talk to the kids about wanting to play meaningful games late in the season and we see ourselves right in front of one.

“I just love the fact we are to this game because kids specifically look past the game and look to playoffs, so having this meaningful game is something that could really help us out.”

GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC (2-4) at SCHALICK (8-0): This is a true Homecoming game for the Cougars. Because of the schedule and two forfeits the last two weeks, they haven’t played on home turf since Sept. 15.

The Rams provided coach Mike Wilson his first victory as Schalick’s head coach in 2020 and now they could provide him with one of his most important victories, one that would bring his program full circle.

“You look at the growth of the program, my first year we were 0-7, so we can finish three seasons later at 9-0 I think it shows the testament to the kids’ hard work over the last couple years,” Wilson said. “It just shows the growth of the program and what we’ve been able to accomplish in a short amount of time.”

But it won’t be without challenges. The Cougars lead the series 8-3 and have won the last two meetings, but last year even while rushing for 345 yards they needed to recover an onside kick in the final minute to hold off a furious fourth-quarter rally.

With all the distractions that come with the week, Wilson is trying to keep things “as normal as possible.”

“We discussed those as a team this week, but as I told the kids the most important thing is you’ve got to treat every game the same; you just have to play football,” he said. “We’re all going to be amped up, we’re all going to be excited, we’re all going to be a little stressed out this week because so much is on the line, but the sooner you get settled into a normal game the better.”

PENNSVILLE (4-3) at PITMAN (2-4): For the Eagles, the playoffs start this week. They currently occupy the 16th and final qualifying spot in the UPR, but figure they need a win to solidify their spot.

“We’ve treated this week just like a playoff week,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “In our mind it’s win to get in for us and that’s really the only way to approach it. With where we are in the stack and knowing the teams around us, we can’t feel safe with anything. Also part of it is let’s try and move up a couple spots if we can.”

The Eagles would be “shocked” if they won Friday and were on the outside looking in when the final numbers are crunched Saturday. They would have their winningest team since 2016 with losses coming to current SJ-1 Schalick, rapidly rising Penns Grove and once-beaten Royal Division champion Lower Cape May. They hold a four-point UPR edge over current No. 17 Dunellen, which beat No. 19 NJ-I Brearley Thursday night. 

But they aren’t overlooking Pitman and they’re pulling out all the stops to make sure the math works. The Panthers may have won only two games, but the Eagles are approaching them with the respect of a team that came within a failed two-point conversion of beating projected No. 1 seed Schalick rather than the one with a losing record.

“We basically told them no one is leaving the field at all for any reason, you’re going to be out there for every play of every thing,” Healy said. “We need everyone to play every snap this week. If we don’t win this week, for us, there is really no next week because we’re not in the playoffs and that’s everyone’s goal so we have to do everything possible to get in that position.”

SALEM (2-6) at WOODBURY (3-3): There is some belief that with two wins and playing in the tough Diamond Division Salem already has a spot in the playoffs, but Rams coach Danny Mendoza is taking nothing for granted.

The Rams have their qualifying two wins, one win in the division and have played a demanding schedule even outside the division. They entered the week 15th in the South Jersey Group I UPR, nearly 5.5 points ahead of the first spot out, but until it all shakes out Saturday there’s no time to relax.

“For me, until it’s said and done you really don’t know,” Mendoza said. “Being in the bottom quarter you’re never comfortable. It’s a must win for us, for sure. This game is the biggest game of the year for us, not just because it’s the next game, but it’s an opportunity for us to show that we can still play with the big boys.”

The Thundering Herd hasn’t won a game since Sept. 16 and they haven’t been at full strength. Quarterback Dante Viccharelli hasn’t played during their three-game losing streak and running back Anthony Reagan Jr. turned an ankle in the second half of their Woodstown game two weeks ago. The Herd was open last week and Mendoza won’t know if they’re playing until Saturday morning.

“We’re going to find out like everybody else, I guess,” Mendoza said.

Meanwhile, the Rams have played their best football the last month and could be a dangerous opponent for an upper seed if they get in. The resurgence has coincided with the emergence of Pop Jackson. The junior has rushed for 868 yards in the last four games and went over 1,000 for the season last week in the win over West Deptford.

“We’re getting better day by day,” Mendoza said. “We’ve found an identity and once you have an identity you can build off of that.”