Higher stakes

Woodstown, Penns Grove meet in rematch of the Diamond Division championship game two weeks ago, but it’s a whole new ball game

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Sectional semifinals
Friday’s game
Penns Grove at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s game
Burlington City at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The stakes were high the last time Penns Grove and Woodstown played. They’re even higher now.

All that was on the line when the teams played 12 days ago was the Diamond Division title, which is really a big deal if you know the strength of the division. But Friday night, they’ll be playing to keep their seasons alive and a spot in the South Jersey Group I championship game.

Both teams understand what’s at stake so there’s no sense dancing around it.

“Our kids know it’s a bigger game and that’s helping them approach it that way,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “Everybody knows if you win you’re going to the South Jersey finals for Group I. A lot rides on the game. It’s not only being a division opponent, it’s a county rival. You stack it all up, the environment’s going to be fun at Woodstown Friday night.”

They say it’s tough to beat a team twice, but since 2003 when it comes to regular season rematches in the playoffs, among Salem County rivals at least, the winner of the regular-season game is 8-3. The home team in those games are 8-3 also.

That being said, the Wolverines know how difficult playoff rematches can be. Last year, they beat Paulsboro early in the regular season 18-0, then two months later had their hearts broken in the sectional semifinals 15-6.

“Our kids remember that and understand you can beat somebody in the season and the playoffs are a whole different animal and I think they’re preparing that way,” Adams said. “They’re basically preparing as if we’ve never played them before. It’s going to be a dogfight and that’s what we’re preparing for.”

The biggest battle is these type games is the psychological gymnastics that take place, especially when it’s only been a short time since they last met. You might have won the first game after a week preparing for a bunch of unknowns, but now the opponent is known, does complacency set in over the confidence of a past victory or do you fret over what that highly incentivized losing team changes from the first game.

And if you were on the losing side, do you make a bunch of changes or remain confident in the things you did in the first game and just work on fixing the mistakes that were made.

It was a battle the first time they played with the difference being three rapid-fire completions from Max Webb that produced a touchdown at the end of the half and gave the Wolverines a 14-0 halftime lead the Red Devils couldn’t overcome.

It’s doubtful the Wolverines will run their two-minute offense the whole game just because it worked in that situation two weeks ago, but it’s safe to say the Red Devils will have worked to be sharper against it this time around.

Penns Grove coach John Emel doesn’t think either team has changed “a whole lot” from that first game, but Adams expects both will throw in “a wrinkle or two” that wasn’t there the last time. That’s just the nature of the game.

“It’s way more psychological than physical with a rematch,” Adams said. “I think the team that lost the first go-round has an added incentive to win that next game. It’s like all right, you got us, we want to even the score.

“We tell our kids one of those touchdowns came because we caught them off-guard and caught them misaligned, but they’re going to be aligned this time, you’re not going to be able to catch them off-guard. That’s where it gets tough.”

The key for the Red Devils, Emel said, is starting fast and finishing like they have since their second half comeback on Paulsboro that launched their current 4-1 run. They’ve given up only two field goals in the last 14 quarters of those four wins.

“We’re a second-half team and we’re probably a second-half-of-the-season team,” said Emel, whose team started the year 0-3 and 1-4. “We’re playing our best football, not just in one week but over the last month plus, and during that stretch the defense has done really good and we’ve been able to close games out in the second half.

“When you’re playing a team as good as Woodstown who has the ability to score a lot of points in spurts we’ve got to get into halftime with the game close. We played pretty well in the second half the last time we played them, but what they did in the first half was too much to overcome.

“If we play well we have a good chance to win and that’s all you want as a coach. You don’t need to dp anything extraordinary and hope for a miracle. We just have to go out and play a good Penns Grove type game and we’ll have an opportunity at the end.”

Both teams should be at full strength. The Wolverines welcomed Corbin Walz back to practice Wednesday. The Wolverines’ starting defensive end and offensive lineman dislocated his elbow against Deptford in Game 3, but Adams said he “looked really good,” but wasn’t immediately certain how he’d be used in a game where it’s all hands on deck.

There is a chance for a lot more rematches going forward as three of the four teams in the South semifinals are Diamond Division rivals and Penns Grove played the fourth, Burlington City in its season opener.

“Only one of us is going to make it through in the next 10 days,” Emel said. “My message to our guys is ‘Why not us?’ We’re here, whatever’s happened up to this point has no bearing this weekend.

“It’s two teams that played recently but you get a fresh start. That’s the way our guys look at it. Because when you walked off that field we were kind of disappointed with the way it ended and we didn’t have to wait too long, so here we go again. It’s a new game and you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to play one play at a time.”