Wolverines going back to sectional final after methodically putting down Penns Grove, awaits opponent
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s game
Woodstown 34, Penns Grove 14
Saturday’s game
Burlington City at Woodbury
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Max Webb and his Woodstown teammates have been wanting to get back to the sectional final for two years.
They did their part to make it happen Friday night. Now they wait to see who they’re playing and finish the job.
The Wolverines punched their ticket to the South Jersey Group I final Friday night by beating Penns Grove 34-14 for the second time in three weeks.
They won’t know who they’re playing until Saturday afternoon, but more than a few are not-so-secretly hoping it’s Woodbury, the team that broke their hearts the last time they played in the sectional final in 2021. Woodbury and Burlington City play Saturday morning and many of Woodstown’s players are expected to be there.
The Wolverines hoped to get back there last year for a rematch, but they were knocked out in this game by Paulsboro.
“The biggest game of my lifetime right here,” Webb said. “Next week and here, as a matter of fact. Only one other time being in this position, maybe against the team we’re about to play next week, depending on what happens. We have a chance at revenge on the team that beat us two years ago. I can’t be more excited for me, for this team, for this town. It’s awesome.”
“After our lost against Paulsboro last year we were pretty down, but this year it feels really, really good,” two-way lineman Bump Carter said.
It’ll be their fourth trip to the sectional finals since the playoff format begin in 1984 and third under coach John Adams. They are looking for their first win (Delsea, Haddonfield, Woodbury).
“I told the kids right before the game you go through life to make mistakes and learn from them,” Adams said. “We came out here last year in the rematch against Paulsboro and we made mistakes; I said we have to learn from that. I thought the kids did a pretty good job learning from that and capitalizing on getting the W today.”
But it wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t sharp against the Red Devils, a team they beat in the final week of the regular season to win the WJFL Diamond Division title outright.
This one kind of followed the same script. It was a run-dominated first half with limited possessions. The Wolverines (8-2) put together methodical drives behind its offensive line and those same linemen kept the Red Devils (5-6) from getting anything going. As a result, the Wolverines had a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Quarterback Webb mixed the run and pass well. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Bryce Belinfanti rushed for two scores, including a 61-yard burst in the fourth quarter to seal the win on a play the Wolverines had only put in prior to the last Penns Grove game.
Belinfanti finished with 145 yards. Webb rushed for 63 yards and completed 6 of 8 passes for 119 yards. He had 56 yards rushing in the first half, mostly bursting up the middle as the Wolverines exploited the Red Devils’ tendencies.
“They were real sharp on offense,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said. “Even though we didn’t give up a ton of huge plays, they were just really efficient. Our strategy was to try to take away Belinfanti and even though he had the big run the quarterback game was there and they took advantage of it.”
The Wolverines had three possessions in the first quarter and a half. They scored on the first one – on Webb’s first TD pass – and their next two were basically one 19-play touchdown drive that was split by the first of Garrett Leyman’s two first-half interceptions on the only play Penns Grove ran in the quarter to that point.
The Red Devils wanted to start fast and be within one score at halftime, but to that point in the game they had run only eight plays and trailed by two touchdowns.
While the Wolverines took their time getting to the end zone in the first half, they struck quickly in the second half. Webb hit Anthony Ford Dale on a 55-yard pass play on their first snap of the third quarter and Belinfanti broke off his 61-yarder on the first play after they regained possession.
“As soon as we got in the second half we wanted the hard play-action out of the gate and see if we could get the deep one on them, which we did,” Adams said. “And then we saw them adjust to no high safety and we were like if we can break Bryce through there he could be gone. Bryce hit that seam and he was gone.”
Penns Grove’s offense came to life in the second half, putting together two long touchdown drives that while impressive weren’t exactly conducive to driving a comeback.
Bryce Wright got the Red Devils on the board at the end of a 12-play, 68-yard drive that alternated runs between him and Karon Ceaser. And Ceaser scored their second touchdown at the end of a 10-play, 82-yard drive that featured the same two players.
Wright rushed for 116 yards on 24 carries and finished with 1,082 for the season. He’s the Red Devils’ first 1,000-yard rusher since 2020. Ceaser, a freshman, finished with 58 yards on 14 carries to surpass 900.
“I thought we played better in the second half; we kind of figured some things out,” Emel said. “We’re not a passing team and we threw two picks in the first half and they threw two touchdowns … and that was really the difference in the game.
“To win in the second round in the playoffs and to win a championship you’ve got to be a complete team and those guys were a complete team tonight.”
Woodstown 34, Penns Grove 14
| PG | WOOD | |
| 12 | 1st Downs | 15 |
| 41-170 | Rushing | 29-200 |
| 2-5-2 | Passes | 6-8-0 |
| 3 | Passing | 119 |
| 1-0 | Fum-Lost | 0-0 |
| 4-18.7 | Punts-avg | 0-0 |
| 3-30 | Penalties | 3-30 |
| Penns Grove (5-6) | 0 | 0 | 8 | 6 – | 14 |
| Woodstown (8-2) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 14 – | 34 |
Scoring plays
W – Bobby Donahue 27 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick), 8:38 1Q
W – Bryce Belinfanti 2 run (Jake Ware kick), 4:34 2Q
W – Anthony Ford Dale 45 pass from Max Webb (kick failed), 9:23 3Q
P – Bryce Wright 5 run (KaRon Ceaser pass from Bryce Wright), 2:11 3Q
W – Max Webb 1 run (Jake Ware kick), 8:06 4Q
W – Bryce Belinfanti 61 run (Jake Ware kick), 5:56 4Q
P – KaRon Ceaser 17 run (pass failed), 1:34 4Q
Riverview Sports News 