Bringing the energy

Salem, Pennsville, Schalick run through first scrimmages with lots to like, things to work on; Penns Grove, Woodstown scrimmage Tuesday

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – Kemp Carr was not happy. Senior receiver Terrence Smith had just caught a zipper over the middle from Troy Carey for Salem’s first touchdown of the season’s first scrimmage. Everyone in blue and white should have been over the moon, but the Rams just stood around the goal line like they were waiting for another shoe to drop.

Touchdowns aren’t easy to come by – sometimes, they don’t come at all – and should be celebrated as such. But on this occasion there wasn’t even a high-five. Not even a yell. Maybe it was because it was only a scrimmage. Still, Carr wanted to let his players know such a muted response wasn’t going to be acceptable on his watch.

At first glance one might have thought the new head coach was chastising his players for something they did technically wrong even though they scored. Far from it. They did everything right and he wanted fireworks. Instead, he got the last shot of a wet Roman candle.

“We just worked as a unit to get our energy to be motivated – their brother just did something good, we crossed the barrier that gets you points on the board,” Carr said after Monday’s 90-snap exercise with Pennsville. “The scoreboard’s going ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It’s magical. That’s the time you have fun. It’s a time for you to release that 30 seconds (of joy); run and get him.

“Where’s the excitement at where you’re excited for that player. Why are you not happy for him? You just blocked for him. Things just worked on what we’ve been working on.

“You only play the game four percent of the time; you practice 96 percent. So when we get an opportunity to do well in that four percent, it better be a party. Don’t talk to the other players, have fun with your guy. That’s fun. They know to do it, they do it in practice. They missed an opportunity of the moment. Don’t miss again.”

Carr puts the omission in the same category of walking past a teammate who had gotten knocked down on your way back to the huddle and not helping him to his feet.

“When something happens, we’re supposed to do certain things and they didn’t do the certain thing,” Carr continued. “When you have 11 being excited at the same time, it’s like dynamite going off. That’s what we want. We want dynamite. We want firecrackers. We want fireworks. We want boom, boom, boom.

“When the Phillies hit a home run, don’t fireworks go off? When the Eagles score at the Linc, don’t fireworks go off? Well, that’s our fireworks. We don’t have cannons and trickery, we’ve got each other.”

That’s just the kind of energy he’s bringing to program he once played in now as the head coach.

The starters got the message and didn’t miss the chance to celebrate when it came around again. When Pop Jackson scored in a down-and-distance drill about an hour later, the other 10 Rams on the field piled on their offensive leader in the end zone and the reserves standing behind the play sprinted downfield with their arms raised to join them.

“He’s just trying to build character, trying to build a unit with us, trying to bring us all together as a brotherhood,” Carey said. “We knew exactly what it was (Carr was doing). We’ve been talking about it all week whenever we capitalize on a big opportunity like that we want to go celebrate and have a party.”

“The energy is going to be there, I promise,” senior running back Jared Pew agreed.

Going into any new situation creates an amount of uncertainty. The coach isn’t certain about the players. The players aren’t certain about the coach.

Carr is the Rams’ third head coach in as many seasons, but he’s got something going for him that gives him an edge in the transition. He’s one of them. He played for the Rams. He understands the community and its expectations. He coached many of the parents of his current players and several of the Salem men who preceded him to their sideline.

Carr was approved to succeed Danny Mendoza in March and resumes the tradition of former Salem men at the helm of the football program. Each of the four coaches prior to Mendoza were former Rams who returned to coach their alma mater. Carr got his playing and coaching starts in the Salem youth leagues before going on to become head coach at Penns Grove and Winslow and returned to the coaching ranks this year after a six-year break in private business.

“It feels good to have a Salem guy, someone who’s around here, knows the town, coached most of our parents, things like that,” Carey said. “It feels good having a coach who knows how things are around here, understands what some people go through. It kind of gives you a better bond with your coach, helps build that relationship.”

“It is different football down here in Salem,” Pew said. “He’s been through the Salem records before, so he knows what to bring, he knows what we bring him and the community as well. There wasn’t anything wrong with (former coach Danny) Mendoza; he came in here and did well. But having like a Salem coach, knowing what the community is like, what the players are like, knowing how we are in general, it’s definitely not a bad thing.”

The scrimmage served its purpose. Both coaches saw a lot to like and things that needed to be addressed. Pennsville coach Mike Healy agreed it might have been the best first scrimmage of his tenure with the Eagles.

Both teams have game-situation scrimmages set for later in the week.

“Came out and played physical, which is what I really wanted to see,” Healy said. “There were some loud hits there, which is fun.

“First scrimmage there were some jitters there, but I thought we did a good job. Offensively and defensively we did a lot of good stuff, made a lot of big plays, but it being the first scrimmage there’s a lot of mistakes that are things that are coachable to fix. Overall, very happy with where we are.”

Stats were inconsequential, but there were big plays on both sides.

Pennsville running back Rylan Hardy had a big day. The junior rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns on four carries and caught three passes for 45 yards and a touchdown. “His vision is incredible (the way) he sees holes and gaps,” Healy said.

Eagles quarterback Robbie McDade completed 5 of 11 passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Salem’s Jackson, a 1,200-yard rusher a year ago, ran for 71 yards and a TD on 10 carries, including a power run in which he broke through two waves of tackles and then carried three more to complete a 30-yard gain. Carey was 3-of-10 for 43 yards and a touchdown, but fell victim of several drops.

As for his assessment of the scrimmage, Carr said: “We’ve got some things to clean up, we got caught out of assignment couple times, but that’s what scrimmages are for. You can tell athletically we’re where we need to be, but that team (Pennsville) has been playing together for two years and you could see that versus us. As the year goes on we’re going to get better.”

Schalick: Good work done

PITTSGROVE – Schalick got 30 minutes with Lower Cape May, West Deptford and Mainland in its first scrimmage of camp. The Cougars saved the defending Group 4 state champs for last and it was all they expected it to be.

“It was intense, very intense,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “We made them work, they made us work. It was a slugfest back and forth. We stood up there and that’s the best we’ve ever played against Mainland.”

Wilson was particularly interested in seeing how the Cougars’ younger players fared. He said veterans Reggie Allen and Levi Feeney-Childers “played well,” Ethan McLean and speedy David Stewart “played well,” and sophomore backup quarterback Ayden Jenkins “moved the ball on everybody.”

The matchup with Mainland was the matchup of the day. The Mustangs swept their way to the Group 4 state title last year. Schalick returns virtually its whole team that won its first 11 games before losing in the Central Jersey Group I championship game – and held their own.

“It tells me that our kids are willing to line up and play against anybody,” Wilson said. “That we can match the physicality of a big school. All our kids could care less that they were Mainland. Our kids came out, they were flying around, they were excited. Mainland made plays, we made plays. It was a good 30 minutes.”