Penns Grove, Salem drop season openers in their head coaches’ return to the sidelines; PG’s Maccarone on being back: ‘Like riding a bicycle’
SATURDAY’S WJFL SCORES
Diamond Division
Paulsboro 12, Penns Grove 7
Willingboro 35, Salem 0
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PAULSBORO – The Penns Grove offense had the Red Devils right where they wanted to be. They were in a position to win their new coach Mark Maccarone’s first game with little time left on the clock.
All they had to do was make a play. But it was a high-pressure play. Fourth down and 5 yards to move the chains, 16 yards to pull off a thrilling win. A head coach couldn’t have asked for anything better in his first game back in charge in seven years..
The Red Devils got the look they wanted, but apparently Paulsboro wanted it more. The Red Raiders chased down Penns Grove quarterback Melo Erickson and sacked him with 13 seconds left to kill the threat and secure a 12-7 victory.
“Playmakers have to make plays; we didn’t make plays,” Maccarone said. “Playmakers have to make plays. Theirs made plays and we didn’t. Plain and simple. Cut and dry.”
The defense had kept the Red Devils in the game and gave the offense the chance to win it at the end. Twice during the game it turned back the Red Raiders on fourth down inside the 10.
It all came down the final drive. The Red Devils took over at the 40 with 6:52 to play and with KaRon Ceaser back in the backfield, where he was a 1,000-yard rusher a year ago, got it into the red zone with less than a minute to play.
A short pass from Erickson to Anthony Brown got them to the 16. Erickson’s third-down pass over the middle to Knowledge Young was a tad too hard leaving the Red Devils with their fourth-and-5 for the game.
The play was supposed to be a misdirection screen and Devine Arce was wide open, but it never connected. Erickson rolled to his left and was chased down by Red Raiders’ junior Jason Yandach and sacked for a 12-yard loss. All the Red Raiders had to do was take a knee and they had their first win in a season opener since 2021.
“I feel like I could’ve gotten a little bit more help on the outside, but then again I’m the quarterback so I have to step up and make that throw,” Erickson said. “We were really forcing the ball down the field, we just had to complete the passes. If we complete the passes then we’ll be in there. We’ve just got to get back in the Lab, get back at it.”
There really was no science to it on the defensive end.
“I just saw he had the ball and tackled him,” Yandach said. “That last drive was tough. We had to push it. Our D-line did good.”
Maccarone was in his first game as a head coach since stepping down at Glassboro in 2017. He was the Red Devils’ defensive coordinator the next two years and helped them in a less formal capacity post-COVID. He was approved as their head coach in March, just their third head coach in the last 25 years.
“Like riding a bicycle,” he said of the return. “Just trying to get the kids to adapt to how it is on game day; it’s a little bit different than what they’re used to.”
Maccarone’s return got off to a balky start. The Red Devils’ first two possessions ended in lost fumbles. The second came at the 1 after their defense had just stopped quarterback Malakhai McKenzie short of the goal line on fourth down on Paulsboro’s first drive of the season.
McKenzie didn’t miss the second time around, pushing his way into the end zone on the first play. But the Red Raiders didn’t get the extra point.
Penns Grove answered on the ensuing drive and took a 7-6 lead on Erickson’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Young and Anthony Brown’s PAT. Erickson completed 8-of-13 passes for 90 yards.
The TD pass to Young was the first of his career. He didn’t throw one in 54 passing attempts his first two seasons.
“I feel like I’m taking a lot more accountability and stepping up to be a leader,” he said. “I feel like I’m taking control of the offense more and moving the ball, as you can see.”
Paulsboro retook the lead on the next drive. KyAire Harvey took a toss and threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Carr, who went over Penns Grove’s Kylee Goodson to make the grab. The Red Raiders missed the extra point again, giving the Red Devils the opening to win it at the end.
“It’s a game of who makes the least amount of mistakes wins,” Maccarone said. “We made more mistakes than they did.
“To have the ball going in to score to win the game at the end, that’s the position you want to be in. They gave us what we were looking for defensively on that last drive, we didn’t execute. That’s about as cut and dry as it can be. We didn’t execute.”
Paulsboro 12, Penns Grove 7
| PG (7) | PB (12) | |
| 11 | 1st Downs | 8 |
| 33-101 | Rushes-yards | 23-65 |
| 8-13-0 | Passes (C-A-I) | 8-15-0 |
| 90 | Passing yards | 130 |
| 2-2 | Fumbles-lost | 0-0 |
| 2-28.5 | Punts-avg | 2-35.0 |
| 7-53 | Penalties-yards | 6-45 |
| Penns Grove (0-1) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0- | 7 |
| Paulsboro (1-0) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0- | 12 |
SCORING SUMMARY
PB-Malakhai McKenzie 1 run (pass failed), 6:06 1Q
PG-Knowledge Young 7 pass from Melo Erickson (Anthony Brown kick), 7:09 2Q
PB-Jeremiah Carr 21 pass from KyAire Harvey (pass failed), 5:25 2Q
Willingboro 35, Salem 0
| Willingboro (1-0) | 7 | 7 | 14 | 7- | 35 |
| Salem (0-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 0 |
TOUCHDOWNS: James Pemberton 
2, Jamier Harper (W), Mekhi Cottle (W, 0:48 3Q), Sean Taylor (W, 2:41 4Q).
| WJFL STANDINGS | ||
| DIAMOND | DIV | ALL |
| Glassboro | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Penns Grove | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| Salem | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| Schalick | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| Woodbury | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Woodstown | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| PATRIOT | DIV | ALL |
| Audubon | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Camden Cath. | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Collingswood | 0-0 | 1-0 |
| Overbrook | 0-0 | 1-0 |
| Paulsboro | 0-0 | 1-0 |
| Pennsville | 0-0 | 0-1 |
| West Deptford | 0-0 | 0-1 |
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