Glassboro takes ‘couple steps forward’ in getting its offense right, Pennsville scores its first win of the season, Salem staying positive
SALEM COUNTY SCORES
Glassboro 24, Penns Grove 0
Pennsville 39, Overbrook 22
Woodbury 25, Salem 0
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – This week was all about cleaning up the offense for the Glassboro football team.
It got a little closer to where the Bulldogs would like it Saturday, but when you’ve got the Sabb brothers in the mix and play defense the way they do, what they had was good enough to get by a team like Penns Grove, itself a team trying to find an offensive identity.
Xavier Sabb grabbed a touchdown pass, Amari Sabb had a touchdown run and Brandon Simmons fell on a blocked punt in the end zone — all in the first half — to give the Bulldogs control of an eventual 24-0 victory over the Red Devils and their former coach Mark Maccarone.
“We took some steps today,” Bulldogs coach Timmy Breaker said. “We were hitting on all cylinders. It just comes down to execution. I tell them all the time we’ve got to execute at a high level and make the plays that are supposed to be made.
“There were a couple plays that were left on the field that obviously could have blown this game wide open, but it’s something you can fix. But we did turn a corner today. We did take a couple steps forward.”
The thought at the start of the year was the Bulldogs were going to have their way with Haddon Heights in their season opener and they did jump out to a 22-0 lead, but they didn’t score any more after that early surge. They still won the game, but had only 237 yards of offense in the game, 63 on the ground.
They got off to a fast start against the Red Devils, too, finding the end zone on two of their first three possessions, but they managed just 265 yards for the game. Unlike the week before, they did have 199 yards on the ground.
Penns Grove, meanwhile, managed only 87 yards on offense, and most of it came on a 13-play drive in the fourth quarter that reached into the red zone before being thrown back by two losses.
“We were outphysicalled, which is about as plain as I can put it on the offensive side of the ball,” Maccarone said.
Breaker could sense his offense turning the corner on the opening drive when Xavier Sabb hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jack O’Connell. The Bulldogs added another touchdown later in the quarter when Amari Sabb ran in from the 5.
Amari Sabb rushed for 74 yards on seven carries. Davon Barr had 67 yards on six carries. And freshman Hakim Theresa had 78 yards on 10 carries. Xavier Sabb had three catches for 21 yards.
Quarterback Melo Erickson was Penns Grove’s leading rusher with 22 yards. He also completed seven passes, including one to himself on a batted ball, for 50 yards.
The turning point of the game came on the final play of the first half when DayShaun Day snuffed a punt and Brandon Simmons fell on the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown with no time left on the clock. It was the worst possible outcome for the various options the Red Devils had for the situation.
“DayShaun blocked it, it just bounced off the ground and went right into my hands,” Simmons said. “It was like early Christmas.”
It was the third year in a row the 270-pound junior defensive tackle has scored a defensive touchdown and the second time he did it against the Red Devils at Jim Devonshire Field. He had a 30-yard scoop-and-score in the fourth quarter of the 2022 game here as a freshman and a 10-yard fumble return last year against Deptford.
“I’m trying to get at least one every year,” he said.
With his team pinned against its end zone and only six seconds left in the half, Maccarone said he contemplated just taking the safety and letting the clock run out, then decided to punt figuring to go into the break down only 12-0.
Day broke through up the middle to block the kick. He was looking for the ball after the play but couldn’t find it. That’s because Simmons had already fallen on it.
Breaker said the players called the block and he was OK with granting it as long as they could explain to him what they were doing and why they wanted to do it.
“The kids called me and we talked about it yesterday,” he said. “I said if they’re backed up we’ll go for it. DayShaun Day was the one who was like, ‘Coach, I think it’s that time.’”
It stayed an 18-0 game until the final 20 seconds when Jack O’Connell hit Mekhi Parker with a 37-yard touchdown pass against a makeshift Penns Grove secondary that had three of its starters injured on the sideline.
Glassboro 24, Penns Grove 0
| GLASS (24) | PG (0) | |
| 17 | 1st Downs | 4 |
| 29-199 | Rush-yards | 18-37 |
| 8-24-1 | Passing (C-A-I) | 7-15-1 |
| 66 | Passing yds | 50 |
| 1-1 | Fum-lost | 1-1 |
| 1-22.0 | Punts-avg | 5-24.0 |
| 14-125 | Pen-yds | 15-133 |
| Glassboro (2-0) | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6- | 24 |
| Penns Grove (1-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 0 |
SCORING SUMMARY
G-Xavier Sabb 20 pass from Jack O’Connell (run failed), 8:56 1Q
G-Amari Sabb 5 run (kick failed), 2:24 1Q
G-Brandon Simmons recovered block punt in end zone (PAT failed), 0:00 2Q
G-Mekhi Parker 37 pass from Jack O’Connell (pass failed), 0:17 4Q
Laurels to Hardy
PINE HILL – After coming close in each of its first two games, Pennsville broke through for its first win of the season, pulling away in the fourth quarter to turn back Overbrook 39-22.
“After that unfortunate loss last week it was really good to come back and show what we can do,” junior running back Rylan Hardy said. “I knew it was going to happen. I knew what we were capable of.”
And he was a big part of it. Hardy scored three touchdowns for the second week in a row and had two huge runs in the fourth quarter after the Rams pulled within 27-22 with 6:35 to play.
His 78-yard run set up Jovanni Rios’ 2-yard touchdown run to give Pennsville a 33-22 lead. He broke off a 28-yard touchdown run with 2:58 to play for the final score of the game. His first score tied the game in the first quarter.
“Rylan is very instinctive with just finding space to run to,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “He just finds the area to go to. His vision and his ability to find the open area is incredible.”
“I’ve been waiting to show what I can do out there,” Hardy said, adding he’s just been following his blockers. “I think it’s showing that I am capable of doing some great stuff out there.”
Malik Rehmer scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to give the Eagles a 20-14 halftime lead. His second was an 89-yard pass play from Robbie McDade.
The Eagles came into the season with high expectations, returning a veteran team and moving into a more competitive division to help enhance their playoff posture. But they lost their first games – a 14-0 dud at Gloucester and their home opener against West Deptford after leading 20-7 in the third quarter.
“Obviously last week was a heartbreaker; we played well for the most part and thought we played well enough for a win, but that’s football,” Healy said. “Coming back this week and not having a letdown after that and being able to come out and get done what we know we can do, I’m very proud of the kids.
“As a coach anytime you start off 0-1 you have a slight worry, but on the other side you also know what your team is capable of and you know we are better than our record might show. I thought we had our best week of practice this week and it showed in the game. We knew we were good enough to win some games, we just have to keep working, keep getting better every week.”
Pennsville 39, Overbrook 22
| Pennsville (1-2) | 6 | 14 | 7 | 12- | 39 |
| Overbrook (1-2) | 6 | 8 | 0 | 8- | 22 |
SCORING SUMMARY
O-Teriq Moore run (run failed)
P-Rylan Hardy run (kick failed)
P-Malik Rehmer run (Luke Wood kick)
P-Malik Rehmer 89 pass from Robbie McDade (Luke Wood kick)
O-Axcel Bailey 6 pass from Teriq Moore (Teriq Moore kick)
P-Rylan Hardy run (Luke Wood kick), 6:53 3Q
O-Axcel Bailey 80 run (Teriq Moore run), 6:35 4Q
P-Jovanni Rios 2 run (kick failed), 6:03 4Q
P-Rylan Hardy 28 run (kick failed), 2:58 4Q
Salem still searching
WOODBURY – Kemp Carr finds himself in some uncharted territory, but he isn’t discouraged. If anything, it’s made him more determined.
Carr has never been 0-3 as a head coach before, but that’s where he is with his new Salem team after the Rams fell at Woodbury 25-0. In fact, in all his years as a head coach, he’s only had losing streaks of three or more games four times.
Though the score looked one-sided, the Rams gave their hosts a battle. They moved the ball all day between the 30s, but just couldn’t get it in the end zone. Pop Jackson rushed for 133 yards.
The teams played to a scoreless first quarter and it was 7-0 at halftime and 13-0 after three quarters. Marquis Taylor scored the Herd’s first two touchdowns, on a 22-yard run late in the second quarter after a short Salem punt and a pick-six.
“The guys are playing hard, they can see they’re playing hard,” Carr said. “We have all the pieces to be successful. I think they’ve got to believe.”
Woodbury 25, Salem 0
| Salem (0-3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 0 |
| Woodbury (1-1) | 0 | 7 | 6 | 12- | 25 |
SCORING SUMMARY
Wo-Marquis Taylor 22 run (kick good), 2:22 2Q
Wo-Marquis Taylor interception return (PAT failed), 4:43 3Q
Wo-Elijah Young 42 pass (PAT failed), 6:55 4Q
Wo-TD run (PAT failed)
| WJFL DIAMOND DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| Woodstown | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Glassboro | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Woodbury | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| Penns Grove | 0-1 | 1-2 |
| Salem | 0-1 | 0-3 |
| Schalick | 0-1 | 1-2 |
FRIDAY GAMES
Woodstown 26, Schalick 0
SATURDAY GAMES
Woodbury 25, Salem 0
Glassboro 24, Penns Grove 0
NEXT WEEK’S GAMES
THURSDAY
Salem at Glassboro, 6 p.m.
FRIDAY
Penns Grove at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Woodbury at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
| WJFL PATRIOT DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| West Deptford | 2-0 | 2-1 |
| Camden Catholic | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Paulsboro | 1-1 | 2-1 |
| Collingswood | 1-1 | 2-1 |
| Pennsville | 1-1 | 1-2 |
| Audubon | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Overbrook | 0-2 | 1-2 |
FRIDAY GAMES
Audubon 8, Bordentown 7
West Deptford 46, Collingswood 6
SATURDAY GAMES
Camden Catholic 29, Paulsboro 28
Pennsville 39, Overbrook 22
NEXT WEEK’S GAMES
THURSDAY
Paulsboro at Collingswood, 6 p.m.
FRIDAY
Overbrook at Florence, 6 p.m.
Audubon at Pennsville, 7 p.m.
West Deptford at Camden Catholic, 7 p.m.
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