Schalick gets a Saturday afternoon win, but Salem gets something out of it, too — an emerging quarterback
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM — Mike Wilson still isn’t a big fan of Saturday morning/afternoon football games, but he’ll certainly take the result of his latest one.
Now that his team is playing at least for the next two years in the WJFL Diamond Division where some opponents don’t have lights, the Schalick coach will have to live with these weekend matinees. The Cougars answered the alarm Saturday and were sharp out of the gate on the way to a 37-14 win over Salem.
Early games haven’t been kind of Wilson’s teams in the past. He came into this game 1-4 as a head coach in Saturday Morning Specials (1-5 if you want to count the Cougars’ 9:30 a.m. Friday loss to Cedar Grove in this year’s Battle of the Beach).
As a staunch traditionalist, it’s just not Wilson’s way. But he could be persuaded if he keeps getting results like this.
“If you win, yeah, I love ‘em,” he said. “Just my coaching experience and playing experience, I have coached and played in very little Saturday games.
“We’ll play football whenever you want to play football. Just me, traditionally, I’m just used to playing Friday night. I coached that for 20 years and even when I was in high school we played Fridays.
“But we had a good week of practice and the kids locked in, so we came out and played like I thought we would play. Overall, it’s probably the best game we played all year.”
The Cougars (3-2) may have still been asleep when they played Cedar Grove in the BOTB at Egg Harbor Twp. in their last daytime start, but they were wide awake and ready for this one.
They scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and three of their first four. Five of their first six plays went for 10 yards or more. They had nine plays in the game that covered 15 yards or more. Quarterback Kenai Simmons, another non-fan of early games, made a statement to future opponents about his ability to pass by completing his first four throws in the first quarter for 98 yards.
“Three alarms helped me out,” Simmons said. “I might sleep through the first one, but I’m not going to sleep through three. I woke up wanting to make my grandpop (who he lost to COVID in 2020) proud today.”
“Any day I could play football is a good day,” running back Reggie Allen Jr. said. “I went to bed early last night. I woke up at 5 in the morning with so much energy it was like I took a 5-Hour Energy.”
Allen rushed for 127 yards and scored three total touchdowns. He caught a 59-yard touchdown pass from Simmons on the second play of the game and had scoring runs of 38 and 55 yards. Simmons also had a 12-yard touchdown run.
“That was the idea, we wanted to manufacture big plays today,” Wilson said. “That’s what the offense has been missing the first month of the season. We’ve been moving the ball, scoring points and stuff like that, but we wanted to manufacture big plays.”
Actually, both teams got something out of the game. The Cougars (3-2) found a way to win a division game in the daylight and despite the loss Salem found a way to get into the end zone, although at a cost.
The Rams (0-5) had been shutout in each of its last two games and scored only seven points all season, but freshman quarterback Quimere Bergen threw touchdown passes to Kaden Robinson on back-to-back possessions in the second half to lift that dark cloud.
Bergen was thrown into the action when junior starter Troy Carrey sustained a hand/wrist injury trying to recover a fumble that was eventually smothered by Schalick’s defensive MVP Riley Papiano on the Rams’ second series of the game. Papiano had 10 tackles and two sacks.
Bergen was 12-of-23 for 173 yards passing. He had played in some of the Rams’ earlier games, but had never thrown a varsity pass until Saturday.
“I just wanted to help my team score,” Bergen said. “We haven’t scored all season but I just wanted to do my part, help my team. I was nervous the first two drives, but then something started clicking; I was doing good. I wanted to catch up (on the scoreboard), but today wasn’t that day, but at least we scored.”
“He showed poise,” Salem coach Kemp Carr said. “Any time a young kid comes in and he plays with that type of poise when he’s under duress and he’s still able to make a couple plays – sometimes with his feet, sometimes with his arm – and move the chains and move the ball … it’s a win for him.”
For the better part of three quarters the Rams looked in danger of being shut out for a third straight game, something that hasn’t happened in the program in more than 20 years. Their only touchdown of the year was a first-quarter 62-yard Pop Jackson dash that opened the scoring in their 14-7 loss to Cinnaminson in Game Two.
They did threaten at the end of the first half, but ran out of time after two failed shots at the end zone from the 19 in the final 10 seconds. They didn’t miss in the second half. Bergen hit Kaden Robinson on a 7-yard touchdown pass with 41.6 seconds left in the third quarter to end the 13-quarter scoreless drought and lift all their spirits.
“That was a great feeling,” Robinson said. “It was like a relief. It was like, ‘finally,’”
“Everyone felt it,” senior edge rusher Tyler Taylor said.
Bergen connected with Robinson for an 8-yard score on the next drive. They also hooked up for a 57-yard play on the first snap of the next possession, but that drive ended when Bergen was sacked by Aiden Torres and friends on fourth down.
Robinson caught six passes for 100 yards.
“I feel like me and Q we’ve got a good connection,” Robinson said. I feel like him coming in as a freshman and me being an upperclassman I feel like it’s my job to get his confidence built up. He’ll probably be the starting quarterback for the rest of his years in high school, I feel like I have to build his confidence up.”
Carr said he’d wait until Monday before making any determination on position going forward.
Schalick, meanwhile, has one more Saturday morning game this regular season and won’t have to step out of their comfort zone to prepare for it. It’s a cross-division matchup next week at Paulsboro in a game that carries major South Jersey Group I playoff seeding implications. The two teams went into the week ranked 7 (Schalick) and 8 (Paulsboro) in the section’s power points standings and both won Saturday.
“It’s nice we’re playing it back to back,” Wilson said. “We can stay on the same schedule. We get a routine. As coaches, we’re creatures of habit and culture and structure, so to be able to stay on the schedule for the week is nice.”
Cover photo: Schalick linebacker Riley Papiano (16) points the way to another Cougars victory. (Photo by Heather Papiano)
Schalick 37, Salem 14
| SCH (37) | SAL (14) | |
| 16 | 1st Downs | 12 |
| 39-250 | Rushing | 24-12 |
| 6-7-0 | Passes | 13-25-1 |
| 98 | Passing | 190 |
| 0-0 | Fum-Lost | 2-1 |
| 1-22.0 | Punts | 3-33.0 |
| 11-129 | Penalties | 13-80 |
| Schalick (3-2) | 14 | 9 | 7 | 7- | 37 |
| Salem (0-5) | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8- | 14 |
SCORING SUMMARY
SC-Reggie Allen 59 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 11:11 1Q
SC-Kenai Simmons 12 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 7:11 1Q
SC-Reggie Allen 38 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 9:05 2Q
SC-Safety, Nick Lopergolo blocks punt out of end zone, 7:14 2Q
SC-Roneem Thomas 31 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 6:37 3Q
SA-Kaden Robinson 7 pass from Quimere Bergen (pass failed), 41.6 3Q
SA-Kaden Robinson 8 pass from Quimere Bergen (Pop Jackson pass from Quimere Bergen), 7:36 4Q
SC-Reggie Allen 55 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 7:25 4Q
| WJFL DIAMOND DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| Glassboro (4) | 3-0 | 4-0 |
| Woodstown (1) | 3-0 | 4-0 |
| Schalick (7) | 2-1 | 3-2 |
| Woodbury (13) | 1-2 | 1-3 |
| Salem (21) | 0-3 | 0-5 |
| Penns Grove (19) | 0-3 | 1-4 |
NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Sept. 21
SATURDAY’S GAME
Schalick 37, Salem 14
NEXT WEEK’S GAMES
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Deptford at Glassboro
Penns Grove at Pennsville
Pleasantville at Woodstown
Woodbury at Gateway
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Schalick at Paulsboro, 10:30 a.m.
Middle Twp. at Salem. noon
| WJFL PATRIOT DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| Camden Catholic | 3-0 | 4-0 |
| West Deptford | 3-1 | 3-2 |
| Paulsboro (6) | 3-1 | 4-1 |
| Pennsville (10) | 2-2 | 2-3 |
| Collingswood | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Audubon (14) | 0-3 | 1-3 |
| Overbrook | 0-3 | 2-3 |
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Haddon Twp. 20, Collingswood 14
Paulsboro 38, Overbrook 26
West Deptford 42, Audubon 3
NEXT WEEK’S GAMES
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Haddon Heights at Camden Catholic
Penns Grove at Pennsville
Sterling at Collingswood
West Deptford at Haddonfield
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Schalick at Paulsboro, 10:30 a.m.
Clayton at Overbrook, 11 a.m.
Riverview Sports News 