Senior transfer receiver Mills grabs game-winning touchdown pass with less than 30 seconds left to lift the Cougars past Gloucester
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
GLOUCESTER — Schalick coach Mike Wilson opened up the playbook a little Friday night and found Zaeshawn Mills inside.
Mills, a senior transfer from Cumberland in only his second year playing high school football, made three big catches for the Cougars, two for touchdowns, including the game-winner with 26 seconds left to beat Gloucester, 28-21.
“The bottom line, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple weeks, for the offense to take it to the next level we’ve got to be able to throw the ball,” Wilson said. “It just makes us much more difficult to defend. Zaeshawn had a great game.”
Mills scored the first touchdown of the game on a 30-yard pass from Kenai Simmons and the final touchdown of the game on a 9-yarder from Simmons. He also made a leaping 37-yard catch to get the Cougars in the red zone on the winning drive.
“I’d say that’s my biggest catch,” Mills said of his game-winner. “I knew the ball was coming to me because my quarterback looked me in the eye and he was like, be ready, make it count. He told me to make it count. I came off the line, got in position, the ball was right in my hands.”
Simmons was 8-for-12 for 133 yards passing. Mills caught three balls for 78 yards.
Mills played lot of football in his youth, but he took time off after the COVID pandemic. He returned to the game last year as a junior at Cumberland — he even caught one of his eight passes in the game against Schalick — and then transferred to the Cougars for his senior year.
As a senior transfer he was required to sit the first three games of the season, but he’s assimilated well into the team’s culture.
“He’s a good addition to our locker room,” Wilson said.
Mills caught eight passes for 127 yards last year for Cumberland. He had caught only one pass for the Cougars prior to Friday night’s breakout.
“I want to thank my coaches for putting me in that position and my quarterback for trusting me,” Mills said. “That felt good.”
The game was a back-and-forth affair with each team answering the other’s touchdown. The lead changed hands four times before the Lions tied it at 21 with less than three minutes to play.
The Cougars started the winning drive from their own 37 with 2:50 to play with two time outs. They ran three straight running plays to get near midfield, then Simmons threw his big ball to a leaping Mills with a minute left. Reggie Allen picked up 6 on the next play to get it inside the 10 and then Simmons found Mills over the middle for the game-winner.
“We knew that at the very least we could get a field goal to win the game,” Wilson said. “We started moving the ball, we get the big chunk play to Mills and then we’re like, all right, we’ll take a shot in the end zone and if we don’t get it we’ll kick the field goal. We’ve got a kid with a great foot (Hunter Dragotta). Then we threw the slant to Mills and won the game that way.
“The real neat thing with this team is every week we have enough depth, enough kids, where this week it’s Mills, next week it could be somebody else. We’re more than just one person, which is really nice to coach and could be really nice down the stretch. Who knows who it’s going to be next week. I think it’s going to be one of those years, which I’m OK with.”
The Cougars (5-2), the No. 2 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings, have won four in a row.
Cover photo: A screen grab from DW Broadcasting’s live stream shows Schalick receiver Zaeshawn Mills’ making the game-winning catch against Gloucester.
Schalick 28, Gloucester 21
| SCHAL (28) | GLOU (21) | |
| 16 | 1st Downs | 11 |
| 36-147 | Rushing | 31-24 |
| 7-13-1 | C-A-I | 6-9-0 |
| 130 | Passing | 161 |
| 0-0 | Fum-lost | 2-2 |
| 4-38 | Penalties | 4-39 |
| Schalick (5-2) | 6 | 7 | 0 | 15- | 28 |
| Gloucester (2-4) | 7 | 0 | 7 | 7- | 21 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-Zaeshawn Mills 30 pass from Kenai Simmons (kick failed)
G-Mason Widman 6 run (Ashton Wall kick)
S-Kenai Simmons 5 run (Hunter Dragotta kick)
G-Kevin Boulden 1 run (Ashton Wall kick)
S-Kenai Simmons 7 run (Nyzier Wonder pass from Levi Feeney-Childers)
G-Trevin Buchardt 2 run (Ashton Wall kick)
S-Zaeshawn Mills 9 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick)
| WJFL DIAMOND DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| Woodstown (1) | 3-0 | 5-0 |
| Glassboro (5) | 3-0 | 6-0 |
| Schalick (2) | 2-1 | 5-2 |
| Woodbury (14) | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Penns Grove (20) | 0-3 | 1-6 |
| Salem (22) | 0-3 | 0-7 |
NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Oct. 7
THURSDAY’S GAME
Glassboro 40, Cinnaminson 10
Delran 38, Penns Grove 8
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Schalick 28, Gloucester City 21
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Willingboro at Woodbury, 11 a.m.
Woodstown at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.
Riverview Sports News 