Pennsville looks to take its biggest step yet in steady climb to football prosperity
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – If the Pennsville football team were a post on Facebook or a play on the New York Stock Exchange the Eagles would be, as the kids say, trending.
After years of just spinning their wheels, the Eagles have started gaining traction and have been making steady progress.
| PENNSVILLE |
| Aug. 26: Gloucester |
| Sept. 5: at West Deptford |
| Sept. 12: Overbrook |
| Sept. 20: Audubon |
| Sept. 26: Camden Cath. |
| Oct. 3: at Penns Grove |
| Oct. 9: Paulsboro |
| Oct. 17: Lawrence |
| Oct. 24: at Collingswood |
When this year’s senior class were freshmen, they had a dreadful 2022 season. The next year they enjoyed a big turnaround, went 6-4 and just barely missed the playoffs, but swept their regional consolation bracket to enjoy a winning season. Last year, in a tougher division, they had their first winning regular season since 2016, made the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and won a playoff game.
This year they want more.
“The seniors have left behind a step we have to keep building on,” senior running back Rylan Hardy said. “I played on that 1-8 team and there wasn’t much spirit or drive; they were so used to this losing atmosphere and no one really believed in themselves or the team. Making it back to the playoffs and maybe winning more games than last year would be great.”
“This year is all or nothing for everybody,” senior quarterback Robbie McDade said. “We’ve got a lot of seniors on the team who want to go out there and win a championship. We’ve made progress every single year I’ve been through. This year we’re trying to go all the way. We’re going in there trying to win a championship this year.”
The Eagles are looking to evolve on both sides of the ball. They have a lot of players with experience but many are new to their positions and the rest are either brand new or haven’t played in a year.
“We still bring back enough we’re not looking at a rebuild,” head coach Mike Healy said. “We have some younger kids we feel are now ready to take those spots we lost and just keep progressing.”
The constants are Hardy and McDade.
Hardy had his breakout season last year, rushing for 1,097 yards and 15 touchdowns. The 1,097 were more yards than the Eagles rushed for as a team in that 1-8 season and the most in a season by a Pennsville running back since Nick Bard’s 1,657 and 18 TDs in 2017.
If he hits his goal of another 1,000-yard season he’d the Eagles’ first back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher since Bard (2016-2017).
McDade passed for more than 1,100 yards each of the last two seasons and could end up being a 4,000-yard career passer with a typical year. He also runs the ball like a linebacker and that could send him past 6,000 total yards if he has the kind of year he’s targeting.
He’s showing no signs of the offseason surgery on his right shoulder that kept him out of all the team’s 7-on-7s activity this summer.
“This being the year we’re trying to take the next step we need to be able to do more and control the defense more,” Healy said.
One of the keys to the taking the next step is getting into a better position going into the playoffs and that means getting off to a good start. The Eagles got better as the season went along last year and were playing their best football at the end of the year, but it came after starting the season 0-2.
“I want to start quicker than we did last year,” Healy said.
Riverview Sports News 