Rams’ season gets off to a rousing start, but they couldn’t keep it going and fell to Pleasantville
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM — The second season of Salem football under Kemp Carr couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. It was what happened next the Rams have to work on.
The Rams scored their first touchdown of the season less than 90 seconds into the game, but they didn’t find the end zone again and Pleasantville dominated the second half to hand the Rams a 20-8 loss.
The opening two minutes of the game gave the Rams hope they’d finally get their first win under Carr. And it was a bunch of newcomers that made the biggest impacts.
Transfer Makhye Murry recovered a fumble on Pleasantville’s first play from scrimmage. New quarterback Desmund Thomas immediately went up top for the end zone, but freshman Ahmed Tucker couldn’t bring in the pass. Undeterred, Thomas went deep two plays later and this time freshman Kyvion Parsons hauled it in for the score.
Thomas then tossed the conversion pass to Antwuan Rogers to make it 8-0.
“Catching my first touchdown for varsity in my first game, I was hyped,” Parsons said. “We felt we were going to blow them out, but we came out in the second half and just wound down. We can’t wind down on anybody.”
It was similar to their Cinnaminson loss in the second game last season when they scored on one of the first plays of the game, but didn’t have much success thereafter. While it was nice to have a lead, Carr knew it was way too much football to play to celebrate.
“A team’s got to finish, man,” he said. “It’s about finishing. It’s never how you start; you’ve got to finish games. We go three quarters without scoring. We move the ball, then we do something stupid.
“You get a big turnover down there, (then) you throw an interception right after it. Those are things we can’t do. We have to stay even keel, run our concepts, stay true to who we are and play through the clock.”
The Rams held the lead until the last minute of the quarter. The Greyhounds intercepted a softly thrown Thomas pass and brought it all the way back to the 2 with the Rams’ quarterback saving a touchdown. Pleasantville finally scored when Nazir Griffin ran in from the 7 and then caught the conversion pass from Semaj Dozier to tie the game.
It stayed that way until the final 30 seconds of the half when Jamil Hudson caught the first of his two touchdown passes from Dozier to put the Greyhounds ahead for good. The Rams had an interception by Tucker erased by a penalty early in the drive.
Hudson’s second touchdown catch capped a 70-yard drive that took up nearly nine minutes of the third-quarter game clock. It was highlighted by two big conversions – a 16-yard catch by Hudson on third-and-14 and the touchdown on fourth down.
The Greyhounds knew Thomas was the key to their offense and constantly had him on the run. He did complete 12 of 22 passes for 128 yards.
“Up front we had the advantage and just put the pressure on him,” said Pleasantville coach Elijah Glover, a winner in his first game as head coach with the water bucket shower to prove it. “If they wanted to keep the ball in his hands like they wanted to, then you’ve got to find a way to make it come out fast.”
Thomas looked to have beaten the pressure in the fourth quarter, scrambling out of the pocket and hooking up with Kaden Robinson for a 56-yard touchdown pass with 7:27 to play that would’ve gotten the Rams back within striking distance with plenty of time left. But the play came back because of an ineligible man downfield penalty from the other side of the field. The drive ended a few plays later on a dropped fourth-down pass steps from the end zone.
It was just a tough second half for the Rams. They were held to minus-10 yards net rushing and 28 yards total in the half.
“We’ve got some things to clean up,” Carr said. “We’ll get back in and do the right thing. The glass is shattered, but it ain’t broke. We’ll put some glue on it and get it back where we need to.”
| PLE (20) | SAL (8) | |
| 8 | 1st Downs | 9 |
| 30-69 | Rushing | 21-18 |
| 9-11-0 | Passing (C-A-I) | 12-22-1 |
| 130 | Passing yds | 128 |
| 4-1 | Fumbles-lost | 1-1 |
| 4-28.8 | Punts-avg | 4-29.0 |
| 10-75 | Penalties-yds | 6-55 |
Pleasantville 20, Salem 8
| Pleasantville (1-0) | 8 | 6 | 6 | 0- | 20 |
| Salem (0-1) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 8 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S: Kyvion Parsons 42 pass from Desmund Thomas (Antwuan Rogers pass from Desmund Thomas), 10:36 1Q
P: Nazir Griffin 7 run (Nazir Griffin pass from Semaj Dozier), 40.4 1Q
P: Jamil Hudson 30 pass from Semaj Dozier (run failed), 23.9 2Q
P: Jamil Hudson 26 pass from Semaj Dozier (run failed), 2:00 3Q
Riverview Sports News 