All three Salem County football teams in action Friday night were on the road and lost; includes WJFL Diamond, Patriot division standings
FRIDAY’S SCORES
Cumberland 14, Schalick 7
Delsea 35, Woodstown 7
West Deptford 42, Pennsville 7
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WEST DEPTFORD — The circumstances producing it may be different, but when you look at where they stand today, the Pennsville football team is in the same spot it was this time last year and things turned out all right. So they have that to consider as they look to bounce back from another 0-2 start.
The Eagles dropped their second straight game to open the season Friday night, 42-7 at West Deptford. They started last season 0-2, too, then rebounded to get into the South Jersey Group 1 playoffs and played two rounds.
Of course, those were two close games against Gloucester and West Deptford last year. The ones this season against the same opponents were not and that’s the worrisome part.
“Record-wise, we’re in the same position, but we’ve got to figure it out as a whole unit,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said after explaining it to his team in a 20-minute post-mortem in the far end zone. “(Have to) better understand why are we out here, why are we doing what we’re doing.
“It’s very frustrating for all of us. We know deep down we are not putting out what we are right now and we’ve got to figure out how to find that within the kids, how to get the best of us on the field because right now we’re just not doing it.
“It’s a long season. We still have time to pull it together and accomplish our goals, but we’ve got to get it done. We can’t let it keep going like this. We have got to get it figured out and get started going. We don’t want to let the opportunity slip and then it be too late and we don’t have the opportunity any more.”
West Deptford, meanwhile, came into the game wanting to play better against Pennsville than it did in last year’s game when it needed a Sports Center highlight touchdown in the final minute from a backup quarterback pressed into action two minutes earlier to win.
The homestanding Eagles dominated this one for their second win of the season. They rushed for 366 yards (234 in the first half), racked up 22 first downs and held Pennsville to four first downs and less than 85 yards of net offense.
They scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions and six of nine in the game. Zamir Davis rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns. Cole Paskiewicz scored the first two touchdown of the game.
The seized the momentum from the very start. Pennsville fumbled the first snap of the game. West Deptford recovered and turned it into Paskiewicz’ first touchdown of the game.
“We looked for improvement from a year ago,” said West Deptford coach John Emel, who personally beat Pennsville for the ninth straight time. “A year ago they outplayed us.
“I told them before the game this year I want to play better than we did last year against them. I know we’re a better team, but our goal every day is to play better and I want to play better today.”
The highlight of Pennsville’s night was Perry’s Pic-Six, an 85-yard interception return for a third-quarter touchdown by senior defensive lineman Perry Meranti.
“That was nice,” he said. “That’s my first ever career touchdown, so that was a big moment for me. I definitely would have dreamed I was going to get (the first one) on offense more than defense.”
He certainly was in the right place at the right time, taking advantage of the coaches call to turn players loose in the second half for a chance to show what they can do.
West Deptford was on the verge of opening the second half with another touchdown, taking the kickoff and driving to the Pennsville 11. Quarterback Brady Cobb rolled right with the snap and for a moment looked like he was going to run it. Then all of a sudden he pulled up as he got closer to the line of scrimmage, tossed it and Meranti was there to pick it.
“Sometimes the only wrong decision is indecision,” Emel said. “He kind of looked like he wanted to run and at the last second tried to make a mountain out of a molehill and it cost us six points. He’s a smart kid, but that was not a smart play.”
The way the play flowed it didn’t take long for Meranti to clear traffic and once he got into the open field nobody was going to catch him.
“The wing, he rolled out trying to reach me, so I was just doing my job like we practice all week,” the senior said. “I’m trying to stretch the play out and I saw the QB cut up, so I tried to cut in and take him for a sack and he tried to dump it over the top and I kind of just caught it. It was just there.
“I was just trying to stay ready as much as I could. The second he pulled the pin I kind of broke for it.”
Meranti knows what has to happen for his team to get back on track.
“We have a really good team this year within us,” he said, “but us seniors, even me, we need to step up and take a role of leadership. I’ll say what our coaches said: Our leadership graduated last year and we need to take a big step forward and step up. Last year it was an internal change. We had people step up.”
Top photo: Pennsville’s Perry Meranti snags the interception he returned 85 yards for the Eagles’ only touchdown against West Deptford. (Photo by Amory Alleyne)
West Deptford 42, Pennsville 7
| PMHS (7) | WDEPT (42) | |
| 4 | 1st Downs | 22 |
| 27-53 | Rushing | 40-366 |
| 3-8-0 | Passing (C-A-I) | 5-9-1 |
| 29 | Passing yds | 60 |
| 1-1 | Fumbles-lost | 1-1 |
| 4-33.8 | Punts-avg | 0-0 |
| 7-58 | Penalties-yds | 2-15 |
| Pennsville (0-2) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0- | 7 |
| West Deptford (2-0) | 14 | 14 | 6 | 8- | 42 |
SCORING SUMMARY
WD: Colę Paskiewicz 4 run (Brady Cobb kick), 8:41 1Q
WD: Cole Paskiewicz 8 pass from Brady Cobb (Brady Cobb kick), 1:15 1Q
WD: Zamir Davis 48 run (kick failed), 10:12 2Q
WD: Zamir Davis 6 run (Colę Paskiewicz pass from Brady Cobb), 25.3 2Q
P: Perry Meranti 85 interception return (Danny Knight kick), 9:33 3Q
WD: Zamir Davis 2 run (kick failed), 2:20 3Q
WD: Kameron Simpkins 5 run (Bryce Wynn run), 9:05 4Q
Delsea 35, Woodstown 7
FRANKLINVILLE — Delsea did what Delsea does and what it didn’t do when the teams played a year ago.
The Crusaders rushed for a whopping 465 yards as a team, with three backs each going for more than 100, to avenge their low-scoring, one-point overtime loss to the Wolverines in last year’s season opener.
Milo Gebhard led the crush with 143 yards on nine carries. He scored the first two touchdowns of the game as Delsea opened a 21-0 halftime lead. Nasir Hart had 122 yards and two TDs on five attempts, while Imair Chester had 120 yards on seven carries and the game’s final touchdown.
Freshman quarterback Frankie Hoerst scored Woodstown’s only touchdown, a 6-yard run in the third quarter that answered the coaches’ challenge at halftime. Hoerst had 25 yards rushing and completed six passes for 71 yards.
Cole Ware had an interception for the Wolverines.
“I was happy with the way our kids fought tonight,” Woodstown coach Frank Trautz said. “They (Delsea) were very physical and for our young team to get a taste of that tonight it was good for us. We can take a lot of good things away from it. I do think this will be a positive for us moving forward.”
Delsea 35, Woodstown 7
| WOOD (7) | DEL (35) | |
| 10 | 1st Downs | 17 |
| 26-62 | Rushing | 32-465 |
| 6-17-1 | Passing (C-A-I) | 1-2-1 |
| 71 | Passing yds | 23 |
| 2-0 | Fumbles-lost | 1-0 |
| 2-40.0 | Punts-avg | 0-0 |
| 8-51 | Penalties-yds | 10-100 |
| Woodstown (1-1) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0- | 7 |
| Delsea (2-0) | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7- | 35 |
SCORING SUMMARY
D: Milo Gebhard 1 run (Logan Cordero kick)
D: Milo Gebhard 59 run (Logan Cordero kick)
D: Nashi Hart 8 run (Logan Cordero kick)
WO: Frank Hoerst 6 run (Frank Hoerst kick)
D: Nasir Hart 46 run (Logan Cordero kick)
D: Imair Chester 37 run (Logan Cordero kick)
WJFL Standings
| DIAMOND DIVISION | ALL | DIV |
| Glassboro | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| Woodstown | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Penns Grove | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| Salem | 0-2 | 0-0 |
| Schalick | 0-2 | 0-0 |
| Woodbury | 0-2 | 0-0 |
| PATRIOT DIVISION | ALL | DIV |
| Collingswood | 2-0 | 1-0 |
| West Deptford | 2-0 | 1-0 |
| Paulsboro | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| Audubon | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Camden Catholic | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| Overbrook | 1-1 | 0-1 |
| Pennsville | 0-2 | 0-1 |
Thursday’s Games
Cinnaminson 3, Salem 0
Friday’s Games
Cumberland 14, Schalick 7
Delsea 35, Woodstown 7
Glassboro 52, Haddon Heights 0
Haddonfield 41, Woodbury 0
West Deptford 42, Pennsville 7
Collingswood 27, Overbrook 14
Saturday’s Games
Audubon at Paulsboro
Deptford at Penns Grove
KIPP at Camden Catholic
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