Pennsville retains Wildman Willey Boot it took them eight years to get back; Schalick drops close one to Paulsboro
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE — It took Pennsville eight years to get The Boot back. You don’t think the Eagles were going to give it up without a fight.
Pennsville retained the Norm “Wildman” Willey Boot Friday night with a resounding 41-0 victory over Penns Grove. It was the Eagles’ eighth shutout in the 68-year series, but first since 2013, and the first time they’d won back-to-back games in it since 2015-16.
When it was over, Grady Sanders ditched his crutches from an early-game foot injury and handed off the refurbished trophy to Robbie McDade and the senior quarterback ran it over to his teammates to raise in victory.
“We didn’t have it for a long time and getting it last year felt so good for everyone,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “I’ve had in my room for the past week. People would come in and look at it and I’d explain the story of The Boot. Even kids who don’t play football were asking questions and stuff.
“Hopefully it’ll be back on my desk Monday morning. Some of our seniors had some tough matchups against them in the past, so it’s awesome to be able to get this for them.”
Officially, the trophy is called the Pennsville Lions Club Award, but it’s more commonly referred as “The Boot” for the bronzed football cleat once belonging to Willey that sits atop it. Willey was a three-time Philadelphia Eagles’ All-Pro in a bygone era and a teacher in the Pennsville school district for more than 30 years. He passed away in 2011.
The Eagles won it back last year, brought it with them to Friday’s game — it rested on the bench — and it took up the same seat on the team bus going back home.
“It means a lot,” said running back Rylan Hardy, who scored two touchdowns in the game. “The Boot has been in their hands for like seven years, so being able to go back-to-back years to finally bring it home to us is good. Maybe we can go on a streak now.”
“We’ve got to keep it,” sophomore linebacker Tristan Horner added.
The Eagles (3-3) opened a 14-0 halftime lead, but really came to life in the second half so as not to have a fourth straight game decided in the closing seconds. They scored touchdowns on all four of their possessions in the half – short runs by four different players – sparked by three of their four takeaways.
Hardy, Adrian Allenye and Vicktor Mosher all scored on 3-yard runs in the half and Aiden Collazo pushed in from the 1. Hardy rushed for 104 yards in the game to go over 2,000 total yards for his career. Nine ballcarriers combined to rush for 198 yards against the Red Devils (0-6).
“We’ve had an issue this year of not playing four full quarters and the big difference today was we played four full quarters,” Healy said. “They were able to finish the game when needed instead of letting them back into it.
“The past couple games we’ve gotten out to leads and let teams back in and make it interesting, but today we were able to really just finally execute.”
It might have been different had the Red Devils not had Terrell Thomas’ potential 69-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Lattig called back by a penalty in the first quarter, but the play sapped all of their momentum.
They did pick up 15 yards on their next snap, but managed only 50 yards of net offense after that, and 12 of those came on the final play of the game.
Speaking of plays, Horner turned in a nifty one in the third quarter. Horner blitzed into the Penns Grove backfield and batted down a pitch intended to Zane Thomas and recovered the loose ball. The play led to the Eagles’ third touchdown of the quarter and started the running clock.
“We went over it at film, we went over it at practice, and when I saw it I knew it was happening so I took my opportunity,” Horner said. “I saw him pull his arm back and I did my thing.”
NOTES: Penns Grove leads the overall series 38-26-4 … Penns Grove crowned its Homecoming King (Lacyir Reed) and Queen (Elif Sagir) at halftime.
Photo credit: Amory Alleyne
Pennsville 41, Penns Grove 0
| PV | PG | |
| 12 | 1st Downs | 5 |
| 38-198 | Rushing | 12-46 |
| 0-2-0 | Passing | 8-14-3 |
| 0 | Passing yds | 59 |
| 0-0 | Fumbles-lost | 3-1 |
| 1-37.0 | Punts-avg | 2-32.5 |
| 1-15 | Penalties | 8-53 |
| Pennsville | 8 | 6 | 20 | 7- | 41 |
| Penns Grove | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 0 |
SCORING SUMMARY
PV-Robbie McDade 8 run (Robbie McDade run), 8:17 1Q
PV-Rylan Hardy 1 run (pass failed), 1:06 2Q
PV-Rylan Hardy 3 run (run failed), 9:17 3Q
PV-Aiden Collazo 1 run (Perry Meranti pass from Robbie McDade), 3:04 3Q
PV-Adrian Alleyne 3 run (kick failed), 43.9 3Q
PV-Vicktor Mosher 3 run (Hayden Sherman kick), 4:16 4Q
Cougars can’t punch one in
PITTSGROVE — In a game that was basically played between the 30s, Paulsboro scored a touchdown late in the first half and held on to beat Schalick 6-0.
The Red Raiders loaded up the box against Schalick’s wing-T, but the Cougars also were limited by the absence of quarterback Kenny Bartee, injured at the end of last week’s game with Salem, and speedster David Stewart sustaining a back injury in the second half.
It also didn’t help that they ran only eight plays in the first half because Paulsboro controlled the clock. The Cougars had the ball with five minutes left and mounted a threat for the winning score, but the drive was gutted by back-to-back penalties.
“We struggled trying to throw the ball, struggled trying to run the ball and when we had a little bit of success we shot ourselves in the foot,” Cougars coach Kevin Leamy said. “It was rough. It was tough.”
Their defense, however, stood tall and held a Paulsboro team that was undefeated and averaging 35 points a game to just one touchdown.
They were particularly stout after extending two Paulsboro drives on a roughing the punter penalty and a punt that glanced off a member of the Cougars’ return team.
“Defensively we played fantastic,” Leamy said. “We had a great defensive scheme ready for them and the kids executed phenomenally. It was a defensive battle from both sides.”
WJFL Standings
| DIAMOND | ALL | DIV |
| Glassboro | 6-0 | 3-0 |
| Salem | 2-3 | 2-1 |
| Schalick | 2-4 | 2-1 |
| Woodbury | 1-4 | 1-2 |
| Woodstown | 2-4 | 1-2 |
| Penns Grove | 0-6 | 0-3 |
| PATRIOT | ALL | DIV |
| West Deptford | 5-1 | 4-0 |
| Paulsboro | 6-0 | 4-0 |
| Pennsville | 3-3 | 2-2 |
| Overbrook | 4-2 | 1-2 |
| Collingswood | 4-2 | 1-2 |
| Camden Catholic | 0-5 | 0-3 |
| Audubon | 0-4 | 0-3 |
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Pleasantville 40, Woodstown 0
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Glassboro 56, Deptford 0
Paulsboro 6, Schalick 0
Pennsville 41, Penns Grove 0
Collingswood 31, Sterling 14
Haddonfield 29, West Deptford 14
Overbrook 38, Clayton 14
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Gateway at Woodbury, 10 a.m.
Audubon at Gloucester Catholic. 11
Camden Catholic at Haddon Heights, noon
Salem at Middle Township, noon
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