Salem surging

Thomas perfect in second half, finishes game with 4 TD passes, surpasses 1,000 season yards, as Rams solidify playoff spot; Penns Grove coach says he’s not returning

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM — The Tush Push is beloved in Philadelphia and generally reviled by everyone else who follows the NFL. But that’s just the thing: It’s a play for the NFL and doesn’t fly in the high school game.

Not that folks won’t try it, or something that looks like it.

Salem lined up at the 10 on its first play of the third quarter Saturday looking to grab some second-half momentum against Penns Grove and sent wrecking ball running back Troy Carey careening towards the end zone.

Carey was surrounded by a mass of bodies as he got closer to the goal line and the surge pushed him into the end zone for an apparent score to extend his team’s slim lead.

Not so fast. The flags came out and the Rams were called for assisting the runner. Yet another Salem touchdown called back by a penalty.

No matter. The Rams were back in the end zone the next play, this time without a helping hand, as Desmund Thomas hit Kaden Robinson for a 12-yard score that pushed their tushes to their fourth win in five games, 27-6.

“I definitely felt a little push at the end,” Carey said. “We kind of joked about it a little bit. He said they flagged him for pulling the pile or whatever. I couldn’t really tell. But I ended up punching it in on another two-point conversion, which was way harder than the first one.”

“It wasn’t like a Tush Push,” Thomas said. “It was like our teammate needed help (and) we had his back.”

Rams coach Kemp Carr agreed it wasn’t a Tush Push, because center Wyatt Irvine was caught pulling the running back into the end zone instead of nudging him in from behind, and got off his tush to set the record straight. Still, it was hard not to make the Eagles’ connection seeing the play unfold.

“You’re allowed to push,” Carr said. “Assisting the running is when he grabbed him by the uniform and tried to pull him in. You can push from behind. As you’ve seen, not many times the pile stops and then guys go up and push in high school. It wasn’t that. He didn’t push him from behind. He picked him up and took him in the end zone. I thought the Tush was only from the tush.”

Nevertheless, it was a big play and a big win for the Rams. It got them over .500 for the first time since 2022 and earned them the ninth spot in this year’s South Jersey Group I power points standings and a No. 5 seed in the South Jersey playoff bracket. They are slated to play at KIPP in the opening round.

The loss, meanwhile, left Penn Grove 0-9 for the season, its first winless campaign in modern memory. After the game, Red Devils coach Mark Maccarone told his players he was not returning next season. Not because of the 0-9, but because of the demands of his day job.

The Red Devils played like they wanted their coach to stay on. Defensive back Messiah Allah snatched a ball out of the air that caromed hard off Carey’s pads and raced 95 yards for the game’s first touchdown. There were other situations that gave the impression fate was smiling on them this day. They only trailed at halftime 7-6. 

“It was a hard fought game; they didn’t quit,” Maccarone said. “It was a ball game. Two big pass plays changed the dynamic of the game.”

The pick-six and a 2-for-9 second quarter did something to Thomas. The junior quarterback came out in the second half and was perfect. He was 7-of-7 through the air for 113 yards and three more touchdowns – a 377.03 passer rating – surpassing 1,000 yards passing for the first time in his career in the process. 

He threw the second-half touchdown passes to Robinson, Quimere Bergen and Ahmad Tucker in the half. The Rams outgained Penns Grove 132 yards to 45.

“The second half was just me not being focused on all the stuff that was being said and me getting into my game,” Thomas said. “Not to let anything get in my way, not to let anything get in our team’s way. It was just clearing everything up, being empty-minded and playing my game.”

The TD pass to Robinson after the helping penalty put him over the 1,000-yard plateau, and that made Robinson happy. He’s the Rams’ first 1,000-yard passer since Jahki Coates in 2022.

“Me being a senior and the No. 1 wide receiver, I wanted him to hit his 1K with me,” Robinson said.

Once the Rams grabbed the momentum, they never let it go.

“I wasn’t happy at all with how we played the first half, but we played in the second half a lot better,” Carr said. “We played good, solid Ram football in the second half and we were able to dictate what we wanted.

“It’s a game for 48 minutes; the last 24 we played well enough to be a decent football team. The first half we looked like we were chasing our own tails. We can’t do that. Football is a game of momentum. We want to grab it, hold onto it, and never let it go.”


Photos by Julliana Love

Salem 27, Penns Grove 6

PGSAL
51st Downs8
26-20Rushing18-89
3-10-1Passing10-18-1
2Passing yds.157
2-2Fumbles-lost1-1
5-20.0Punts-avg3-25.3
14-78Penalties12-110
Penns Grove (0-9)6000-6
Salem (5-4)70146-27

SCORING SUMMARY
PG – Messiah Allah 95 interception return (run failed), 8:42 1Q
S – Kaden Robinson 34 pass from Desmund Thomas (Johnathan Bower kick), 8:06 1Q
S – Kaden Robinson 12 pass from Desmund Thomas (kick failed), 9:23 3Q
S – Quimere Bergen 41 pass from Desmund Thomas (Troy Carey run), 2:12 3Q
S – Ahmad Tucker 35 pass from Desmund Thomas (kick failed), 2:00 4Q

WJFL Standings

DIAMONDALLDIV
Glassboro9-05-0
Salem5-44-1
Schalick2-62-2
Woodbury3-42-2
Woodstown2-71-4
Penns Grove0-90-5
PATRIOTALLDIV
West Deptford8-16-0
Paulsboro8-15-1
Overbrook6-33-3
Pennsville5-43-3
Collingswood5-42-4
Audubon2-51-4
Camden Catholic0-80-5

FRIDAY’S GAMES
Pennsville 36, Collingswood 15
Glassboro 47, Woodstown 0
West Deptford 21, Overbrook 8

SATURDAY’S GAMES
Paulsboro 42, Clayton 6
Salem 27, Penns Grove 6
Schalick 24, Woodbury 12

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