Salem looks like the team it envisioned at the beginning of the season; Penns Grove remains undefeated after benchmark win
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM — The alarm for school went off in Desmund Thomas’ house Monday at precisely 5:51 a.m. It was a little earlier in Raymond Brown’s house. It was the dawn of a new day for the Salem football team.
Salem coach Kemp Carr has often said his Rams would be a better team in the second half of the season than it was at the beginning, and a big reason for it was knowing he’d have Thomas and Brown back on the field.
The two seniors saw their first action of the season after satisfying senior double transfer rules and their presence definitely was felt in the Rams’ 42-0 rout of Overbrook.
Their debuts were delayed two days as Saturday’s scheduled kick was postponed by the weekend’s weather. All that did was make the two players more eager to play.
As soon as they got in the game they had an immediate impact.
On Brown’s first play, he broke through the line and sacked Overbrook quarterback Mark Hailstorm, forcing a fumble that Mahkye Murray recovered at the 21. On Thomas’ first official play, he floated a 31-yard pass to Quemere Bergen for the game’s first touchdown.
Brown had at least two sacks and several tackles for loss. Thomas completed all seven of his pass attempts for 122 yards and two touchdowns ( a 340.69 NCAA passer rating) and rushed for 47 yards and another score. The one pass he did overthrow was erased by a roughing penalty. He also was 3-for-3 on two-point conversion throws.
The Rams scored on all six of their meaningful possessions. They had the ball for the final two plays of the first half, but simply took a knee to run out the clock.
The Rams had even more reason to be excited. Before the game the coaches sprung a new set of black jerseys on the players, laying them out along the gym sideline and having them pick their numbers as they came out of the locker room.
Overbrook coach Frank Wilczynski said the appearance of Thomas at quarterback caught the Rams by surprise. All the Salem film they had seen had either freshman Owen McDonald or Kyvion Parsons under center.
This story will be updated.
| OVER (0) | SAL (42) | |
| 6 | 1st Downs | 17 |
| 34-64 | Rushing | 31-187 |
| 2-7-0 | Passes | 7-7-0 |
| 1 | Passing | 122 |
| 1-1 | Fum-Lost | 1-1 |
| 1-29.0 | Punts-Avg | 0-0 |
| 10-87 | Penalties | 6-65 |
| Overbrook | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 0 |
| Salem | 16 | 8 | 12 | 6- | 42 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-Quemere Bergen 31 pass from Desmund Thomas (Desmund Thomas run), 9:30 1Q
S-Kane Green 24 pass from Desmund Thomas (Izaiah Santiago pass from Desmund Thomas), 0:30 1Q
S-Desmund Thomas 5 run (Quemere Bergen pass from Desmund Thomas), 2:26 2Q
S-Cashmir Parsley 1 run (run failed), 8:48 3Q
S-Cashmir Parsley 2 run (run failed), 6:01 3Q
S-Rahkye Seals 4 run (run failed), 3:22 4Q
Penns Grove 24, Woodbury 12
WOODBURY — Penns Grove’s Thomas tandem combined for 211 yards rushing and four touchdowns and the Red Devils learned to overcome adversity with a big second half to beat Woodbury 24-12 and remain undefeated.
Jaivon Thomas, a freshman, rushed for 145 yards on 21 carries and scored on runs of 13 and 9 yards. Terrell Thomas, a senior, rushed for 66 yards, scored on runs of 5 and 11 yards, and played a big role on a defense that held the Thundering Herd to minus-32 yards of offense.
Woodbury had minus-2 yards of passing and minus-30 yards of net rushing. The Red Devils held Dale Thomas, one of the top rushers in the state, to minus-17 yards on 13 carries.
The two touchdowns Penns Grove allowed came on a fumble return and a blocked punt that set up a short field. The Red Devils trailed 6-0 and 12-6 at halftime, the first time they’ve been behind all season. They outscored the Herd 18-0 in the second half.
And they almost scored after Woodbury took its 12-6 lead. The Red Devils got the ball with 14 seconds left and ran a play. Jaivon Thomas broke off a long run to get to the 5. They ran one final play in the half and Terrell Thomas looked to get in, but the officials ruled he was out of bounds before hitting the pylon.
| PG (24) | WBURY (12) | |
| 12 | 1st Downs | 5 |
| 44-236 | Rushing | 25-(-30) |
| 3-4-0 | Passes | 2-13-0 |
| 23 | Passing | -2 |
| 11-80 | Penalties | 12-102 |
| Penns Grove | 0 | 6 | 6 | 12- | 24 |
| Woodbury | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0- | 12 |
SCORING SUMMARY
WB-Kayir McIntosh 43 fumble return (kick failed)
PG-Terrell Thomas 5 run (PAT failed)
WB-Dale Thomas 1 run (run failed)
PG-Jaivon Thomas 13 run (run failed)
PG-Terrell Thomas 11 run (run failed)
PG-Jaivon Thomas 9 run (pass failed)
