Fierce familiar foes

Woodstown, Woodbury expecting another epic battle as they meet for South Jersey Group I title in a rematch of the 2021 sectional final

GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
Friday’s Games
South: Woodbury Thundering Herd (6-3) at Woodstown Wolverines (8-2), 7 p.m.
Central: Glassboro Bulldogs (7-3) at Schalick Cougars (11-0), 7 p.m.
North I: Mountain Lakes Herd (8-2) at Hawthorne Bears (8-2), 6 p.m.
North II: Shabazz Bulldogs (7-3) at Butler Bulldogs (9-1), 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Every year it seems the Woodstown football season has been on a collision course with Woodbury.

The Wolverines are either thinking about playing the Thundering Herd, preparing to play the Thundering Herd or playing the Thundering Herd.

It’s been that way ever since they hastily put together a late-season game in 2018, but it has become even more meaningful for the Wolverines since the Herd broke their heart in the 2021 South Jersey Group I finals.

And they meet again in the same situation Friday. Senior quarterback Max Webb last week called it “the biggest game of my lifetime.”

“We have a chance at revenge on the team that beat us two years ago,” he said. “I can’t be more excited for me, for this team, for this town.”

As if the game needed any more hype, the Wolverines plan to break out an orange-on-orange uniform color scheme for the first time this season and the spirited student section plans on white-out conditions.

The Wolverines gained a small measure of that revenge they’re looking for earlier this year when they beat the Herd 27-21 in overtime in a game that got contentious at the end. That feeling probably won’t be complete, however, until they knock them off in a game as meaningful as the one in 2021 that comes Friday.

It’ll be a little different Woodbury team than the Wolverines faced five weeks ago. Quarterback Dante Viccharelli didn’t play because of a shoulder injury and running back Anthony Reagan Jr. was limited after getting hurt early in the second half.

Both are back at full strength, but Viccharelli is at wide receiver as Jayden Johnson has grown in the quarterback role. Over the last four games he has thrown for 820 yards and 12 touchdowns. In that same period, Ibn Muhammad has caught 19 passes for 459 yards with a pair of touchdowns in each of the last three games. Marquis Taylor has caught 12 passes for 339 yards and five touchdowns in the same stretch.

“They’re a tough physical team that can do it both through the air and on the ground,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “Just like last week, another hard rematch. It’s just a big game.

“The kids know it’s going to be a heavyweight fight. I think our kids are amped up for it.”

The Wolverines have gone through their share of adversity as well. They started the year with the anticipation of getting injured running back James Hill back, but Hill injured his other knee the week he was expected to return.

But Bryce Belinfanti has emerged as a game-breaking lead back, rushing for 1,459 yards and 20 touchdowns. And Webb gives them a dual threat as a rusher (393 yards) and passer (698 yards, 8 TDs), spreading it around to Zach Bevis (12-189), Belinfanti (15-182) and Anthony Ford Dale (12-145).

It’ll be the Wolverines’ fourth trip to the sectional finals in school history and third under Adams. They’re still looking for their first win having suffered losses to Delsea, Haddonfield and Woodbury.

“We want to get over that hump and get a win in this game,” Adams said. “The history of Woodstown has never had a sectional championship in this game. That’s over 100 years of football. I know the playoffs were only as recently as the 80s, but that’s a lot of time we haven’t had a sectional championship here. In the past it’s been can we get to this game. Now we need to get over that hump.”

They appeared headed that way in the game with Woodbury until the Herd snatched it away with the go-ahead touchdown on fourth-and-1 with 3:55 to go and then an interception with 1:35 left.

“It’s been in all our heads since then,” Webb said earlier this summer.

“We still talk about it,” Adams said. “We talk about things that happened in the past. Like last week we talked about we lost a rematch with Paulsboro (last year) and we’re still talking about that. We’re still talking about (Woodbury) beat us in this game 8-6 and we felt like we let it slip away because we were up at halftime. We want to keep that motivation going.”

The survivor draws the winner of the Glassboro-Schalick Central Jersey final in the state semifinals. It sets up the Wolverines to play a third Salem County team this season or their third regular-season rematch in as many weeks.

“We won’t worry about that until after (this game) and if we’re moving on we’ll put our attention on that,” said Adams, who did allow in a general sense he was impressed with what both those teams have done. “But right now there’s no game next week without getting past Woodbury.”

Battle royal

The last five games between Woodstown and Woodbury

DATE	WINNER	SCORE
Oct. 6, 2023	Woodstown	27-21 (OT)
Oct. 8, 2022	Woodbury	28-6
Nov. 20, 2021	Woodbury	8-6
Nov. 14. 2020	Woodstown	6-0
Nov. 8, 2018	Woodbury	28-21

Never forget

Schalick senior standout Siedlecki reflects on the Cougars’ journey from winless afterthought to undefeated contender for section championship

GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
Friday’s Games
South: Woodbury Thundering Herd (6-3) at Woodstown Wolverines (8-2), 7 p.m.
Central: Glassboro Bulldogs (7-3) at Schalick Cougars (11-0), 7 p.m.
North I: Mountain Lakes Herd (8-2) at Hawthorne Bears (8-2), 6 p.m.
North II: Shabazz Bulldogs (7-3) at Butler Bulldogs (9-1), 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Jake Siedlecki is one of those players who believes nothing worth having comes without hard work. And it has taken a lot of work to get where the Schalick senior and his teammates find themselves today.

Although it seems like a lifetime ago now, it was really only four years ago, when Siedlecki was a wide-eyed freshman, the Cougars football team was a winless afterthought in the landscape of South Jersey football.

Siedlecki was in his first year playing football recovering from a baseball elbow injury, Mike Wilson was just coming aboard as the head coach, COVID was creating chaos with everyone’s workout regimens and the roster was as small as the program’s current freshman group is large.

The Cougars were getting beaten like a rented mule. Their scores were ridiculously one-sided. They were one of 23 teams that played in 2020 that didn’t win a game.

On Friday, when they host Glassboro in the Central Jersey Group I championship game, they will be one of 10 remaining undefeated teams in the state and their journey to get there will have come full circle. Ironically, the Bulldogs, now with a former Schalick player at the helm, was the first team the Cougars played in that dreadful 2020 season, losing 54-7.

Most people would want to forget that whole experience, but the Cougars embrace it as part of their journey back to respectability.

Siedlecki doesn’t have to go far to find a reminder of those difficult days. Every day before he leaves for school he sees a Senior Night picture of brother Mack, a senior on that 2020 team, in the No. 2 jersey Jake proudly represents today.

“Even though it seems like a long time ago, I think it’s important for me and the leaders of the football team and Coach Wilson, obviously, to keep what happened that freshman year and coach’s first year fresh in our minds,” the 6-1, 180-pound tight end/safety said. “That gives us an edge over a lot of these other teams in the playoffs that are expected to win.

“We’re not expected to be here. No one believes in us. No one wants to give us any credit. Knowing where we came from gives us an edge against the other teams because we know what it’s like to be at the bottom.

“When I see that picture I know that’s where we were. That’s the jersey my brother wore and he fought in. Now I’m No. 2. Now I’m a senior. Now I get to fight for a championship. Every day I see that picture in the house it reminds me of the struggle, the work my brother put in and he never got to experience where I’m at right now. He would have done anything to be where I’m at right now. I don’t take that for granted.”

Similarly, Wilson has a picture of that first team in his classroom along with the three that have followed it and uses the images to reflect on the progress of what he has been given credit for building. None of the other teams in the state that were oh-for that year are undefeated in 2023. Only seven have winning records.

“I’ve said this to people multiple times,” Wilson said. “When I took over the program my goal wasn’t to build a team, my goal was to build a program. We want to build a lasting program where what we’re doing this year needs to become the new normal. We want to be involved in sectional championship conversation every year.

“We want every year that we’re not rebuilding, we’re reloading. The standard needs to become sectional championships, where if you don’t get there, then we’re going why didn’t you get there. I want the expectations that we’ve got to be there.”

The Cougars have five seniors on this year’s roster, but Siedlecki and tight end/defensive end Ryan Johnson are the only two who were on that first team. Receiver and cornerback Nasir Sutton came out as a freshman, but wasn’t able to play.

Wilson praised their resiliency and commitment to something bigger than themselves. And it has been rewarded in their play. In his last four games alone, Siedlecki has caught seven passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns and had 18 tackles and three interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown against Gloucester Catholic and one in the final minute that sealed their second-round win over Shore Regional.

It was tough that first year. The Cougars’ approach was no different than it is now and they tried real hard, but undermanned as they were they lost by scores of 54-7, 49-6, 48-6, 56-14 right out of the gate. They actually lost their first 11 games over two seasons – scoring only eight touchdowns – and 13 of their first 14. Opponents were making fun of them and getting louder each week.

That was “probably the most difficult thing to go through as a group,” Siedlecki admitted. But he stuck with it, he said, because of the optimism and leadership Wilson demonstrated through it all. It was the kind of thing, reflecting on it now, that makes them even prouder of where they are today on the cusp of a sectional title.

With their coach’s enthusiasm to guide them, they knew the worm would turn – and it did. The Cougars won their last three games of that second season and now have the last laugh, going 21-3 in their last 24 games.

“It was unfortunate we got our butts kicked, but the whole time we knew if we just kept our head down, kept pushing forward, we’d be in a better place,” Siedlecki said. “We knew at the time if we just trusted in coach Wilson and gave it 110 percent in the weight room that over the course of time we’d get better and that’s what ended up happening.

“We knew what was coming. I didn’t know that we knew how fast it would come. It was hard then losing every game, sometimes it was frustrating, but we held together and it paid off.”

From oh-for to undefeated

A progression of teams statewide that were winless in 2020 to this season

TEAM	2020	2021	2022	2023
Schalick	0-7	4-6	7-3	11-0
Barringer	0-3	0-10	4-6	3-6
Bergen Tech	0-2	1-7	3-4	1-8
Chatham	0-7	6-4	6-4	4-7
Ferris	0-4	0-9	0-9	0-8
Hunterdon Cent.	0-6	2-8	4-6	6-4
Immaculata	0-7	7-3	4-6	6-3
Indian Hills	0-5	4-5	4-5	5-4
J.P. Stevens	0-4	0-9	0-8	0-11
Kearny	0-4	1-7	2-6	1-8
Lindenwold	0-8	1-8	0-9	1-9
Manchester Reg.	0-6	3-7	0-9	4-4
Manville	0-5	6-3	8-2	3-7
Metuchen	0-7	4-7	4-7	5-5
Morristown	0-3	1-9	3-7	4-6
Newark Cent.	0-6	2-8	3-7	5-4
Oakcrest	0-7	3-7	7-4	5-5
Paramus Cath.	0-6	0-9	2-7	3-8
Pascack Hills	0-4	4-6	7-1	8-2
Ridgefield Park	0-3	8-3	4-5	2-7
St. Mary (Ruth.)	0-4	1-5	2-6	6-5
Sussex Tech	0-5	3-7	2-8	7-4
Westfield	0-2	4-6	8-3	5-5

Making a little history

Penns Grove wins late-scheduled season finale, makes some history with freshman, multiple 1,000-yard rushers

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – John Emel will never pass up a chance to give his football team one more game to play, so when the opportunity came up a couple days ago to play one last game that was mutually beneficial to both sides he didn’t hesitate. And it gave his Penns Grove team a chance to make some history.

Make that a lot of history.

The Red Devils beat Riverside 51-22 Thursday to score their sixth win of the season and finish at .500 or better for the first time since 2021. It was the most points they’ve scored in a game since a 54-7 win over Woodbury in the second round of the 2019 playoffs.

Bryce Wright rushed for 195 yards and four touchdowns and Karon Ceaser rushed for 180 yards and a score. The additional game allowed Ceaser to become their first freshman to rush for 1,000 since 2005 and gave them two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season for the first time since 2012.

“There were a lot of historical firsts,” Emel said.

Wright finished the season with 1,278 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, while Ceaser wound up with 1,085 yards and eight rushing touchdowns. Both players return next season when the Red Devils are expected to open the year in the Battle at the Beach.

The last Penns Grove freshman to rush for 1,000 yards in a season was Aaron Hayward (1,049), who went on to rush for 4,479 in his career. The last Red Devils’ duo to go for 1,000 in the same year was Nick Elmer (1,341) and Anthony Robertson. (1,244).

“Nowadays, in the era of the spread, pass-happy offense, it’s something you don’t see,” Emel said. “That’s just a credit to the line and the commitment to the effort of those guys working hard. They’re two guys who represent our program well.”

Wright scored on runs of 32, 3, 73 and 40 yards. He carried multiple Riverside defenders on his back for the last 20 yards of his first touchdown and he either slipped or juked at least three defenders after Isaiah Upshur sealed the block on the 73-yard run.

Ceaser, the Red Devils’ first true freshman starting skill position player in 20 years, scored only once, on a 3-yard run, and missed two other chances to score on runs of 60 and 36 yards.

The 60-yarder left him one yard shy of 1,000; he went over the milestone on his next carry, cutting back across the field to make positive yardage. He missed a chance to score on the 36-yarder when he did a Dak Prescott, stepping on the sideline at the 3 trying to catapult into the end zone.

“I was thankful for it,” Ceaser said of the milestone. “It was just hard work, that’s all it is. I knew it could happen because I know my ability to do stuff. When I woke up this morning I was like I’m going to get this 1,000. I’m going to get it.”

His running mate in the backfield knew it, too.

“I think he’s a D-I athlete,” Wright said. “I’ve been watching him play since Midgets (and) he’s been the guy, so when he came through here we knew he was going to be the best freshmen we’ve had.”

The fact the Red Devils got to .500 before packing up the gear for the winter was an incredible story in itself. They started the season 0-3 and 1-4 and were down 19-0 at halftime to Paulsboro in their sixth game.

But they cut down their turnovers and turned it around. The scored 22 second-half points to beat Paulsboro and won three in a row to give them a chance to grab a piece of the WJFL Diamond Division title. They made the playoffs and won a first-round game over a legendary coach before being eliminated in what would have been their final game before Thursday.

“It’s nice to finish .500, it’s nice to finish with six wins (and) to beat another quality opponent,” Emel said. “It’s nice to play this week instead of waiting nine months to get back on the field. Getting a home game for our seniors to go out with a win, that’s all icing on the cake. You got to end the season on a high note.”

And 6-6 will make the entire offseason feel a lot better going into summer workouts.

“I’m very excited with how far we came,” Wright said. “We made it to the second round of the playoffs. We fought ‘til we couldn’t any more. I asked my team to fight for four quarters and that’s what they did for me.”

“It’s our season next year,” Upshur said. “A championship team next year. We just started off slow.”

Cover photo: Bryce Wright (1) leads the way for Karon Ceaser to get around the corner during Penns Grove’s game against Riverside Thursday. The backs combined for 374 yards rushing in the game to give the Red Devils a pair of 1,000-yarder rushers this season.

Penns Grove 51, Riverside 22

RIV (22)		PG (51)
19	1st Downs	13
39-188	Rushing	23-429
13-17-0	Passes	0-1-0
128	Passing	0
0-0	Fum-lost	2-1
2-32.0	Punts-avg	0-0
1-5	Penalties	4-30

Riverside (6-4)	6	8	8	0 –	22
Penns Grove (6-6)	8	22	13	8 –	51

Scoring plays
PG – Bryce Wright 32 run (Bryce Wright run), 7:08 1Q
R – John Boston 3 run (run failed), 1:48 1Q
PG – Karon Ceaser 3 run (Jaden Days run), 11:02 2Q
R – Carmine Smith 10 pass from Jamir Brown (John Boston run), 4:52 1Q
PG – Jaden Days 8 run (Bryce Wright run), 2:08 2Q
PG – Knowledge Young 2 run (Bryce Wright run), 0:28 2Q
PG – Bryce Wright 3 run (kick blocked), 7:53 3Q
PG – Bryce Wright 73 run (Anthony Brown kick), 3:19 3Q
R – Carmine Smith 18 pass from Jamir Brown (John Boston run), 5:42 4Q
PG – Bryce Wright 40 run (Mahkye Murray run) 2:42 4Q

Clock runs out on Cougars

West Deptford ends Schalick’s impressive run in South Jersey Group I field hockey playoffs, 2-0 in sectional final

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Sectional finals
South: West Deptford 2, Schalick 0
North: Shore Regional 4, Boonton 0
Group I championship
West Deptford vs. Shore, Saturday

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODBURY HEIGHTS – Time ran out on the upstart Schalick field hockey team Tuesday afternoon.

The Cougars admittedly have been playing on borrowed time – or house money, if you will – in the South Jersey Group I playoffs. No one really expected them to get as far as they have. They were seeded sixth and knocked off the 2 and 3 along the way with some great playoff defense and were the highest seed to make the sectional final in the last four seasons.

But the end of the road came on the artificial turf at Gateway High School when they lost to defending state champion West Deptford 2-0 in the sectional finals.

“Nobody expected the six-seed to come to the finals and they were here,” Schalick coach Heather Cheesman said. “They played hard. It always has to come to an end. It’s always bittersweet, the end of the season.

“I don’t think we ever had any expectations. We were just taking it game by game and then once we went to the playoffs they just were on fire. They started winning, winning, winning, but, you know, all good things must come to an end.”

On paper the sectional championship looked to be an even affair. Both teams were unbeaten in their previous six games, winning the last five in a row.

But top-seeded West Deptford came out fast and stayed aggressive all game. The Eagles created 16 corners and outshot the Cougars 13-1.

“I love my defense and I’m proud we made it here, but I really just think we didn’t handle it as much as we did the other games,” Cougars goalie Lydia Gilligan said. “Offensively, I did not get as much pressure as I thought it was going to be. It was mostly on defensive pressure and wide shots.”

Both of the Eagles’ goals came in the first half and were played from the air.

Zoey Gibbons converted one of the corners into the first goal with 29.4 seconds left in the first quarter with a shot from the right side of the goal that glanced off Gilligan’s helmet. It was only the second goal the Cougars allowed in the playoffs and fourth in their unbeaten streak.

Kaylee Wonsetler made it 2-0 with 2:03 left in the first half on a shot she literally picked out of the air.

“I wish I could have jumped for that,” Gilligan said. “I should have expected that but it was straight against me and her stick was (raised high) and popped right over my head. I didn’t see it happen.”

“We have a couple girls who just have really great eye-hand coordinaton that can do it in front of the goalkeeper,” West Deptford coach Courtney Stetson said. “When Kaylee came out I said I don’t even know how you do those things sometimes.”

The Cougars (14-6-1) played better in the second half, but just couldn’t get one in the cage. They nearly got one early in the third quarter, but Caylen Taylor couldn’t turn around fast enough to get a stick on it.

“They did do better in the second half, especially that third quarter coming out,” Cheesman said. “Even the second quarter they picked it up a little bit and then the third quarter they did really well.

“After they got that second goal, we just tried to encourage them to keep their heads up. Fifteen minutes is a long time. We’ve come back from a 3-0 deficit. You can’t give up. Sometimes it just takes one to overturn the momentum.”

The Cougars were the highest seeded team to ever play in the South Jersey Group I finals since 2019. The previous high was a 4 seed. On the way to the finals they beat Bordentown (3-0), Middle Twp. (1-0) and Florence (4-1). The majority of its roster will return next season.

“Last year it was a train wreck being a freshman starter,” Gilligan said. “This year I felt a shift when the playoffs started. It happens with a lot of teams, but I really saw it with us. I felt like we had a different type of connection when it came to winning and losing in the playoffs. We just kind of understood each other a little better.

“You know, older and younger, it’s harder to get together, but I felt like we were really able to bond with our seniors, understanding this is their last year, let’s make it count. Though I wish the outcome were different, I’m proud of them, I really am. I saw a lot of improvement regards to everyone.”

West Deptford (14-3-3) will play Shore Regional (20-2) in the Group I title game Saturday at Bordentown looking for a repeat.

“Last year’s team was a surprise to everybody; they faced a dream,” Stetson said. “This year’s team, knowing what that felt like, was like we want to get back there. Everyone kind of questioned that we gave up a little too much talent, so a lot of young players had to step up and fill those shoes and they did so in such a great way.

“I think they want to prove they can do that without those girls who graduated.”

**Zoey Gibbons (35) leads the celebration after scoring West Deptford’s first goal against Schalick in the South Jersey Group I field hockey finals Tuesday.**

‘Nothing went our way’

Schalick girls falls in sectional soccer final, question integrity of what proved to be game-winning goal

GROUP 1 SECTIONAL FINALS
South: Audubon 2, Schalick 1
Central: Point Pleasant Beach 4, Shore 3
North I: Pequannock 1, Lenape Valley 0
North II: Mountain Lakes 3, New Providence 1
STATE SEMIFINALS
Thursday
Point Pleasant Beach at Audubon
Pequannock at Mountain Lakes
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Sunday
At Franklin High School, 12:30 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

AUDUBON — Will Kemp had to give the hardest post-game speech he ever has as a soccer coach and it was painful.

His Schalick girls soccer team had just played 80 hard minutes and fallen to Aubudon 2-1 in the South Jersey Group I sectional final at Green Wave Park and he had to find something to ease his players’ collective pain.

It was a game that in which, while close, admittedly not much went the Cougars’ way, especially what proved to be the game-winning goal. It was a difficult end to an otherwise outstanding season.

“Any type of post-game, post-season, speech when you don’t win it all is always tough,” Kemp said. “This is my second one that I’ve had to give. Last year we didn’t make it to the finals, this year we did, so it’s progress, the girls see it.

“It’s always tough, it’s never going to be an easy thing until you win it all. And even then it’s a hard speech because it’s over.”

The Cougars (16-5), who hadn’t given up a goal in its previous four games, fell behind 2-0.

The Green Wave (19-1-2) scored on Peyton Marrone’s header into the upper left corner off a right corner kick 8:30 into the match that keeper Carly Hayman just couldn’t get to. They got a second goal 11 minutes into the second half on a ball the Cougars are convinced crossed the end line before ending up on goal scorer Makenna Ammon’s left foot.

The Marrone goal was the first Schalick had surrendered in more than 340 minutes.

The second goal was a little less cut-and-dried for the Cougars. From a midfield vantage point it was difficult to see where the ball was when it was played back into the box, but the Schalick players pulled up and they wouldn’t do that if the ball was in bounds, they said.

The Green Wave, however, played on and got the ball to the right-footed Ammon at the top of the box. Ammon switched feet in traffic and scored from straight on.

“It was definitely over (the line),” Hayman said. “Everyone kind of stopped because everyone saw it had went out.”

“It’s a very unfortunate second goal,” Kemp said. “When you see the entire team stop, even their players stop, and the play continues after that and then the ball goes across the line. It takes away from the integrity of the game. It puts us inside a low moment, knowing for a fact the game should’ve come to a halt and a goal kick should’ve been given. But, of course, nothing that we went through today went our way.”

**Schalick coach Will Kemp gestures during the second half of Monday’s sectional championship game.**

Green Wave coach Bill Scully always has his girls play to the whistle and in this case there was no whistle, so no reason to stop.

“No. 1, I thought the ball was in play and second of all we don’t stop,” Scully said. “Our mentality is we don’t stop until something happens. We’re always looking to attack with numbers and that’s kind of what we just kept doing.”

Ammon was “pretty sure” the ball stayed in play when it got deep. At halftime, after watching his leading scorer pass up opportunities in the first half to get her teammates the ball, Scully encouraged his leading scorer to take more shots in the second half and she did and it produced her 18th goal of the season.

“Scoring that goal felt unbelievable in the moment,” Ammon said. “I didn’t think it was going to be the game-winner because we were winning by one at the time, but just scoring a goal in the final felt amazing, just knowing I put it all out there and was able to get a result out of it.”

Given the Green Wave’s standard of defense this season – they had a school-record 16 shutouts – it was going to be a challenge for Schalick to score. They had allowed only seven goals coming into the match and marked Cougars’ goal scoring machine Emily Miller tightly all game.

But Miller got one past the Green Wave’s second-half goalie Kylie Cannaday midway through the second half when she banged home the rebound after Abby Willoughby hit the crossbar. It was her 48th goal of the season, more than she ever expected to get. She scored at least one goal in each of the Cougars’ last 13 games.

The final goal of her high school career gave the Cougars a jolt of momentum but they just couldn’t get the equalizer. They had a good chance at it moments after Miller’s goal but had a 3-on-2 break interrupted by an Audubon foul with the Cougars already on the attack.

“I could barely even move around; I had a man mark me the entire game,” Miller said. “It’s upsetting it didn’t turn out the way we wanted to. I tried being up there to get us some goals and it didn’t work out.

“I was going to get that one in no matter what. It gave us momentum to get another, like let’s pick up our heads we’re not out of this completely, we’re only one goal away. We got one, we couldn’t get another.”

The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak.

The Cougars’ offense suffered a major blow later in the half when Quinn Berger left the game with a serious ankle injury. Berger had all four of the Cougars’ shots in the first half and five of their six in the match.

“The integrity of the game was lost today,” Kemp repeated.

Audubon now hosts Central Group I winner Point Pleasant Beach in the state semifinals Thursday. The championship game is Sunday at Franklin High School in Somerset.

**Audubon’s Peyton Marrone (14) redirects a corner kick into the upper left corner for the Green Wave’s first goal against Schalick in Monday’s South Jersey Group I girls soccer final.**

This week’s schedule

FOOTBALL
Friday
South Jersey Group I Championship
Woodbury at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Central Jersey Group I Championship
Glassboro at Schalick, 7 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER
Monday
Group I Sectional Championships
South: Schalick at Audubon, 3 p.m.
Central: Shore vs. Pt. Pleasant Beach
North I: Pequanock vs. Lenape Valley
North II: Mountain Lakes-New Providence

Wednesday
Group I state semifinals
Pequanock-Lenape Valley winner at Mountain Lakes-New Providence winner
Shore-Pt. Pleasant Beach winner at Schalick-Audubon winner

Sunday
Group I state championships
Franklin HS, Somerset, 12:30 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY
Tuesday
Group I Sectional Championships
South: Schalick vs. West Deptford at Gateway, 2 p.m.
North: Boonton at Shore

Saturday
Group I state championship
At Bordentown
Boonton-Shore winner vs. West Deptford-Schalick winner, noon

CROSS COUNTRY
Saturday
Meet of Champions, Holmdel Park

Elite company

Schalick’s Hadfield becomes second state XC champion from Salem County when she wins Group I race

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

HOLMDEL – Jordan Hadfield would never have dreamed or expected to have the kind of success she enjoyed in her first year running cross country this fall.

She has experience as a distance runner in outdoor and indoor track, but opening it up in the open air like she’s done this fall was something completely new. She was just hoping for a reasonably acceptable time to establish a baseline for the outdoor season.

But she’s done better. A lot better.

The Schalick junior completed what can only be described as a great first year running cross country in the best possible way Saturday. She won the NJSIAA Group I girls championship, going around the Holmdel Park course in 19:19.24.

“I’m super excited about it,” Hadfield said. “I was very nervous about it, but I’m so happy that I was able to do it because I really wanted it.

“If I were to say I’d win a state championship, it’d probably be in soccer before running if I’d have ever thought. I really wasn’t expecting this, but as the season progressed I thought maybe this is possible.”

She’s the first runner from Schalick to win a state Group title and second ever state champion from Salem County. Woodstown’s Jaime Weisgerber set the bar when she won the Group II race in 1994.

It was her ninth win in 11 races this season. The only races she didn’t win were the South Jersey Shootout (third) and the Shore Coaches Invitational (sixth), but those misses gave her a sense of what it was going to take against elite runners going forward.

She led Saturday’s race wire-to-wire, an approach that has served her best all season, and won by 14 seconds over Delana Einreinhofer of Wallkill Valley, the runner who beat her in last year’s outdoor 1600 and 3200 and at the Shore Coaches meet.

“I’m amazed every time she goes out there,” Cougars girls coach Missy Pine said. “Cross country is a difficult sport and you really can’t explain it to anybody, you have to actually try it yourself to see what it’s like.

“She’s done track for two years prior and decided this year she would give it a go with cross country and she’s done extraordinary well. We expected her to do well this season, but we never expected all that she has been able to accomplish.”

The Cougars finished 14th as a team. Elizabeth Petrunis was their second fastest runner, coming in 40th overall (22:29.56).

Metuchen won the girls and boys Group I team titles. The girls placed all five of their counters in the top 20. The boys placed all of their counters in the top 25.

The Schalick boys were 13^th as a team. Senior Charles Fuerneisen, the Salem County boys champion, was 33rd overall (18:04). Matthew Tozer was 45th (18:23).

“I thought both the boys and girls teams performed well,” Pine said. “It’s a tough course that we don’t get to run often. They did the best that they could and having the added hills and obstacles that we’re not used to, they performed at the best that they could.”

Woodstown’s Jacob Marino finished right alongside Tozer and teammate Karson Chew was 75th (19:09).

Next up for Hadfield is the Meet of Champions, next Saturday, back here at Holmdel Park.

Group I Girls

TEAM SCORES: Metuchen 61, Shore Regional 92, New Providence 133, Hasbrouck Heights 158, Glen Rock 210, Bogota 220, Haddon Twp. 223, Highland Park 227, Weehawken 244, McNair Academic 257, Kittatinny 287, Manville 295, Mountain Lakes 305, Schalick 306, Maple Shade 363, Kinnelon 380, Ridgefield Memorial 389, Audubon 406, Gloucester City 427.

TOP 5	SCHOOL	TIME
Jordan Hadfield	Schalick	19:20
Delana Einreinhofer	Wallkill Valley	19:34
Gianna Hernandez	Metuchen	20:13
Astrid Taffarello	Weehawken	20:19
Macie McCracken	Wildwood	20:19

**Schalick junior Jordan Hadfield comes through the chute to close out her win in the Group I girls state cross country race. (Submitted photos)**

Tough way to end

Schalick boys soccer ousted in South Jersey Group I sectional finals on golden goal early in OT

GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
South
Palmyra 2, Schalick 1 (OT)
Central
Shore 1, College Achieve Central 0 (OT)
North I
Mountain Lakes 1, Waldwick 0
North 2
Brearley 2, North Arlington 1
STATE SEMIFINALS
Palmyra (19-2-1) at Shore (15-7)
Brearley (12-6-1) at Mountain Lakes (13-7)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – The hardest thing for any team to see is watching an opponent celebrate on their field. The Phillies watched the Diamondbacks do it after the NLCS and then the Diamondbacks watched the Rangers do it to them in the World Series.

It’s never any fun, but that was the gut-punch that befell the Schalick boys soccer team Saturday as it glumly stood by and watched Palmyra jump up and down and raise the sectional trophy after winning 2-1 in the South Jersey Group I finals.

The Panthers won it on a golden goal by senior Richie Butler 73 seconds into overtime. Butler also scored their game-tying goal running onto a header with 5:51 left in the first half.

“That’s the best goal I’ve ever scored in my life,” Butler said. “I’ve dreamed about that when I was little. It finally happened today. I’m just in disbelief right now. Everything is so, so surreal.”

It happened at all because Butler got two bites at the apple. Andrew Santoro crossed the ball into the box from the right wing and Abdul Iyiola nudged it towards Butler with his left foot. Butler tried to scrape a shot towards the goal with his left foot and was challenged, but he recovered and sent a shot with his right foot toward the upper left corner that keeper Evan Sepers just couldn’t get.

The ball banged off the inside of the left post and instead of caroming away as all of the others that had hit the post in the match it deflected into the back of the net. It was only the second goal against Sepers in the Cougars’ last nine games.

“He put it in a perfect spot,” Sepers said. “It’s not easy to save a ball that’s put up there.”

The Panthers (19-2-1) will now play at Shore Regional (15-7) in the Group I state semifinals after its seventh straight win.

Palmyra went on the attack from the start and kept the action in Schalick’s end early on, but Bradford Foster gave the Cougars (17-5) a 1-0 lead with 18:26 left in the first half off a free kick by Jaxon Weber following a yellow-card foul. Nolan O’Toole was credited with pushing the ball towards Foster, who finished from in front of the goal.

Weber celebrated the score with a back flip.

The Cougars almost got one two and a half minutes earlier, but O’Toole was turned back on a semi-breakaway and Nathan Keen’s spinning rebound banged softly off the left post before being cleared away. And Anthony Sepers had a header glance off the post with 15 minutes left in the half.

“We had some great opportunities in that first half to put more in there,” Cougars coach Joe Mannella said. “It’s not much different feeling last game. The last game we just get that winner but we played a great game. This thing, same way. You played a great game and proud of what they did. It’s worst when you dominate a team and the team steals one from you, so we can live with that.”

Neither team scored in the second half, but both had some good opportunities. The Panthers kept the pressure up all game. They hit the post numerous times and had more than a dozen corner kicks that provided some nervous moments for the goalkeeper.

As well as both defenses played to keep the other at arm’s length, it looked for a while the game might wind up going to penalty kicks until the Panthers snuck one in early in overtime.

“I’m glad with the way we played, very happy; we played amazing,” Sepers said. “Losing 4-0 to them earlier in the season is not easy coming into this game, but I feel like we fought the entire match and they came out (on top).”

Top photo: Palmyra’s Richie Butler sends ‘the best goal I’ve ever scored in my life’ towards the upper left corner to win the match.

Simmons a ‘Shore’ thing

Quarterback scores on a 63-yard scramble in the final two minutes to lift Schalick past Shore Regional and into the Central Jersey Group I finals

CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s games
Schalick 16, Shore Regional 14
Glassboro 20, South Hunterdon 0
Championship
Friday
Glassboro at Schalick, 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Kenai Simmons has learned to be a quarterback and passer this season, but his bread and butter has always been his legs. And when it came down to having to make something happen Friday night he used those legs to carry Schalick to a place it hasn’t been in two decades.

With the Cougars whole undefeated season on the line, Simmons pulled it down on a pass play that wasn’t there and scrambled 63 yards for the touchdown with 1:20 to play to give the Cougars a 16-14 win over Shore Regional and a spot in the Central Jersey Group I finals.

The Cougars (11-0) will host Glassboro Friday in their first sectional final appearance since 2004.

“Kenai just took over the game,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “It was reminiscent of the Gloucester City game, throwing, running; he just flat out took over the game. He wasn’t going to lose.

“You’re right, he’s evolved as a passer, but he’ll break your back with his legs.”

The Cougars opened a 10-0 lead in the first quarter but had several opportunities to add a lot more and those missed chances came back to haunt them as they fell behind 14-10 midway through the third quarter.

They got their chance to win it at the end after stopping the Blue Devils (6-4) on fourth down at the 5, one of four fourth downs they won in the game. Actually, they had to cover 97 yards to get the winning score after a false start on the first snap had the back of their britches backed up to the goal line.

“There was no panic,” Wilson said, the Cougars just put their fate in the hands of their playmakers.

Reggie Allen got them some breathing room with a nice run and then Simmons hit Levi Feeney-Childers with a pass to create some more space. Then the quarterback lowered the boom.

The Cougars wanted to throw a play-action pass, but all the receivers were covered. The Blue Devils had been blitzing all night and Simmons knew it coming on that play. That’s when he pulled it down and tried to get as much as he could.

Once he got to midfield and the sideline everyone thought he was going to step out, but when Nylan Sutton and Nyzier Wynder cleared a path on the right side he saw nothing but green grass in front of him and raced to the end zone.

“I had to get in there,” Simmons said. “It was definitely a do-or-die. We had to get it done.

“You know our school’s history. They call us ‘the same old Schalick,’ ‘scrubs,’ whatever. It meant a lot (to score there) for a lot of the guys, especially our four-year seniors. They went through a lot their freshman year, getting blown out almost every game. It also meant a lot to Reggie Allen’s family. All the Allens went through Schalick and we were seeing them at the game tonight and putting on for them.”

The touchdown scramble gave him 105 rushing yards in the game, putting him at 883 for the season. He also threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jake Siedlecki in the first quarter and completed 9-of-15 passes for 122 yards.

“My history was about me using my legs a lot, not me throwing the ball, not me being a quarterback or a leader of a team,” Simmons said. “I think people have to respect that. I call it pick your poison. Whatever one you pick, you better try your hardest to stop it. I don’t want to be that quarterback who guys are like ‘this guy is gonna run.’ I definitely look at my wide receivers before I think about running.”

The Cougars still had some work to do after the touchdown and the Blue Devils didn’t make it easy for them. The visitors moved the ball downfield against the nickel package, but Siedlecki ended any threat with an interception inside the final minute.

“We found a way to win tonight,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch, it was a good, hard football game, but they found a way to win. That’s a characteristic of this team. We have games where we’re not playing perfectly, but we find a way to win football games.”

As for next week, the Cougars have played Glassboro only once before in Wilson’s four years as their head coach. It was his first game as their coach and the Cougars got crushed 54-7. In their last 24 games, however, they are 21-3.

“I feel like this is a challenge,” Simmons said. “I feel like everyone doubts us, you know how they get. We’re going to come out there and ball and give it our all and we’ll see the results. We believe in ourselves. I don’t know about anybody else.”

Schalick 16, Shore 14

SHORE		SCHAL
9	1st Downs	17
40-143	Rushing	32-175
10-16-1	Passes	9-15-1
112	Passing	122
0-0	Fum-lost	0-0
3-23.7	Punts-avg	1-39.0
5-37	Penalties	6-48

Shore Regional (6-4)	0	7	7	0 –	14
Schalick (11-0)	10	0	0	6 –	16

Scoring plays
S – Hunter Dragotta 26 FG, 6:57 1Q
S – Jake Siedlecki 26 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2:41 1Q
SR – Lucas White 5 run (Cyrus Unangst kick), 2:01 2Q
SR – CJ Sears 16 pass from Josh Moeller (Cyrus Unangst kick), 6:54 3Q
S – Kenai Simmons 63 run (pass failed), 1:20 4Q

Logan Hancock (62) leads the Schalick football team off the field after the Cougars clinched their 16-14 victory over Shore Regional. Top photo: Quarterback Kenai Simmons glides into the end zone at the end of his 63-yard touchdown run that gave the Cougars the lead. (Photos by Heather Papiano)

Woodstown wins rematch

Wolverines going back to sectional final after methodically putting down Penns Grove, awaits opponent

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s game
Woodstown 34, Penns Grove 14
Saturday’s game
Burlington City at Woodbury

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Max Webb and his Woodstown teammates have been wanting to get back to the sectional final for two years.

They did their part to make it happen Friday night. Now they wait to see who they’re playing and finish the job.

The Wolverines punched their ticket to the South Jersey Group I final Friday night by beating Penns Grove 34-14 for the second time in three weeks.

They won’t know who they’re playing until Saturday afternoon, but more than a few are not-so-secretly hoping it’s Woodbury, the team that broke their hearts the last time they played in the sectional final in 2021. Woodbury and Burlington City play Saturday morning and many of Woodstown’s players are expected to be there.

The Wolverines hoped to get back there last year for a rematch, but they were knocked out in this game by Paulsboro.

“The biggest game of my lifetime right here,” Webb said. “Next week and here, as a matter of fact. Only one other time being in this position, maybe against the team we’re about to play next week, depending on what happens. We have a chance at revenge on the team that beat us two years ago. I can’t be more excited for me, for this team, for this town. It’s awesome.”

“After our lost against Paulsboro last year we were pretty down, but this year it feels really, really good,” two-way lineman Bump Carter said.

It’ll be their fourth trip to the sectional finals since the playoff format begin in 1984 and third under coach John Adams. They are looking for their first win (Delsea, Haddonfield, Woodbury).

“I told the kids right before the game you go through life to make mistakes and learn from them,” Adams said. “We came out here last year in the rematch against Paulsboro and we made mistakes; I said we have to learn from that. I thought the kids did a pretty good job learning from that and capitalizing on getting the W today.”

But it wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t sharp against the Red Devils, a team they beat in the final week of the regular season to win the WJFL Diamond Division title outright.

This one kind of followed the same script. It was a run-dominated first half with limited possessions. The Wolverines (8-2) put together methodical drives behind its offensive line and those same linemen kept the Red Devils (5-6) from getting anything going. As a result, the Wolverines had a 14-0 lead at halftime.

Quarterback Webb mixed the run and pass well. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Bryce Belinfanti rushed for two scores, including a 61-yard burst in the fourth quarter to seal the win on a play the Wolverines had only put in prior to the last Penns Grove game.

Belinfanti finished with 145 yards. Webb rushed for 63 yards and completed 6 of 8 passes for 119 yards. He had 56 yards rushing in the first half, mostly bursting up the middle as the Wolverines exploited the Red Devils’ tendencies.

“They were real sharp on offense,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said. “Even though we didn’t give up a ton of huge plays, they were just really efficient. Our strategy was to try to take away Belinfanti and even though he had the big run the quarterback game was there and they took advantage of it.”

The Wolverines had three possessions in the first quarter and a half. They scored on the first one – on Webb’s first TD pass – and their next two were basically one 19-play touchdown drive that was split by the first of Garrett Leyman’s two first-half interceptions on the only play Penns Grove ran in the quarter to that point.

Woodstown’s Bryce Belinfanti tries to get around Penn Grove’s Justin Martin (9) during Friday night’s South Jersey Group I semifinal game. On the cover, quarterback Max Webb shows his running skills for another gain in the first half. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)

The Red Devils wanted to start fast and be within one score at halftime, but to that point in the game they had run only eight plays and trailed by two touchdowns.

While the Wolverines took their time getting to the end zone in the first half, they struck quickly in the second half. Webb hit Anthony Ford Dale on a 55-yard pass play on their first snap of the third quarter and Belinfanti broke off his 61-yarder on the first play after they regained possession.

“As soon as we got in the second half we wanted the hard play-action out of the gate and see if we could get the deep one on them, which we did,” Adams said. “And then we saw them adjust to no high safety and we were like if we can break Bryce through there he could be gone. Bryce hit that seam and he was gone.”

Penns Grove’s offense came to life in the second half, putting together two long touchdown drives that while impressive weren’t exactly conducive to driving a comeback.

Bryce Wright got the Red Devils on the board at the end of a 12-play, 68-yard drive that alternated runs between him and Karon Ceaser. And Ceaser scored their second touchdown at the end of a 10-play, 82-yard drive that featured the same two players.

Wright rushed for 116 yards on 24 carries and finished with 1,082 for the season. He’s the Red Devils’ first 1,000-yard rusher since 2020. Ceaser, a freshman, finished with 58 yards on 14 carries to surpass 900.

“I thought we played better in the second half; we kind of figured some things out,” Emel said. “We’re not a passing team and we threw two picks in the first half and they threw two touchdowns … and that was really the difference in the game.

“To win in the second round in the playoffs and to win a championship you’ve got to be a complete team and those guys were a complete team tonight.”

Woodstown 34, Penns Grove 14

PG		WOOD
12	1st Downs	15
41-170	Rushing	29-200
2-5-2	Passes	6-8-0
3	Passing	119
1-0	Fum-Lost	0-0
4-18.7	Punts-avg	0-0
3-30	Penalties	3-30

Penns Grove (5-6)	0	0	8	6 –	14
Woodstown (8-2)	7	7	6	14 –	34

Scoring plays
W – Bobby Donahue 27 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick), 8:38 1Q
W – Bryce Belinfanti 2 run (Jake Ware kick), 4:34 2Q
W – Anthony Ford Dale 45 pass from Max Webb (kick failed), 9:23 3Q
P – Bryce Wright 5 run (KaRon Ceaser pass from Bryce Wright), 2:11 3Q
W – Max Webb 1 run (Jake Ware kick), 8:06 4Q
W – Bryce Belinfanti 61 run (Jake Ware kick), 5:56 4Q
P – KaRon Ceaser 17 run (pass failed), 1:34 4Q