Salem suffers tough loss

Rams appeared to control game with Paulsboro, but give up go-ahead touchdown and conversion with less than four minutes to play

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – Kemp Carr walked down the air-conditioned hallway after a hot afternoon of football a defeated man.

“It’s a horrible loss,” the Salem coach said three times as he approached the door to his office.

And all for the want of making a play. The Rams had several chances to make one Saturday but didn’t. Paulsboro did when it counted and handed them an 8-6 loss.

Paulsboro quarterback Jahsir Johnson connected with Jeremiah Carr on a 15-yard touchdown pass and the go-ahead two-point conversion with 3:27 to play, then the Red Raiders intercepted an Owen McDonald pass with 1:31 to play to seal it.

“We needed to make two plays,” Carr said. ”We got them in fourth-and-16 and we don’t make the play; our kids have to understand we don’t need an interception there we just need to knock the ball down – and we know where the ball’s going. We didn’t make a second play, it’s 6-6, they go for 2, we know it’s pass, they hadn’t run the ball all day. We know it’s power fade. We knew that. We just have to knock the ball down.

“That’s what makes it a bad loss because we controlled the game. We controlled the clock. We controlled the score. We controlled the ball. In the fourth quarter we shouldn’t fold. We had them exactly where we wanted them. We’ve got to go down there and execute.”

Instead, it was the Red Raiders (2-0) who made the crucial play. Johnson had three huge completions in the go-ahead drive. He hit his Carr on a jump ball with the defensive back there for 24 yards on fourth-and-10 from his own 35 early in the drive. He later hit Julian Gaines for 21 following a big sack to get into the Red Raiders into the red zone, and then hit Carr for the score and then went back to him for the conversion.

“We didn’t play good, I don’t even know what to say; we gutted it out,” Paulsboro coach Kevin Harvey said. “Made a couple plays and that was the game. We just made a play, man. That’s why they’re out there, to make plays. I don’t know what to say.”

“Jeremiah Car made a big play,” Johnson said. “Always. He’s a playmaker. You can’t say too much, he’s just special.”

**Salem’s Kamal Chatum (2) and Tony Merendino (52) converge on Paulsboro quarterback Jiyayre Thomas in the first half of Saturday’s game.**

There was nothing more gutsy than the fourth-down call from the 35. With more than half the quarter left, some coaches would choose to punt, figuring they’d get a stop and then get the ball back with time to mount a winning drive. The players, receiver Marques Eli in particular, convinced their coach go for it with 7:33 to play and it paid off.

“I thought about punting but the kids wanted to go for it,” Harvey said. “I said all right, we’ll go for it. Put our best guy out there, threw it to our guy and he made a play.”

The Rams still had time to answer and drove it to the Paulsboro 31, but McDonald was intercepted to end the threat. In the freshman’s defense he was blasted as he was throwing the ball leaving it up for grabs. The Red Raiders took a couple knees to run out the clock.

The Rams (0-2) scored their touchdown earlier in the quarter when Cashmir Parsley returned to the field after receiving treatment for leg cramps and blasted his way into the end zone on fourth down from inside the 2. The play came right after Jeremiah Carr was flagged for pass interference on Ahmad Tucker in the end zone, a penalty that no longer carries an automatic first down but got them a few feet closer to the goal line.

“My mindset was we had to go score; I just took my opportunities and did what I could do,” Parsley said.

Trainers were working on his leg when the pass interference got called, but the sophomore asked to go back in after the penalty put the Rams on the doorstep. He said the leg felt good when he went back into the game, but he was back in the trainer’s care after the score when someone hit the back of his leg on the play.

Parsley was the Rams’ workhorse in the third quarter, carrying it on eight of the first nine plays of the drive before cramping.

The teams slugged through a scoreless first half that included little offense and a bizarre final six minutes that had a little bit of everything except a score. There were 12 plays and eight penalties in the drive that only covered 22 net yards start to finish.

It started with a Paulsboro timeout after change of possession and then Myshon Barnes caught Jiyayre Thomas for a 13-yard sack on the first play followed by back-to-back Paulsboro penalties. The Rams appeared to have stopped the drive when they forced Paulsboro to punt on fourth-and-38 from the 21, but they came after the punter and were called for roughing, then were hit with a personal foul on the next snap that brought the ball across midfield.

The Red Raiders came up empty when the Rams’ Blue Storm defense that Carr said “played extremely well” swamped Jackson for another sack and fumble that David Harris recovered with 25 seconds left in the half. And even that play, the coach explained, could’ve been handled better.

PAULS (8)		SAL (6)
11	First Downs	9
30-58	Rushing	28-116
10-19-1	Passes (C-A-I)	3-14-2
96	Passing	31
1-1	Fumbles-Lost	1-1
3-33.0	Punts-Yards	3-33.3
17-105	Penalties-Yards	11-100

Paulsboro (2-0)	0	0	0	8-	8
Salem (0-2)	0	0	0	6-	6

SCORING SUMMARY
S-Cashmir Parsley 1 run (kick failed), 11:13 4Q
P-Jeremiah Carr 15 pass from Jahsir Johnson (Jeremiah Carr pass from Jahsir Johnson), 3:27 4Q

Muy bueno in Buena

Freshman running back, new coach made good first impression as Penns Grove overruns Buena 48-20 for first win since 2024

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

BUENA — Freshman running back Jaivon Thomas couldn’t have made a better first impression. And neither could the Penns Grove football team in its first game under coach Damian Ware.

Ware had spoken often about the potential Thomas to be a “future phenom” and he lived up that projection, rushing for 290 yards and accounting for four touchdowns as the Red Devils swamped Buena 48-20 for their first win since 2024.

“He’s amazing, man, that’s all I can say,” Ware said. “If you saw some of these runs that he had today, I don’t know how he got out of there, but he got out of there.”

The last freshman back to have such an impactful debut for the Red Devils was Karon Ceaser, who rushed for 155 yards and two scores against Burlington City in 2023. Ceaser at the time was the first starting freshman running back for Penns Grove in years.

Thomas scored on a 17-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and scoring bursts of 70 and 60 in the fourth quarter. He threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Wooton in the second quarter and also had an interception on defense.

Terrell Thomas rushed for 85 yards on nine carries and scored three touchdowns on runs of 20, 29 and 5 yards. Wooton caught four passes for 69 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, Terrell Thomas had eight tackles, a forced fumble and a recovery, and Jakai Ingram had seven tackles.

The Red Devils went 0-9 last season and hadn’t won a game since their season-finale in 2024. They got a taste of victory in a 31-6 scrimmage win over Wildwood, but Friday night’s game was the first one that counted.

“I’m going to give it all up to the kids,” Ware said. “They’re buying into what we’ve been teaching and all the things that we’ve done in the offseason, all the work we’ve been putting in since July 1 when we officially started training camp, and it kind of all came together in the first quarter.”

The Red Devils jumped out front 26-0, then ran into some adversity in the form of players cramping. Buena scored 12 points in the second quarter against a third-string defensive back and a blocked punt return to make it 26-12 at halftime. The Red Devils extended their lead with two touchdowns in the third quarter.

“At the start of the third quarter we really dug deep,” Ware said. “My message to them at halftime was it’s football. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be a war, it’s going to be a battle and it’s going to hurt sometimes and you’ve got to just be able to fight through it and push through it.”

The last time the Red Devils won a season opener was 2022. With all the changes that took place within the program in the offseason, they were possibly the only people who believed they could do it this time. Preseason projections from the so-called experts had them finishing last in the WJFL Independence Division.

“I don’t think the hopes were high,” Ware said. “One thing I did see was they had us finishing last in our division, so obviously they didn’t think we were going to do anything. So to come out today and get this win, a pretty convincing win against a good Buena team, that was a good look for us. And a good confidence builder for the kids coming off a winless season last year to start the season with a win. Now they really believe.”

“I feel like we did what we had to do, but there definitely is room to get better,” Wooton said. “When we work together as a team, we do some good things. Last year we weren’t as disciplined, but it starts up front with the line. Without them we can’t do anything.”

Record breaker

Saulin sets Salem CC women’s cross country record in season-opening meet at West Chester; includes all the non-football action from Friday’s Salem County sports calendar

By Riverview Sports News

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Isabelle Saulin ran the fastest time in Salem CC women’s cross country history Friday when she led the Mighty Oaks across the line in the West Chester Season Opener.

While the official women’s race results are pending, Saulin, a freshman from Pennsville, ran a 28:52.9 over the 5000-meter course. The previous school record was 32:15.50, set by Chantelle Haskie last year in the Mighty Oaks’ return to the sport. The standing mark at the time was Emily McGlamery’s 2019 time of 32:24.60.

George Nelson was fastest among the Salem CC men, running a 26:00.0.

“It was the first time in SCC history cross country has two full teams competing,” coach Ashley Johnson said. “This course is the toughest course they will see all season. It was a great experience.”

Prep sports

GIRLS SOCCER
Paulsboro 5, Salem 3: Gabby Hicks scored four goals for the Red Raiders. Lyrice Hayes scored Salem’s first goal and assisted on Carlysia Pierce’s goal in the second half.
FIELD HOCKEY
Delran 7, Schalick 0

Sending a message

Schalick laying a claim to be in conversation for the best team in Group 1 after second straight dominant win; Bartee runs for 238 yards, 4 TDs

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — For the second week in a row Schalick opened the game with something unexpected. It didn’t work out as planned, but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t impact the end result.

The Cougars might not have been as prolific as they were in last week’s season opener, but once they got in gear they were just as dominant. And dominant was the operative word.

Quarterback Kenny Bartee rushed for a career-high 238 yards and four touchdowns, the defense held their opponent to less than 100 yards until the final play and it all added up to a 28-6 win over Burlington City in the WJFL Diamond Division opener for both teams.

“We started a little slow,” Cougars coach Kevin Leamy said. “It’s still September, the second week of the week, we don’t have to be good all the time right now.

“We have to learn from our mistakes. We have to continue to get better. And we have to be more consistent through games, not do it only in the second half or only in the first half. We just have to be more consistent. If we can figure that out by November, we’ll be all right.”

Bartee scored on runs of 28, 61, 17 and 56 yards for the second four-TD game of his career. He would have had a fifth and close to 300 yards rushing had another big run not been called back by a penalty. His first and third touchdowns were Bartee Bulldozers, runs in which he simply bowled over potential tacklers at various points in the run.

The first one he steamrolled BC’s Donato Perro at the goal line to get into the end zone. On the other he blew up a challenger in the backfield to open a running lane.

“I just felt like I had something to prove,” Bartee said. “Last week I didn’t have the game I wanted to have, so this week I came out with the mentality like I’m here for my team. This is going to be a really hard game, they were a really good team last year – they went 12-1 – I just gotta come out and prove to them that we are the best team in Group 1 and we’re going to show them.”

He also came in with a different pair of shoes. It had to be the shoes. He did all his damage in the old-school black cleats, scrapping the dazzling green-and-gold pair he sported in last week’s 63-6 rout of Maple Shade.

“Today I came in with my old cleats and I just felt great out here,” he said. “The cleats were hurting my feet. It was either SWAG or the feet not hurting, and I chose feet not to hurt.”

The Cougars never really got going until the second half. They had a 7-0 lead at halftime, but had almost as many yards in penalties as they did in total offense. It was a different story in the second half as they rolled up 290 yards of offense — all on the ground — and scored three touchdowns.

They showed they meant business right off the bat with Bartee going 61 yards on the second play from scrimmage. But it wasn’t just the quarterback being the big mover. Ayden Jenkins ran for 51 yards on seven hard-nosed carries in the third quarter.

“The linemen really locked in in the third quarter,” Jenkins said. “They did what they had to do. There were a couple holes, but they were making it happen. It’s hard to get going when it’s hot outside. I think the second half it really turned on. We got a little energy coming out of halftime.”

**The Burlington City line does a good job of protecting quarterback Mason Shansey (2) on this play, but the Schalick defense had him on the run all game.**

The defense was stout throughout. They kept Blue Devils quarterback Mason Shansey on the run all night, intercepted three passes, and held them to 81 yards of net offense until Darius Davis broke off an 82-yard run with 40 seconds left in the game to ruin the shutout.

“The way the defense played, we came out there and dominated,” said cornerback Gio Alicea, who had two of the three picks and now has three in two games. “On the pass we were playing pressure, every time he had to run, scramble, so he was getting nervous back there. He kept throwing it up and my defense got it.”

“All you need to know is we’re coming, we’re coming and we’re the best Group 1 team in South Jersey,” linebacker DezYon Purnell said. “Our chemistry is there. Everybody has been playing together since we were kids, since we were like 5-6. All our chemistry is just here. We’re locked in. That’s what makes the defense better, like the whole team is better.”

Most coaches would bristle at hearing a player throw down the “we are the best” gauntlet like Bartee and Purnell have. It might be OK to think it, they’d usually say, but keep it in the house. But Leamy likes the outward expression of confidence, even if it is his job to temper it a little.

“That has been their mentality the whole year,” Leamy said. “They’re 15-, 16-year old kids, they should feel like that; they should want to be the best in Group 1. The coaching staff counterbalances that by repeatedly saying that is not our goal. We have very different goals as the coaching staff than they do as kids, which I think is healthy.

“I want them to be confident, but our job is to humble them and to change those ways to make it more micro. We need to be good at practice. We need to be good day-to-day. We want them to be confident, we want them to be aggressive, but it’s our job to pull that into the right direction.”

For the second week in a row the Cougars tried to catch everyone off guard with a novel play at the start. Last week on their first snap of the season they opened with Bartee throwing a long pass to David Stewart for a touchdown that was called back by a penalty. This week they opened with an onsides kick the officials ruled didn’t go the requisite 10 yards before kicker Shawn Kelly, who followed the ball off the tee, touched it and awarded it to the Blue Devils; the Cougars insisted he didn’t touch it early.

In any event, it was a play the staff rolled out to show the players the confidence they had in their ability to respond.

“We want to send the message to the players that the coaching staff believes in them to win so we’re going to be super aggressive in putting them in situations to take advantage of things we feel going into the week we can take advantage of,” Leamy said. “We’re always going to push those boundaries to be aggressive because we believe they’re good enough to make the plays when they’re called.”

BC		SCH
8	First Downs	16
13-82	Rushing	42-368
9-24-3	Passing (C-A-I)	1-7-0
81	Passing Yards	35
1-1	Fumbles-Lost	0-0
2-26.5	Punts-Avg.	4-35.0
4-30	Penalties-Yards	16-145

Burlington City	0	0	0	6-	6
Schalick	0	7	7	14-	28

SCORING SUMMARY
S-Kenny Bartee 28 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 10:59 2Q
S-Kenny Bartee 61 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 10:55 3Q
S-Kenny Bartee 17 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 11:19 4Q
S-Kenny Bartee 56 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 2:39 4Q
BC-Darius Davis 18 run (pass failed), 0:40 4Q

**Schalick’s Nick Lopergolo (8) draw a bead on Burlington City’s Darius Davis.**

Wolverines bounce back

Woodstown rebounds from tough loss in opener, scores a late touchdown to turn back Clayton

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CLAYTON – The last time Woodstown’s football team stepped onto Haupt Field, the Wolverines pulled off a victory to bring a positive close to an otherwise disappointing 2025 campaign. They returned to the scene Thursday night, this time hoping to jump start a new season.

The Wolverines bounced back from a season-opening overtime loss six days earlier to beat Clayton 7-6. Mason Middlemiss scored the tying touchdown on a quarterback sneak and Jack Bucksar kicked the go-ahead extra point with four minutes left in the game.

“It’s always good to get the first win of the season,” Woodstown coach Frank Trautz said. “We definitely are going to use this hopefully to jump-start our season now and get it rolling.”

Trautz called it an “old-school, smashmouth, grind-it-out, physical football game.”

The Clippers found the end zone first, converting an turnover into a touchdown drive midway through the second quarter, but Wolverines’ defensive back Andrew White broke up the conversion attempt in the back of the end zone to keep it 6-0. The Wolverines’ defense held them out the rest of the game and Noah Chiu sealed the win with an interception after they took the lead.

“I thought our defense played their tails off all night,” Trautz said. “They really came to play tonight. I was super proud of them. (Assistant coach Matt Smart) called the defense, did a great job, so it was awesome.”

Clayton’s defense was having the same kind of success, but the Wolverines put together a drive in the fourth quarter punctuated by several big runs by Middlemiss, Nehemiah Carter and Cole Ware dragging tacklers to set up the winning touchdown.

“I think our guys were very focused all week, eager to get back on the field after what happened last week,” Trautz said. “They’re a big, physical football team. We knew it was going to be that kind of a dogfight and it was.

“I thought our kids really answered the bell well and rose to the challenge. Another away game, a tough opponent, coming off an overtime loss, I thought we handled it well and it’s kind of the message I said to the kids last week: We’ve got to learn how to win these tough, close games and this was a big step forward in to doing that.”

Woodstown (1-1)	0	0	0	7-	7
Clayton (1-1)	0	6	0	0-	6

Finding a way

Woodstown scores two late goals to turn back Pennsville; also includes scores and highlights from Thursday’s Salem County sports calendar

BOYS SOCCER
Woodstown 5, Pennsville 4
GIRLS SOCCER
Woodstown 5, Pennsville 2
GIRLS TENNIS
Woodstown 5, Penns Grove 0
Schalick 5, Overbrook 0
Pitman 4, Pennsville 1
Glassboro 5, Salem 0

By Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — Ayden Ellis scored on a 35-yard free kick with 5:13 left in the match and Woodstown scored twice in the final 14 minutes to finally shake Pennsville 5-4 in an intense season-opener for both teams.

The Wolverines could never seem to shake their hosts until the end. Woodstown held leads at three different times in the match, but each time the Eagles tied it.

“We were really close on scoring many opportunity, but just couldn’t put it away,” Woodstown coach Darren Huck said. “They ended up taking advantage of some mistakes we made in the back to go up and then my guys showed a lot of heart and a lot of grit and kept working.”

The Eagles looked like they had all the momentum after Lucas Cooksey and Sam Hassler scored in the first two minutes of the second half to give Pennsville its first lead 4-3 and Lachlann Hooks was turning back the Wolverines in the goal.

Jake Lewis got Woodstown’s equalizer with 13:56 to play and then Ellis won it with his second goal of the match on the free kick.

“I thought the second half we played a lot better and we had the ball down at our end most of the time, but scoring goals is not easy,” Huck said. “We found a way to score a couple goals late and pull out the victory.”

Nick DiTeodoro also scored a pair of goals for Woodstown. Hassler scored twice for Pennsville. Justin Muchaca’s header off a Cooksey corner kick was Pennsville’s other goal.

Both teams had shots hit the pipes in the first half that could’ve been their second goal. Pennsville’s John Sassi hit the cross bar midway through the half and Woodstown’s Ethan Cotton banged one off the right post seven minutes later.

Top photo: Woodstown’s Tommy Tucci brings the ball upfield under the watchful eye of the Pennsville defense.

Girls soccer

WOODSTOWN 5, PENNSVILLE 2: Freshman Korynn Hernandez burst on the local scene with a hat trick and Hailey Kucharczuk scored two goals to power the Wolverines in their first full game of the season. They opened the season with a scoreless draw with Vineland in a game that was suspended at halftime due to the excessive heat.

On this day, the Wolverines erupted for four goals in the first half. They scored their five goals on 10 shots.

“Hailey was our leading scorer last year so it was great to see her find the back of the net right away,” Woodstown coach Kieran Keyser said.

Tennis

WOODSTOWN 5, PENNS GROVE 0
Madison LaPalomento (WO) def. Adanelys Lopez Melendez, 6-0, 6-0
Emma West (WO) def. Kavila Pulchard, 6-1, 6-3
Angelina Lindenmuth (WO) def. Valeria Torres, 6-1, 6-0
Emilee Kehr-Elliana Norman (WO) def. Andrew Chaparro-Stephani Recinos, 6-0, 6-0
Isabella Lindenmuth-Eleanora Lawson (WO) def. Cadence Jackson-Clarisleidy Smith, 6-2, 6-0
Records: Woodstown 1-2, Penns Grove 0-1.

SCHALICK 5, OVERBROOK 0
Olivia Lunemann (S) def. Isabella Sepulveda, 6-0, 6-1
Sebrina Bradford (S) def. Madison Rikard, 6-0, 6-1
Jasmine Hunt (S) def. Heaven Williams, 6-0, 6-0
River Wojcik-Abigail Sotela Hernandez (S) def. Nicola Cusato-Emma Acevedo, 6-0, 6-3
Janae White-Brooke Brown (S) def. Gianna Harding-Liana Grant-Williams, 6-0, 6-0
Records: Schalick 2-1, Overbrook 0-1.

PITMAN 4, PENNSVILLE 1
First singles not reported
Kendall Bennett (PI) def. Naomi Hess, 6-2, 6-1
Paisley Weber (PV) def. Mikaela Totora, 6-4, 2-6, 10-8
Listella Eisenhardt-Delaney Pierson (PI) def. Aubrey Hall-Juliana Thomas, 6-1, 6-0
Anna Jones-Mia Gladney (PI) def. Marissa Dowell-Yasary Clemente Brito, 6-0, 6-0
Records: Pitman 1-3, Pennsville 1-1.

GLASSBORO 5, SALEM 0
Alana Killelea (G) def. Heaven Jones-McCullough, 6-0, 6-3
Taylor Adcock (G) def. JaNye Hubbard, 6-2, 6-4
Alice Dinzeo (G) def. Evangelyn Jiminez Barreto, 6-1, 6-0
Amani George-Sofia Dungca (G) def. Erica Brewer-Aleena Allen, 6-1, 6-0
Conception Soriano-Ijeoma Ufomba (G) won by forfeit
Records: Glassboro 1-0, Salem 0-1.

Eagles come up short

Pennsville’s two-point conversion attempt in the final minute falls incomplete, Overbrook wins a close one for the second year in a row

WHAT TO KNOW

Pennsville’s two-point conversion pass in final minute falls incomplete, Eagles fall 28-26

Eagles QB Jake Layfield throws for 268 yards, 3 TDs; Johnson catches 8 for 117 and 2 scores

Overbrook’s Axcel Bailey rushes for 153 yards, 3 TDs

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – The home team made play after play in the fourth quarter – on both sides of the ball – to keep itself in the game. It needed to make one more play on offense in the final minute to extend the game, but just came up a little short.

Jake Layfield’s potential game-tying two-point conversion pass with 47.9 seconds to play Thursday night fell incomplete in the end zone, sending Pennsville to a 28-26 loss to Overbrook in their WJFL Diamond Division opener instead of a chance to win in overtime for the second week in a row.

It was the second year in a row the Overbrook-Pennsville game was decided by two points or less.

“I’ve been doing this now long enough where it’s going to suck no matter what,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “It goes that way sometimes and you’ve gotta understand it’s a tough loss, but I have more confidence in this team now, and they should feel more confident with the way they been playing, fighting back.

“Sometimes plays are gonna go your way, sometimes they’re not. It’s frustrating, but I think the big thing for us is to not put ourselves in a hole where we have to depend on one play.”

**Chase Johnson had another big game at receiver Thursday, catching eight passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns.**

The Eagles fell behind 16-0 midway through the second quarter after the second of Axcel Bailey’s three Overbrook touchdowns, but once they got their bearings they gave themselves every chance to change the outcome.

They put together a 17-play drive in the second quarter to score their first touchdown right before the half. They turned the Rams back twice from inside the 10 – once after they had reached the 1 – to keep it a two-point game. Then in the fourth quarter, when there were four touchdowns in the final 4:39, they twice turned away the Rams’ two-point conversions to keep it a one-score game. Of course, they didn’t make either of their conversions, either.

“We’ve played Pennsville now for 7-8 years and it’s been a battle every year,” Overbrook coach Frank Wilczynski said. “I said to the guys at halftime it’s going to be a battle of attrition. We were lucky to make the last play tonight. That takes some years off you.”

The Eagles moved into position to tie the game when Layfield connected with C.J. Johnson on a 34-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. It was one of six fourth-down conversions they made in the game. On the two-point try to tie, Layfield rolled out and was looking for his options in the end zone, but his pass fell in a void between Tristan Horner and Aiden Collazo. The Rams recovered the short ensuing kickoff and took a knee twice to run out the clock.

“We liked the play, we ran the play,” Healy said. “It’s a play we feel confident in running. We feel confident with that at any point. We’ve had a lot of success with it, it’s just that we didn’t execute that time and get the play done. We ran it earlier in the game. We’ve run it already this season. We like the play, it’s just that time we just didn’t execute it and it was an incomplete pass.”

“It was a pocket pass,” Layfield said. “I was looking for a quick five-and-out, which I’ve hit a lot in the game, but it wasn’t there, so I started to roll with it, hoping something would pop open like it did last time. I saw my guy in the back of the end zone and I just led him too far. That’s one of the ones I need to hit like that. That’s detrimental. That needs to be a better throw. I just missed him.”

“I thought we did a good job on that play of really stringing it out,” Wilczynski said. “They did a good job with their ball-handling in the backfield on the (touchdown) play before. Our defensive end comes unblocked but the quarterback gives a good fake and gets outside and beats the leverage. On that (conversion) one we were able to flush him and the defensive backs did their jobs and didn’t give him an opportunity to complete the pass.”

Layfield completed 27 of 43 passes for 268 yards in the game with three touchdowns and two interceptions on batted balls – three picks if you count the one on an conversion attempt – but lamented missing a number of throws. Johnson caught eight passes for 117 yards. Lucas Thomas and Collazo caught seven and six, respectively.

Pennsville’s decision to keep going for two wasn’t due to any misgivings they had about a kicker. It was simply in response to Overbrook going for two. Extra points do no good when the other team keeps going for two.

The Rams appeared to have delivered the knockout blow several times in the fourth quarter, but every time the Eagles answered.

The first came with 4:39 left when Andrew Powell blocked a Pennsville punt and Xyon Marshall fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown, but Pennsville stopped Axcel Bailey on the two-point try to keep it an eight-point game.

Danny Knight got the Eagles right back in it when he returned the kickoff 75 yards to the Overbrook 15 and Horner eventually got into the end zone from 4 to make it 22-20 with 2:37 to play. The Rams intercepted the conversion pass to maintain their lead.

It surely should’ve been over when Rams star running back Axcel Bailey went 56 yards up the left sideline for his third touchdown of the game, making it 28-20 with 2:16 left. But the Eagles still had a chance after Jacob Kimani blew up the conversion attempt to give them one last chance to tie. Bailey finished the game with 153 yards rushing on 26 carries, but outside of the big fourth-quarter run, he had only 14 other yards rushing in the second half.

“It’s two straight weeks starting slow,” Healy said. “We need to understand when the game starts we don’t have time for that lull. Last week we put ourselves in a hole (14-0 in the second quarter), we were able to come back. This week we put ourselves in a hole, we fight back and do a good job, but we put ourselves in that hole to start. The one thing I’m really happy about is the last two weeks we played hard to the end of the game, but we make things difficult on ourselves.”

**Tristan Horner cuts through a hole and looks for running room during Thursday’s game against Overbrook.**

Overbrook 28, Pennsville 26

OVER (28)		PMHS (26)
11	First downs	14
36-162	Rushing-yards	20-25
4-10-1	Passing (C-A-I)	27-43-2
130	Passing yards	268
0-0	Fumbles-lost	0-0
0-0	Punts-average	0-0
4-25	Penalties-yards	4-16

Overbrook (1-1)	8	8	0	12-	28
Pennsville (1-1)	0	8	6	12-	26

SCORING SUMMARY
O-Axcel Bailey 4 run (Andrew Gattuso run), 5:21 1Q
O-Axcel Bailey 1 run (Nicholas Duvall pass from Mark Hailstork), 5:38 2Q
P-Lucas Thomas 6 pass from Jake Layfield (Danny Knight pass from Jake Layfield), 0:30 2Q
P-CJ Johnson 6 pass from Jake Layfield (run failed), 5:07 3Q
O-Xyon Marshall recovered blocked punt in end zone (run failed), 4:39 4Q
P-Tristan Horner 4 run (pass failed), 2:37 4Q
O-Axcel Bailey 56 run (run failed), 2:16 4Q
P-CJ Johnson 34 pass from Jake Layfield (pass failed), 0:48

**Pennsville’s Danny Knight (2) races past several Overbrook defenders on his 75-yard kickoff return that set up Eagles touchdown. (Photos by Lucky Shots)**

Making progress

First-year Salem CC volleyball team shows signs of progress, grabs first lead, deepest lead of season in loss to Middlesex

REGION XIX VOLLEYBALL
Wednesday’s Matches
Middlesex 3, Salem CC 0
Howard CC 3, Harrisburg Area 1

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The Salem CC volleyball team is still looking for that historic first program win. It’s early in their inaugural season, but each time the Mighty Oaks have taken the floor they’ve seen signs it’s getting closer.

The Mighty Oaks made a little history Wednesday night, playing the first home volleyball match in school history. They lost to Middlesex 3-0 in DuPont Fieldhouse, but continue, as the kids say, trending upwards. The set scores were 25-16, 25-17, 25-18.

The signs are all there. They grabbed their first lead off the year with the first point of the match and held a lead in all three sets. They led deeper in a set than they had all year. They set a school record for points in the first set and increased their point production in each set that followed. They put together a nice run to make the second set close and carried it over to an early lead in the third set before Middlesex rallied to complete the sweep.

“Each time we’ve hit the court, plus with the scrimmages we’ve had, we have bested our score every time,” Mighty Oaks coach Andrea Bartlett said. “Every time we hit the floor we’re getting better, better and better. Small pieces are starting to come together. We’re starting to get a nice flow. So next time the goal will be at the very least to get 19 points instead of 18 points, and then 20 and then 21 and then hopefully eventually we’ll get that set win.”

The Mighty Oaks (0-3) lost the first two matches in program history over the weekend. They were mauled by nationally ranked host Northampton, scoring 14 total points the entire match, but held their own in the three sets with Nassau CC.

Their spirit began to show in the second set against the Colts. They faced set point at 24-11, then ran off six straight points with Tiara Bazemore serving and setting to get within 24-17 before a hitting error ended the set. Bazemore, a freshman from Salem Tech, was the first player Bartlett signed into the program.

“Out of all the games we’ve played, this was definitely the best,” Bazemore said. “Every game we’re getting more points. We’re definitely improving, especially the new players.”

The momentum they built at the finish carried over to the third set. They opened up a quick 7-3 lead and held it until a three-point run gave the Middlesex a 14-13 lead. The set was tied at 14, 15, 16 and 17, then Middlesex ran off a seven straight points and then closed it out when Bazemore challenged Brynn Conover at the net and the ball stayed on Salem’s side.

“I don’t want this to sound bad, but what we lack in skill we make up for in heart,” Bartlett said. “They are all in. They are working hard every day. Half the team is brand new, like have never touched a volleyball in their life, so the fact they come in and are getting better and better like every day that’s a win to me even if it’s not a win on the scoreboard.”

If Wednesday was any indication, getting the real thing is just a matter of time.

“The wins will come eventually,” Bartlett said. “I want them to be all-in and ready to work hard and know that all the hard work they’re putting in will eventually show up on the court. It’s not going to be as fast as they want it to be, but it will eventually show up as long as they continue to lock in.”

Starting off strong

Salem Tech boys soccer opens its season with a shutout, NJTAC Tournament win over Cape May Tech, includes full tournament pairings

NJTAC TOURNAMENT
No. 1 Essex Tech bye
No. 9 Sussex Tech at No. 8 Warren Tech
No. 12 Morris Tech at No. 5 West Caldwell Tech
No. 13 Perth Amboy Tech at No. 4 Woodbridge Academy
No. 11 East Brunswick Tech at No. 6 Edison Academy
No. 14 Piscataway Tech at No. 3 Somerset Tech
No. 7 Salem Tech 4, No. 10 Cape May Tech 0
No. 15 Medford Tech at No. 2 Camden County Tech

WHAT TO KNOW

Salem Tech wins first-round game in NJTAC Tournament

Logan Pace scores twice, Aiden Bobo posts shutout

Avery Reed, Carrington Profitt, both of whom missed considerable time last year to injury, each scored a goal in the opener

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – A lot of Salem Tech’s soccer expectations last year were built around the availability of Avery Reed and Carrington Profitt. Both got hurt and missed considerable time and the Chargers’ fortunes fell.

The Chargers have high expectations this year and Reed and Profitt again are a big reason, one on the top end to score and distribute the ball, the other anchoring the back line of defense..

They returned Wednesday and made an immediate impact, scoring the Chargers’ first two goals of the season in a 4-0 win over Cape May Tech in the opening round of the NJTAC Groups 1-2 Tournament. The seventh-seeded Chargers will play the Medford Tech-Camden County Tech winner on a date to be determined.

“They were a big part of our plans last year and when both of them went down it kind of had an impact, for sure,” Chargers coach Rob Polk said. “We saw a little bit today of what we expected to see last year, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what these two can bring to the table the rest of the season.

“From the standpoint of the whole group, coming into preseason, Coach (Mark Kasubinski) and I talk about it all the time, we haven’t had a group since this program started that came in more fit, ready to play. We were excited from Day One. There was something about this year just felt different. We’re only one game in, but the style of play we want was showing itself today, playing against a team that the last two years always seemed to be a close game and we weren’t able to come through.”

They did on this day, though. Reed, who played only two games last year because of a hip flexor injury that impacted him the rest of the school year, scored the Chargers’ first goal of the season in the sixth minute. Profitt, who missed considerable time with a hamstring issue, scored the second goal six minutes later on a 30-yard free kick.

Logan Pace, the team’s heart and soul up the middle to Profitt’s rock in the back, scored the Chargers’ other two goals. Josh Woroniak had a pair of assists and Aiden Bobo made six saves in posting the shutout.

**Salem Tech’s Daniel Marandola (20) brings the ball into Cape May Tech territory as the Wildcats’** **Christian Brunell contemplates a challenge.**

Reed wasted little time showing he was back. Pace got the play going when he pushed the ball through traffic, Woroniak controlled it and fed it to Reed who was one-on-one with Wildcats keeper J.J. Wenker in the box and the sophomore nudged it into the left side of the goal.

Reed scored a goal against the Wildcats last year, but he also felt responsible for giving up the game-winner right before the end of overtime.

“Last season missing a lot of games I wanted to come back and do something,” he said. “I had a lot of potential last year and I was supposedly going to be a starter, scoring a lot of goals, then I sat out, so I knew I had to do that this year coming into the season.”

Profitt typically takes the team’s longer free kicks and was the choice for this one because two of the other options when the Chargers are looking for shots were both out of the game at the time and a third was injured. He lined up confidently, got it around the defensive wall the Wildcats set up and tucked it just inside the right post. Wenker got his hands on it, but his gloves were just too wet to keep the wet ball from slipping through.

“I’ve had a lot of chances, a lot of opportunities, it was good to finally put one in,” Profitt said. “I was thinking about just trying to give it a chip in and I heard somebody say he can shoot it. I’m like, you know what, I can. Let’s be confident in my shot, I took it and it looked good.

“I missed it so much (last year). I hated to sit on the bench watching my team. We were down a few players last year, there was a decent amount of us, so being back on the field, it feels great and getting my first goal is an amazing feeling. I’ve always wanted one. I knew I could get it and getting that finally is such an amazing feeling. I’m just hoping there are more opportunities. It’s my last year, I want to make it count, make the most of it.”

Cape May Tech (0-2)	0	0-	0
Salem Tech (1-0)	3	1-	4

GOALS: ST-Avery Reed (Josh Woroniak), 6:04; ST-Carrington Profitt (unassisted), 12:19; ST-Logan Pace (Avery Reed), 22:18; ST-Logan Pace (Josh Woroniak), 50:43

**Salem Tech senior stopper Carrington Profitt celebrates after scoring his first career goal on a free kick in the first half.**

Breathe it all in

Penns Grove players come out of their comfort zone to learn a valuable lesson about teamwork

SALEM COUNTY FOOTBALL
Thursday Games
Overbrook at Pennsville, 6 p.m.
Woodstown at Clayton, 6 p.m.
Friday Games
Burlington City at Schalick, 6 p.m.
Penns Grove at Buena, 6 p.m.
Saturday Game
Paulsboro at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The players sat around the drivers ed room in a big circle. Some were tapping sticks. Some were banging bongos. Others were shaking an egg.

It might seem like odd exercises for a football team heading towards its season opener, but it carried some valuable lessons Penns Grove coach Damian Ware wanted his players to experience.

It was all about rhythm, timing and knowing how important your role was to the collective good.

“It was good for them boys,” Ware said. “We need all the outside voices that talk about the same thing we preach every day.”

This time the voice was of Cee Truth, a 34-year-old Brooklyn-born former Division I conference champion sprinter who goes by many names and titles depending on the platform and the audience. Ware connected with him through Steve Brown, a former Penns Grove state champion and Truth college teammate, on one of his salsa dancing trips to Puerto Rico.

Truth has taken his non-profit Momentum Music ministry of holistic cultural healing to groups around the United States for about five years and has gotten sports teams involved in the last two. He’s worked with teams from Florida Gulf Coast University, Wagner University and the University of Albany as well as the Santeros de Aguada, a top-tier pro basketball team in Puerto Rico. He recently returned from a campus visit to Clark Atlanta. Penns Grove was his first interaction with a high school team.

He hopes to one day extend his reach into the schools and youth organizations.

“We share holistic cultural healing practices that take the form of nervous system regulation, using breathing and rhythm to achieve that,” he said. “Our intention is to plant a seed in young people that we hope grows into a lifestyle, (that) they’ll be able to take what we teach them that day and for the rest of their life be better equipped to deal with conflict and uncertainty and all of those things that life brings.”

**Cee Truth guides the Penns Grove football team through exercise about rhythm.**

Ware has been coming up with novel ways to engage his players since becoming their head football coach last winter. Earlier this summer he brought former Eagles receiver and fellow salsa aficionado Jason Avant to impart some wisdom on the players. He may invite another special guest who worked with his Penns Grove basketball team a couple years ago later in the season.

It’s all part of his continuing mission to change the culture of a program that went winless last season and won only two games the last two years.

“Part of that program was something to get them out of their comfort zone because it’s something they would normally not do, and as far as the mental aspect of the game sometimes you’re going to be out of your comfort zone,” Ware said. “How do you handle that situation, can you still thrive and can you still overcome that? So, getting kids out of their comfort zone is something I wanted to do with that program.

“With the instruments, that’s all part of being one, being unified. If you can do that together and have different people playing different parts, that kind of goes along with football. They had the instruments and had to kind of do everything at the same time but make it sound like they were together. That’s how football works. Everybody has to do their job in order for us to have success and that’s kind of the message behind the whole thing there.”

To that end, the players didn’t know what to expect as they watched Truth set up eight sets of drums in the middle of the floor and his assistant Shadura Lee set a relaxing mood carrying a smoldering stick of incense around the room. Junior linebacker-receiver Isaac Wright harkened back to his Jamaican heritage and thought they were going to participate in a ritual of some sort. But they quickly got with the program as Truth took them through a series of breathing exercises to evoke calmness and then incorporated the instruments into his message of working together.

“I was wondering how that was going to help,” receiver-linebacker Jerry Wooten said, “but I figured out breathing is really a key to sports because it helps you maintain focus. When they brought out the drums I felt we were going to start dancing, but that had us working together and that coming together is going to help us on the field. It’s going to help us be in sync with each other, knowing what people are going to do, how they’re going to do it, when they’re going to do it. Now that we’ve done that, everybody has been together and we’ve been doing better.”

It may have been a non-traditional lesson for a group of football players, but by the end of the session they really came around. At least one player said he’d take one of the approaches into Friday’s game at Buena.

“Me, personally, I will be using that breathing method to calm my brain down and my nervous system, (to) think straight so I don’t mess up on the field and actually hear the plays that my QB is telling me,” Wright said.

That, was music to Truth and Ware’s ears.