Schalick shut down

Cougars needed to be flawless to win the South Jersey Group I title game, but early miscues and top-seeded Glassboro never gave them a chance

GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
South: Glassboro 40, Schalick 9
Central: Woodstown 31, Shore 0
North I: Butler 42, Mountain Lakes 7
North II: Cedar Grove 35, New Providence 14
NOV. 15 STATE SEMIFINALS
Woodstown (10-1) at Glassboro (11-0), 6 p.m.
Butler (11-0) at Cedar Grove (12-0), 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

GLASSBORO – Schalick coach Mike Wilson knew it was going to take a near flawless effort for his Cougars to get past top-seeded Glassboro in the sectional title game Friday night. As much as they wanted it, It just didn’t happen.

The Cougars mishandled fourth-down snaps on their first two possessions and the Bulldogs converted both into Xavier Sabb touchdowns to take early control of an eventual 40-9 victory for the South Jersey Group 1 sectional crown.

Glassboro (11-0) will now host Central Jersey champ Woodstown next week in the Group 1 semifinals. Woodstown beat Shore Regional 31-0 in its first playoff shutout in more than 40 years.

The Cougars (8-4) actually had three mishandled fourth-down snaps in the first half, leading to 32 yards in losses and three Glassboro touchdowns. The Bulldogs also had two defensive touchdowns on back-to-back snaps in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

“You have to play a perfect game, we shot ourselves in the foot,” Wilson said. “We fought in the second half … what are you going to do?

“Our kids played their (butts) off. They played hard. The effort’s there. Great group of kids. They did a lot for the program and they’ve done a lot of good things over the last four years.”

Schalick quarterback Kenai Simmons was under seize all night. The Bulldogs came after him with such fury they eventually sent him to the sidelines with a leg injury after being fallen on twice by massive Glassboro lineman Brandon Simmons. It forced the Cougars to bring in backup Gary Simonini for the final 3:37 of the half.

“I knew what it was like, I played against them three times and every time they probably had at least three, four sacks on me a game,” Simmons said after his final high school game. “In trying to get ready for this game, I planned on getting out of the box a little bit more, but a couple of their guys kept me in the box. If we complete a couple more of those passes we have a better ballgame in the first half.”

The pressure Glassboro brought Friday was “way more” than it did in their regular-season win over the Cougars, Brandon Simmons said. The Bulldogs held Schalick to 86 total yards and they got almost half of that on a 34-yard pass to Dylan Sheehan in the fourth quarter. They had more than a dozen plays that went for negative yardage.

“We learned from our mistakes,” he said. “We realized we gave him too much time in the pocket, he felt too comfortable. I talked with the D-line, we’ve all been talking all week, once we put so more pressure on him it makes our DBs’ and linebackers’ job way easier.

“We knew we kind of screwed them over a little bit last time we played them by giving them by giving them too much time in the pocket, so we knew we had to help the team out and put more pressure on them.”

Schalick trailed 27-3 at halftime with only 11 yards of net offense. Quarterback Simmons, who left the field at halftime under his own power, returned to the lineup to start the second half and the Cougars came out looking to make something happen. They recovered the onsides kick to open the half and put together a 10-play, 50-yard drive for their only touchdown – a 2-yard pass from Simmons to Jace Volovar.

“We always play to win,” Wilson said. “We were not thinking we were going to lose that ball game. We were like, this is how we get back in the game. We weren’t going to roll (over).”

Glassboro put it out of reach with two defensive touchdowns on back-to-back snaps 21 seconds apart midway through the fourth quarter. The first was a 33-yard fumble return by Devon Barr after Simmons and Dorian Kelsey flushed Kenai Simmons from the pocket and into something that looked like a pass but was allowed to come back as a fumble. The other was a 38-yard interception return by Sabb on another deep ball thrown under pressure.

“This is probably one of the top two defensive games we ever had,” Sabb said. “They couldn’t run the ball. (and0 throwing the ball was a nightmare. They had a couple special plays, but outside of that … That quarterback, he likes to run a lot and we checked him out early, so once we took that away it was about over.”

“We wanted to play physical,” Glassboro coach Timmy Breaker said. “We wanted them to feel the physicality in the beginning of the game and the boys did a heck of a job doing it.”

While the loss ended Schalick’s season, in some ways this may have been a better year than last year’s 11-1 campaign. The Cougars moved into the strongest Group I division of the WJFL and played better competition all season long. Their four losses have come from three of the four teams playing for a berth in the Group I title game, teams that are a combined 33-1 — Cedar Grove, Woodstown and Glassboro (twice) – and that one loss came from within the group.

“We played fantastic this year against much better competition,” Wilson said. “We rose to the occasion. We go to back-to-back sectional championship games; that’s not easy to do.

“Big picture, can’t be upset. Obviously you don’t want to lose games and it’s going to kill us to look at the tape and see could’ve, would’ve, should’ve, but the bottom line is these kids have done a lot.”

Glassboro 40, Schalick 9

SCHAL		GLASS
7	1st Downs	12
26-36	Rushing	17-93
7-15-2	C-A-I	10-19-0
52	Passing	139
5-1	Fum-lost	4-3
3-23.7	Punts	0-0
7-60	Penalties	11-101

Schalick (8-4)	0	3	6	0-	9
Glassboro (11-0)	14	13	0	13-	40

SCORING SUMMARY
G-Xavier Sabb 16 run (kick failed), 10:42 1Q
G-Xavier Sabb 29 pass from Jack O’Connell (Amari Sabb run), 7:06 1Q
S-Hunter Dragotta 30 FG, 10:26 2Q
G-Kenny Smith 1 run (Sal Esgro kick), 7:29 2Q
G-Amari Sabb 29 pass from Jack O’Connell (kick failed), 3:54 2Q
S-Jace Volovar 2 pass from Kenai Simmons (pass failed), 5:01 3Q
G-Davon Barr 33 fumble return (Sal Esgro kick), 7:21 4Q
G-Xavier Sabb 38 interception return (kick failed), 7:00 4Q

Salem CC splits

Mighty Oaks women come to life in the second half to pull away from Delaware Tech; men’s team gets off to another slow start, but this time doesn’t recover

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Brian Marsh expects a certain amount of ups and down with virtually a new team. You just hope there are more ups than there are downs.

The Salem CC women’s team’s second game of the season had a little of both, but in the end there were enough ups to produce a victory over Delaware Tech.

The Mighty Oaks had all they could do to grab a five-point halftime lead were deadlocked midway through the third quarter, but they got it together over the last quarter and a half to finally shake the winless Squares, 76-52.

“I think with a young team you’re just going to see those ups and downs,” said Marsh, the Oaks’ second-year head coach. “What we’re trying to be is consistent with the energy. We have a lot of depth, so we want to use that as much as possible, wear the other team down.”

And that’s just what they did. The Oaks (2-0), who scored 99 points in their season opener two nights earlier, only led 28-23 at halftime and were tied at 36 with 5:09 left in the third quarter before their depth started making a difference.

They outscored the visitors 14-2 the rest of the quarter, a run that morphed into a larger 40-12 barrage that put the game out of reach.

“I think we took their best shot in the first half,” Marsh said. “They really came at us and we were still up five at halftime – I thought that was a good thing.

“Our team plays really hard. Sometimes they want to go, go, go so much sometimes you have to reel them in a little bit. We’re just trying to be more consistent. Instead of having a bad first half or a good second half, I always say start fast, finish strong. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”

They certainly finished strong. The Oaks were 21-of-46 from the floor after halftime – after hitting only 12 buckets the first half – and outrebounded the Squares 28-16. Dani Gustin had 10 of her 14 rebounds in the half.

Jakayla Jenkins was particularly active in the second half. The sophomore captain from Dallas scored all eight of her points after the break, along with collecting five of her eight rebounds and five of her seven assists.

“For me, I knew my first half wasn’t the best just judging by the score, so I knew someone had to bring the energy back up” Jenkins said. “And I knew defense is always going to bring us back up, so therefore I just started playing defense for my team. That’s how we all got steals and points on the board and I feel like my energy started a domino effect and everyone just started doing their part and that’s how we started pulling away.

“(The first half) was hard to watch from the sidelines. Forget the first one and just remember the second one.”

SALEM CC WOMEN 76, DELAWARE TECH 52
DELAWARE TECH (0-5) – Tierra Johnson 2-7 5-8 9, Jendaya McNeal 2-6 0-0 4, Amiya Mills 5-17 0-0 13, Kendyl Baker 1-2 1-2 3, Aniyah Williams 3-6 0-0 6, Samantha Grunza 0-0 0-0 0, Ciara Whittle 0-3 0-2 0, Thailys Torres 4-14 7-8 17. Totals 17-55 13-20 52.
SALEM CC (2-0) – Maggie St. Clair 4-11 0-0 9, Daniella Gustin 3-6 0-0 6, Kathryn Laurence 5-10 1-2 14, Jakayla Jenkins 4-9 0-0 8, Akira Chambers 3-8 0-0 6, RayNescia King 2-4 1-2 5, Nyaijah Jackson 3-8 0-1 6, Caroline Zullo 2-3 1-2 6, Geovanna Tjaden 2-8 0-2 4, Jolee Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Imara James 1-2 0-0 2, Alexa Hopkins 4-8 0-1 10. Totals 33-77 3-10 76.

Delaware Tech	10	13	15	14-	52
Salem CC	10	18	22	26-	76

3-point goals: Delaware Tech 5-21 (Jonson 0-2, Mills 3-12, Torres 2-8); Salem CC 7-25 (St. Clair 1-4, Laurence 3-5, Jenkins 0-2, King 0-2, Zullo 1-2, Tjaden 0-5, Hopkins 2-5). Rebounds: Delaware Tech 30 (Baker 5, Williams 5, Torres 5); Salem CC 49 (Gustin 14, Jenkins 8). Technical fouls: Torres, Whittle, Jackson. DQ fouls: Zullo. Total fouls: Delaware Tech 12, Salem CC 19.

Cold shoot dooms men

CARNEYS POINT – The Mighty Oaks got off to another slow start and this time they couldn’t shake it.

The Oaks fell behind by 14 at halftime and had one of the worst shooting nights in coach Mike Green’s 21-game tenure in the program and suffered their first loss of the season, 77-64 to Delaware Tech.

It was the third straight game the Oaks were slow out the gate, but the first one they’ve lost. They fell behind 14-0 to start Tuesday’s win over Bucks County CC and came from behind to earn a halftime tie in their opener with Delaware County CC before pulling away with a big second half.

“It’s on me, it’s on me, gotta figure it out,” Green said. “I’m switching lineups, I’m flipping through them, I think that (injured) Tamir Powell and Jyheim Spencer, those shoes, were too much to fill.

“Thought it would be a little easier. I thought guys would step up and claim it, but it shows we’re still missing Tamir Powell big time.”

It didn’t start that bad. The Oaks actually led early, scoring the first five points of the game, and were tied at 11, then the Squares, uh, squared up.

The Oaks started missing shots, turning it over and getting cleared out on the boards. The Squares pulled away with a 12-0 run and Salem could never catch up. They used a 15-5 run later in the half – with 10 second-chance points – to open a 16-point lead before halftime.

Salem got within nine with seven minutes left, then Tech scored 10 straight to regain a comfortable lead. Drew Zimmerman scored the last six points in that run and finished with 24 points in the game. Toma Smith had 17 points, Cam Moore grabbed 15 rebounds and Obi Coleman had 10 boards.

“We’re not that good to keep giving up points (and coming back to win); it showed today,” Green said. “Our guys think we could do that because it happened before, but we’re not that good. I like to say I’m a motivator coach; I think I overmotivated. I think I let these guys think they’re better than people, and that’s on me.

“We went up against a team that plays a lot of people and got whatever they wanted with the basketball. We prepared for it. Our guys just went out there and did whatever they wanted to. That was a good ol’ butt-whuppin’.”

It’s hard to come back when you don’t shoot it well. The Oaks shot 30.8 percent from the field and were an arctic 6-for-36 from 3-point range – second worse in the Green era to only a 4-for-34 at Northampton last February 15.

You didn’t have to remind Green of that. He has the box score from that game tackled to the corkboard in his office to keep him grounded.

Niame Scott hit a 3-ball to put the Oaks up 5-0, then they hit only three of their next 19 behind the arc the rest of the half and none in the final 7:15. Nine of their 12 players took at least two 3s in the game, but only five made at least one. Tyrone Tolson made two.

Rodney Shelton was Salem’s only scorer in double figures. He had 10 points and nine rebounds. Stefan Phillips had eight points and eight boards. Shyheed Taylor had eight points, five boards and four steals.

“We had some bright spots; we’ve just got to let those bright spots shine,” Green said. “We’ve got to let them shine. We’ve got to stop caring about spreading the minutes. Those guys who were good, they’re going to be good for us again.”

DELAWARE TECH 77, SALEM CC MEN 64
DELAWARE TECH (3-2) – Cameron Moore 2-9 3-4 8, Drew Zimmerman 9-18 6-10 24, Ethan Wilkins 3-8 2-2 9, Toma Smith 8-11 1-1 17, Obi Coleman 3-13 2-2 9, Corey Mitchell 0-0 0-2 0, Adam Bailey 1-1 0-0 3, Dominic Angeloni 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Fitch 0-0 0-0 0, Amare Whittington 0-0 0-0 0, James Gordy 2-4 0-0 4, Amari Moses 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Taylor 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 29-70 15-23 77.
SALEM CC (2-1) – Niame Scott 1-3 0-0 3, Tyrese Fortune 1-10 4-6 7, Tivon Woolford 1-3 0-0 2, Xavier Brewington 1-8 0-0 2, Rodney Shelton 5-10 0-0 10, Julien Jones 1-4 0-0 2, A.J. Jones 1-7 0-1 2, Josh Ramos 1-9 0-0 3, Tyrone Tolson 3-8 0-0 8, Shyheed Taylor 3-7 2-4 8, Stefan Phillips 3-4 3-3 8, Sami Anderson 3-5 2-3 9. Totals 24-78 10-16 64.

Delaware Tech	47	30-	77
Salem CC	33	31-	64

3-point goals: Delaware Tech 4-16 (Moore 1-4, Zimmerman 0-1, Wilkins 1-2, Coleman 1-3, Bailey 1-1, Angeloni 0-2, Gordy 0-1, Taylor 0-2); Salem CC 6-36 (Scott 1-3, Fortune 1-7, Woolford 0-2, Brewington 0-5, A. Jones 0-2, Ramos 1-7, Tolson 2-5, Taylor 0-2, Anderson 1-3). Rebounds: Delaware Tech 48 (Moore 15, Coleman 10); Salem CC 40 (Shelton 9, Phillips 8). Technical fouls: Zimmerman, Anderson. Total fouls: Delaware Tech 15, Salem CC 19.

Shootout sadness

Both top-seeded Schalick and No. 2 Woodstown fall in PK shootouts in South Jersey Group I boys soccer semifinals

SJ GROUP I SEMIFINALS
Haddon Twp. 2, Schalick 1 (4-1 SO)
Palmyra 2, Woodstown 1 (4-2 SO)

FRIDAY’S SECTIONAL FINALS
South: (4) Haddon Twp. at (3) Palmyra
Central: (9) Brearley at (3) Middlesex
North I: (2) Waldwick at (1) Emerson Boro
North II: (11) Verona at (1) Glen Ridge

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Brody Beals was as surprised as anyone that he was in the shootout lineup in his team’s biggest game of the year.

After all, he’s only a freshman and he hasn’t taken a penalty kick all season.

But there he was, the fourth Haddon Twp. player on the spot, just six yards separating him and the Hawks from their moment of glory.

Beals buried his shot into the right side of the goal to clinch the shootout and give the Hawks a 2-1 victory over top-seeded Schalick in the South Jersey Group I boys soccer semifinals.

“I have no idea how that got determined; I didn’t expect to kick a PK, actually,” he said. “I felt a little bit of pressure. (When it went through) it was such a great feeling for my team, all these seniors, trying to keep their seasons alive (in) their last go at it. I was just super happy to get the win.”

The Hawks (14-6-2), who beat Schalick 1-0 on an early goal in the opening round of the Coaches Cup two weeks ago, didn’t miss in the shootout. They picked up on Schalick keeper Evan Sepers’ preference for diving to his right, so they kept shooting it to their right. Sepers, meanwhile, figured they all couldn’t go the same way.

Eamonn Sheehan, who got a PK past Sepers in the second half for the tying goal, got the Hawks started. Gabe Chatten and Mason McCarthy also put it into the right side setting the stage for Beals’ clincher.

“The first penalty taker was the same kid who took their penalty and I felt like he wasn’t going to go the same way twice, but he did, and I guessed the wrong way. And I kept guessing wrong way. It’s just unfortunate,” Sepers said. “I’m thinking they’re not all going to go the same way, but they did.”

Schalick’s shooters tried mixing it up. Jaxon Weber missed wide to his right, Mike Nelson was stopped on a relatively straight shot with HT keeper Collin Feeley favoring his left side, and Eli Cummings’ shot flew left over the crossbar.

“They just took very solid penalties,” Cougars coach Joe Mannella said. “Once that first one goes in and we miss our first one the pressure intensifies quite a bit. It kind of just got the best of us, I think.”

In a match that had all the markings of a sectional final in the semis, the teams battled strong winds as much as themselves all game. Actually, the Cougars were getting the better chances – and more of them – through regulation.

The Cougars (19-3) broke on top when Oscar Hernandez finished off a Luke Price rebound a little over 10 minutes into the second half. The Hawks tied it on Sheehan’s PK inside the right post after a Haddon Twp. player was dragged in the box. Weber hit the crossbar with a long left to right shot with 6:10 left in regulation.

“I thought our guys played as good as they possibly could; best game of the year, especially considering the other team and the situation,” Mannella said. “One of these times I want to be on the side of the team that gets outplayed and then wins the shootout.

“I’ve never been on that side, always the other end of it and it kind of sucks to have these guys in that situation, but overall they did what we set out to do other than win. They played a great game, outplayed I think a very good team. Unfortunately, it happens.”

PALMYRA 2, WOODSTOWN 1: The Wolverines were looking to make a little history, but their dream of reaching the sectional final for the first time since 1996 was dashed in a penalty kick shootout.

Palmyra (13-7), the No. 3 seed, won the shootout 4-2 after the teams played to a 1-1 tie through regulation and overtime. Cole McCamy, Connor McCann, Jaden Jennings and Jaxon McCamy all hit for the Panthers.

Grant Prater and Erich Lipovsky hit Woodstown’s first two attempts in the shootout. Panthers keeper Deakon Haines stoned Adrian Ibarra on the third attempt and Ben Lippincott shot high with the fourth.

Palmyra took a 1-0 lead in the second half on a goal by Jaxon McCamy. The second-seeded Wolverines (16-5) tied it on a goal by senior Dante Holmes with six minutes left in regulation. It was Holmes’ third career goal, all in the last three playoff games.

The loss snapped Woodstown’s six-game winning streak that included coach Darren Huck’s 300^th career coaching win.

Salem CC sweeps

Scott’s acrobatic layup in closing seconds saves Mighty Oaks from slow start, women open their season with dominant victory; stories will be updated

SALEM CC BASKETBALL
Men 83, Bucks County CC 82
Women 99, Anne Arundel 61

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – When Niame Scott was growing up in North Philly two things used to always happen. He would watch highlights of Kyrie Irving playing basketball and then he would go out in the park and practice acrobatic layups, never really knowing if he’d ever get to use one or not.

The Salem CC sophomore pulled one out of his bag of tricks at the most opportune moment Tuesday night and the Mighty Oaks benefitted from it big time.

Scott contorted his body around Bucks County CC big man Jaquis Heath and hit a layup with 5.4 seconds left to give Oaks only their second lead of the night and they held on as a last-second shot bounced off the rim beating the Centurions 83-82 for their second win of the season.

“When I was little I worked on those shots, acrobatic layups, and I watch Kyrie, so I know how to do them,” Scott said. “Some of them go in, some of them don’t. I think this one was just me and him, just a one-on-one, and I’m good at one-on-one so I’m pretty sure I know I was going to make that.”

Because this one went in, the game ended a whole lot better for the Oaks than it started. They fell behind 14-0 in the first four and a half minutes and trailed by as many as 15 in the first half. Stefan Phillips finally got them on the board on a putback with 15:20 left in the half.

It was a long road back, but they eventually took the lead for the first time, 81-80, on two free throws by Xavier Brewington with 33.5 seconds to play. Bucks retook the lead on Heath’s aggressive putback with 12.2 seconds left.

Scott got the game-winning play started by inbounding to Brewington then bolting to the far right corner. Brewington dribbled three times then fired a pass to Scott’s location. Scott then drove on Heath, putting up a shot with his right hand as he was falling to the ground. It went in and the Oaks had the lead.

“Basketball’s a long game and our guys fought to the end,” Salem coach Mike Green said. “I knew once we found the right unit, the cohesiveness, I knew we would get back in it.”

Green and staff spent the halftime break trying to get the right combination on the floor and apparently found the answer. The Oaks outscored their visitors 57-44 in the second half, shot 42 percent from the floor, ramped up their defense and steadily cut into the deficit until making it a one-possession game through the final five minutes.

They trailed in the first half of their opener, too, and needed A.J. Jones’ steal and layup in the final 10 seconds to earn them a 35-35 halftime tie.

“It seems like that’s been us every game,” Green said. “I told them maybe it’s me. Maybe I’ve got the wrong rotation in there. Maybe I’m starting the game with the wrong people. We can’t score in the first half. Me and the coaching staff has to figure that out.

“I thought we would come back, but it’s got to be on the coaches. If your team is not up and ready to go, it’s got to be on the coaches. We have to take credit for that. If we’re going down 14-0 maybe we’re starting the wrong people, maybe we’re not getting the right energy. It’s definitely on the coaches.”

Tyrese Fortune, Phillips, Brewington, A.J. Jones and, of course, Scott all played big roles in the comeback. Josh Ramos hit a corner 3 with 2:53 left to get the Oaks within one for the first time.

Fortune and Phillips combined for 18 points and eight rebounds in the second half and both finished with double-doubles. Shyheed Taylor had 13 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Scott wound up with 12.

The Centurions still had time after Scott’s go-ahead layup to break Salem’s heart. They got the ball back into the hands of Heath, who dribbled from midcourt deep into the lane, pulled back out and shot it surrounded by Salem defenders Brewington, Scott and Phillips. The shot was in the air as the horn blew and backboard lit, but it hit the back of the iron and bounded harmlessly away.

The Oaks overcame a near disastrous technical foul in the final minute when a player on the bench spilled onto the floor after Scott and Jones forced the Centurions into a 10-second violation after Jones’ three-point play got them back within one again, 78-77.

SALEM CC 83, BUCKS COUNTY CC 82
BUCKS COUNTY CC (1-3) – Jeremy Henry 3-8 3-6 10, Noah Morris 8-13 2-2 24, George Marion 3-11 5-5 11, Roberto Maldonado 0-2 0-1 0, Jaquis Heath 3-11 1-2 7, Octavio Alexander 2-6 5-6 10, Tyler Riddle 4-8 8-8 16, Craig Stargell 0-0 0-0 0, Al Corsino 0-1 0-0 0, Yaasir Muhammed 2-2 0-0 4, Niko Bianco 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 24-30 82.
SALEM CC (2-0) – Niame Scott 4-14 3-7 12, Tyrese Fortune 4-11 3-5 11, Josh Ramos 2-8 0-0 6, Xavier Brewington 1-9 5-8 7, Rodney Shelton 0-4 0-0 0, Julien Jones 1-2 0-0 3, A.J. Jones 3-10 1-1 8, Tivon Woolford 3-6 0-1 7, Tyrone Tolson 0-2 0-2 0, Shyheed Taylor 5-9 4-5 16, Stefan Phillips 5-8 3-3 13, Sami Anderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-83 19-32 83.

Bucks County CC	38	44-	82
Salem CC	26	57-	83

3-point goals: Bucks 8-17 (Henry 1-2, Morris 6-10, Marion 0-2, Heath 0-1, Alexander 1-1, Riddle 0-1); Salem 8-36 (Scott 1-6, Fortune 0-2, Ramos 2-7, Brewington 0-6, Shelton 0-1, J. Jones 1-1, A. Jones 1-5, Woolford 1-3, Tolson 0-1, Taylor 2-4). Rebounds: Bucks 41 (Heath 9, Alexander 7); Salem 55 (Fortune 13, Phillips 13, Shelton 9). Technical fouls: Salem bench. Fouled out: Henry, Taylor. Total fouls: Bucks 25, Salem 20.

**Salem CC’s Rodney Shelton (20) clears the boards surrounded by Bucks County CC players. On the cover, Salem’s Niame Scott drives for the game-winning layup.**

Women’s Game

SALEM CC 99, ANNE ARUNDEL 61: The restocked Mighty Oaks did some nice things during their scrimmages while second-year coach Brian Marsh was trying to acclimate his seven newcomers into the rotation and style they want to play with an expanded roster, but he really wanted to see what they looked like when the lights came on for real.

The Oaks got points from 10 different scorers and nearly broke the scoreboard in their season opener against the undermanned Riverhawks.

“We really want to have energy all over the floor,” Marsh said. “We were Anne Arundel last year. We were shorthanded, so I know what that’s like. We wanted to push the pace. They didn’t have a bench. We finally have a bench this year so we really wanted to go and use our depth to our advantage.”

Anne Arundel came into the game with only six players so it didn’t take long for the deeper Oaks to take control. They opened as much as a 21-point lead in the first half and then erupted for 60 points in the second half. They had 90 points with just under six minutes to play. The most points they scored in a game last year was 81 and they scored more than70 just six times.

“I liked it,” Marsh said of the opening-game effort. “When we played our last pre-season game we had 15 turnovers in the first half. That was one of things we were really focusing on, to really take care of the ball. I told them I wanted it under 10 for the game. (They had seven).”

The Oaks placed four scorers in double figures – Kathryn Laurence (13), Nyajiah Jackson (16), Geo Tjaden (14) and Alexa Hopkins (15). Tjaden was quite active. In one particular exchanged, she blocked a shot, knocked the rebound off the shooter out of bounds and a 3-pointer on the other end.

SALEM CC 99, ANNE ARUNDEL 61
ANNE ARUNDEL (0-1) – Aichatta Soumaoro 3-15 5-9 11, Addi Hurst 1-4 0-1 2, Lania Nick 9-18 3-4 24, Reona Robinson 1-14 1-2 3, Ayannah Gorham 7-11 7-12 21, Jasmine Mauldin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 16-28 61.
SALEM CC (1-0) – Maggie St. Clair 4-12 1-2 9, Daniella Gustin 2-4 0-0 4, Kathryn Laurence 5-16 0-0 13, Jakayla Jenkins 3-5 1-2 8, Akira Chambers 3-7 3-4 9, RayNescia King 1-5 0-0 3, Nyaijah Jackson 5-9 6-9 16, Caroline Zullo 0-3 0-0 0, Geovanna Tjaden 5-9 1-5 14, Jolee Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Imara James 4-8 0-0 8, Alexa Hopkins 6-9 1-1 15. Totals 38-88 13-23 99.

Anne Arundel	7	18	19	18-	61
Salem CC	18	21	38	22-	99

3-point goals: Anne Arundel 3-11 (Soumaoro 0-2, Hurst 0-1, Nick 3-6, Robinson 0-1, Gorham 0-1); Salem CC 10-33 (St. Clair 0-3, Laurence 3-11, Jenkins 1-1, King 1-2, Jackson 0-3, Zullo 0-3, Tjaden 3-5, Hopkins 2-5); Rebounds: Anne Arundel 48 (Gorham 15, Nick 10); Salem CC 42 (Gustin 8, James 7). Fouled out: Gorham. Total fouls: Anne Arundel 16, Salem CC 22.

WJFL Patriot Stars

Pennsville’s first playoff team since 2019 placed four players on the WJFL Patriot Division all-star team as voted upon by the coaches last week and recently approved by the athletic directors — OL Jacob Hand, 1,000-yard rushing RB Rylan Hardy, DB Malik Rehmer and LB Connor Ayars. Former Penns Grove player Bryce Wright, a transfer to West Deptford this season, was picked as a first-team LB. Division winner Camden Catholic had nine players on the first team.

WJFL PATRIOT DIVISION OFFENSE
OL	Ryan Burke	Overbrook
OL	Lars Stegner	Camden Catholic
OL	Jacob Hand	Pennsville
OL	Sal Filfe	West Deptford
OL	Chris Neff	Paulsboro
QB	Mike Moritz	Camden Catholic
RB	Nymir Daily	Camden Catholic
RB	Rylan Hardy	Pennsville
WR/TE	Yon Anderson	Collingswood
WR/TE	Jeremiah Carr	Paulsboro
WR/TE	Sean Weide	Camden Catholic
K	Matthew Kilic	Camden Catholic
ATH	Teriq Moore	Overbrook
ATH	Kyair Harvey	Paulsboro
WJFL PATRIOT DIVISION DEFENSE
DL	Jonah Jordan	Audubon
DL	Joel Amegather	Camden Catholic
DL	Jarred Hazel	Paulsboro
DL	Eric Scott	Paulsboro
DB	Tommy Quinn	Audubon
DB	Joshua Collier	Camden Catholic
DB	Malik Rehmer	Pennsville
DB	Zamir Davis	West Deptford
LB	Sean O’Reilly	Camden Catholic
LB	Connor Ayars	Pennsville
LB	Caden Luby	Collingswood
LB	Bryce Wright	West Deptford
P	Logan Gilbert	Audubon
ATH	Bryce Clark	Camden Catholic

This week’s schedule

Here is this week’s sports schedule for events involving teams from Salem County for the week of Nov. 11-16

TUESDAY
BOYS SOCCER
SJ GROUP I SEMIFINALS
Haddon Twp. at Schalick, 2 p.m.
Palmyra at Woodstown, 4 p.m.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Bucks County CC at Salem CC, 7 p.m.
WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Anne Arundel CC at Salem CC, 5 p.m.

THURSDAY
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Delaware Tech at Salem CC, 7 p.m.
WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Delaware Tech at Salem CC, 5 p.m.

FRIDAY
FOOTBALL
GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
Schalick at Glassboro, 6 p.m.
Shore at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Mountain Lakes at Butler, 7 p.m.
New Providence at Cedar Grove, 7 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
South: Palmyra-Woodstown winner vs. Haddon Twp.-Schalick winner
Central: Brearley-Shore winner vs. College Achieve-Roselle Park winner
North I: Lenape Valley-Emerson Boro winner vs. Indian Hills-Waldwick winner
North II: Wallington-Glen Ridge winner vs. Verona-New Providence winner

SATURDAY
CROSS COUNTRY
Meet of Champions, Holmdel Park
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Lehigh Carbon CC at Salem CC, 2 p.m.
WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Lehigh Carbon CC at Salem CC, noon

Group I championship

Girls runner-up Hadfield, Marino score top 10 finishes to qualify for Meet of Champions; Woodstown boys’ position impacted when Chew’s tag didn’t register at the finish

By Riverview Sports News

HOLMDEL – Schalick’s Jordan Hadfield and Woodstown’s Jacob Marino both finished in the top 10 of their respective Group I cross country championship races Saturday to qualify for next week’s Meet of Champions back here at Holmdel Park.

Hadfield, the runner-up in last week’s sectional race at DREAM Park, finished second in the girls Group I championship race in a time of 19:25. Walkill Valley’s Delana Einreinhofer won the race in 19:08.

Marino was ninth in the boys race, running a 17:17. The top 10 runners in each race qualify for the MOC.

Woodstown’s girls finished ninth in their team standings, while Schalick was 18th. Abby Marino and Lilian Norman virtually finished side-by-side in 21:18 to lead the Wolverines.

“We were elated with our top 10 team finish and look forward to earning our spot again next year,” Woodstown coach Michelle Williams said. “The team was thrilled to see they had outscored the other Group 1 South teams they had fallen to just last Saturday at the sectionals.”

Woodstown (16th) and Schalick (19th) both finished out of the top 15 in the boys standings. The Wolverines’ position and that of county champion Karson Chew were greatly impacted when Chew’s runner’s tag wasn’t read coming through the finishing chute after running what coach Steve New described as “a decent race.”

UPDATE: Chew ran an 18:18, which would have been T-43 (36th among team counters). It would have elevated Woodstown to 11th place with 291 points.

A shooter’s touch

After a cold first half, Ramos hits 5 3-pointers to spark run that lifts Salem CC past Delaware County CC for first season-opening win since 2021

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green doesn’t hold back when he says Josh Ramos could easily be the top 3-point shooter in the league, region or any other classification you want to put the Salem Community College basketball team in. And the sophomore shooter did nothing to dispel his coach’s confidence in Saturday’s season opener, especially in the second half.

Ramos nailed five straight 3-pointers – each farther out than the next – during a four and a half minute stretch midway through the second half that gave the Mighty Oaks control of their 81-73 win over Delaware County CC at the DuPont Fieldhouse.

It was their first win in a season opener since 2021-22 when they beat the Eastern University JV 67-56.

“He’s just like a little microwave,” Green said. “He’s a spark. He’s a big spark.

“Once you see one go through you’d better come back to him again. You probably have to come back to him for the next four minutes until he’s burnt up. He’s one of those type players you’ve got to go right there to him.”

And that’s exactly they did. Ramos was just 1-of-4 from behind the arc in the first half as teams battled to a 35-35 draw, but he got hot after halftime, going 5-for-5 during a 19-7 run that took the Oaks from 48-45 down to 64-55 with 9:45 to play. He finished with 18 points.

“The first half, I don’t know, I could tell it was long, but I came into the second half mentality-wise like I’m going to keep my head up, get in the game and if he started me for the second I came here (and started hitting),” Ramos said. “My teammates were finding me, I was just letting it go and the confidence just kept building. As the half went on … we won.”

He went bang-bang-bang on three straight possessions, tying the game, putting the Oaks up for good and extending the lead. The fourth came from out near the Salem logo.

“After I hit the first four it was no-brainer, I was just letting it go,” he said. “Shooters shoot, that’s all I can say.”

“He should have had more, he should’ve had eight,” Green said. “We need to do a better job of finding him.”

Ramos was one of the best 3-point shooters in the region last year, hitting 60 of 146 in 23 games (41.1 percent) and 42 of 96 in conference play (42.9). He was sixth in the league in number and top 10 in percentage playing six fewer games than the leader. He wants to be the No. 1 3-ball in the league.

He was 8-of-20 in six games before Green became the Oaks’ coach shortly before Christmas, but flourished in the role after the change. He had one three-game stretch in early February in which he went 18-of-31.

“Anytime Josh’s on the floor, we’re going to Josh,” Green said. “Everybody knows it. We had a meeting. I told them we only run plays for three people and really it’s only Josh. They know. The team knows.”

If Ramos’ goal is to be the No. 1 3-point shooter in the league, A.J. Jones’ goal is to be the No. 1 defensive player. He got off to a impressive start Saturday. He had 14 points – all in the first half – but also had several several steals, assists and rebounds and did what Green called a “wonderful” job on Delco’s Darrius Best, holding one of the region’s best guards to 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

It was his steal and layup in the final 10 seconds that earned the Oaks their 35-35 halftime draw.

“He didn’t play well in our last scrimmage and I challenged him,” Green said. “We challenged him big time and he responded.”

Saturday’s game kicked off a busy week for the Mighty Oaks. They play three games next week in doubleheaders with the women’s team and play their first seven games in their House of Pane.

“It can give great confidence, but it can give false confidence, too, because it’s a different game on the road and we saw that last year,” Green said. “It was tough on the road. But I’ll the other side of it, I’ll take the confidence.”

SALEM CC 81, DELAWARE CO. CC 73
DELAWARE CO. (1-1) – Cameron Daut 1 2-2 4, Jabree Martin 6 2-2 16, Omar Davis 5 3-5 13, Evan Vandelti Spahr 3 1-1 8, Jaquan Fisher 3 3-4 9, Darrius Best 5 2-2 14, Luke Bushra 0 0-0 0, Tahmeire Manning 1 2-4 7, Amir Wilson 0 0-0 0, Stephen Rosemin 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 15-20 72 71.
SALEM CC (1-0) – Dontarius Jones 1 1-2 3, Niame Scott 1 7-8 10, Tyrese Fortune 2 1-2 5, Tyrone Tolson 2 0-0 5, Rodney Shelton 1 1-2 3, Julien Jones 0 1-2 1, A.J. Jones 6 0-1 14, Josh Ramos 6 0-0 18, Xavier Brewington 4 3-4 12, Stefan Phillips 3 2-2 8, Sami Anderson 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 16-23 81.

Delaware Co. CC	35	38–	73
Salem CC	35	46–	81

3-point goals: DCCC 6 (Martin 2, Vandelti-Spahr, Best 2, Manning); Salem 11 (Tolson, Brewington, A. Jones 2, Ramos 6, Scott).

Cover photo: Josh Ramos puts up one of his five second-half 3-pointers in Salem CC’s season-opening win.

Cougars find a way

Schalick rallies after losing big lead, beats Paulsboro for spot in SJ Group I finals, 200th all-time win

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s Semifinals
Schalick 33, Paulsboro 28
Glassboro 55, Riverside 8
Nov. 15 Championship
(2) Schalick at (1) Glassboro

GROUP I SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Central: Shore (10-0) at Woodstown (9-1)
South: Schalick (8-3) at Glassboro (10-0)
North Jersey I: Mountain Lakes (6-4) at Butler (10-0)
North Jersey II: New Providence (9-2) at Cedar Grove (11-0)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – The Schalick Cougars couldn’t help feeling like another local team in green with the way their South Jersey Group I playoff game went Friday night.

The Cougars, reminiscent of the Philadelphia Eagles last week against Jacksonville, lost a 21-point second-quarter lead in the second half, but pulled it back together and eventually escaped with a 33-28 win over Paulsboro to reach the South Jersey Group I championship game.

“You always worry about complacency as a coach and I think we got a little complacent,” Cougars coach Mike Wilson said. “But we figured it out. Games are swings of momentum. They got the momentum, then we got it back and we finished on top. As an Eagles fan, I can see why you’d say that.”

It also was the 200th win in the history of the program. Thirty have come on Wilson’s watch (30-20).

The Cougars (8-3) shook off an opening interception and early 6-0 deficit to lead 27-6 in the second quarter before enduring a 15-minute stretch of what Mike Wilson called “some unfortunate stuff” that found them trailing 28-27 after three quarters.

“Anything that could go wrong went wrong,” Wilson said. “But we battled back and found a way to win. There wasn’t a light-bulb moment. We just calmed down and played football again.”

They put together the game-winning drive capped by Reggie Allen’s second touchdown of the game, a 6-yard run with less than five minutes to play.

“We just needed to take a deep breath, relax and start playing like we played earlier in the game,” Wilson said. “We just had to settle down.”

The Cougars built their lead on a 3-yard run by Kenai Simmons, a 57-yard run by Sherrod Jones, Matthew LaMazza’s fumble recovery in the end zone and Allen’s 2-yard run.

Paulsboro (8-3) brought it back to take the lead with a touchdown three seconds before halftime, a 73-yard touchdown pass, a short run after recovering a Schalick fumble and a pair of two-point conversions.

“I knew if we would just settle down and relax, do our jobs, we were fine,” Wilson said. “Our senior leadership kicked in, the kids calmed themselves down, they all looked at themselves and said hey we’ve done this before, we’re fine and that’s what they did.

“It was great as coach to see because you see the maturation of your team. A group of sophomores might panic, but these seniors have seen everything … and they did a great job tonight.”

The win earned the Cougars a trip to Glassboro next week for the sectional championship. It’s a tall task considering the top-seeded Bulldogs (10-0) have beaten their first two playoff opponents by a combined score of 119-15.

The two teams played last year in the Central Jersey final with Glassboro winning 20-0. The Bulldogs won this year’s regular-season meeting 20-10.

“Let’s go,” Wilson said. “This is our third time playing them within the last calendar year. We feel that we’re only a few plays away and we’ve just got to play good football.”

Schalick 33, Paulsboro 28

Paulsboro (8-3)	6	6	16	0-	28
Schalick (8-3)	6	21	0	6-	33

SCORING SUMMARY
P-24-yard pass (PAT failed), 1Q
S-Kenai Simmons 3 run (kick failed), 1QS-Sherrod Jones 57-run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2Q
S-Matthew LaMazza fumble recovery in end zone (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2Q
S-Reggie Allen 2 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2Q
P-NA, 2Q
P-73-yard pass (conversion), 3Q
P-Quarterback scramble (conversion), 3Q
S-Reggie Allen 6 run (PAT failed), 4Q

Cover photo of Reggie Allen by Heather Papiano

A real bellringer

Woodstown clamps down on Bedderi, blanks Wildwood to reach SJ Group I semifinals for third time in four years; Schalick also reaches semis on other side of bracket, setting the potential for an all-county final

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s Quarterfinals
Schalick 2, Pitman 0
Haddon Twp. 4, Audubon 0
Palmyra 2, Riverside 1
Woodstown 3, Wildwood 0
Tuesday’s Semifinals
(4) Haddon Twp. at (1) Schalick
(3) Palmyra at (2) Woodstown

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — The lead official blew his whistle signaling the end of another Woodstown win and the players immediately knew what they had to do.

Collectively, they raced over to their newly constructed dugout and enthusiastically rang the blue ship’s bell hanging on the supporting post, validating their 3-0 win over Wildwood Friday in the South Jersey Group I boys soccer quarterfinals.

Ringing the Bell, ala the Phillies, is becoming a new tradition with the Woodstown players.

“We’ve been doing cowbells for a long time here at Woodstown, especially for boys soccer,” Wolverines coach Darren Huck said. “When the parents decided they were going to give our program these nice dugouts, they said they had a surprise.

“They had it up for the Senior Game. It’s our tradition now where I’ll select one player to ring the ball at the end when we get done talking there.”

That honor Friday went to Grant Prater, whose parents, ironically, supplied the bell for the celebration. He was more than happy to participate.

“We wanted to have a celebration like every time we scored,” Prater said. “My freshman year we started the cowbells here, I think, and every time we’d score we’d ring it, so we wanted to have one on the new dugouts and we’re bringing a big, big one, like one of the ones you have to pull down, between the manager’s table and the dugout. The big one’s going to be loud.”

Prater scored the first goal of the game 12:35 into the match when he redirected an Adrian Ibarra corner kick past Wildwood keeper Broc Denke.

But perhaps more important to the cause was the way he played all 80 minutes anchoring the defense in marking Warriors’ senior scoring machine NuNu Bedderi.

Prater and the defense shadowed Bedderi everywhere he went, limited him to a handful of touches and kept the 36-goal scorer off the scoreboard. The Warriors had scored 82 goals this season, but this was the first time they had been shut out. Bedderi had scored in 15 of their first 19 games, 13 with multiple goals.

He didn’t get his first touch Friday until midway through the first half. And when the Algerian import did manage to break through, Woodstown keeper Ben Stengel was right there to turn him away.

“I tried to keep myself in front of him, just denying him the ball every time, so they couldn’t even get it to him and then Dante (Holmes) was behind him,” Prater said. “We were kind of like keeping him sandwiched and it kind of worked.”

“For the last couple practices he knew he was going to be the guy who was going to have to shadow him, shut him down, deny him, whatever we needed to do in whatever situation was occurring on the field,” Huck said. “We had a game plan and we executed it, I think, really, really well. Everybody knew their responsibilities, they knew where we needed to be and what we wanted to do and it worked today.”

Ibarra gave the Wolverines a 2-0 lead later in the half on a penalty kick — the 49th goal of his career — and had another corner kick that produced Holmes’ second career goal with 10 minutes to play. Holmes’ two goals have come in each of the playoff games.

Holmes scored on a header inside the right post right after Denke came out following a collision with Ibarra in the box. The starting keeper returned to the goal right after the play.

“This is the first time I’ve been able to go up for corners; I’ve only started doing that half the season,” he said. “I did see that they changed goalies because of the injury, but it didn’t change how I was going to go after it. My only thing was just go at the ball, try to head it at the net and hope it goes in.”

Woodstown (16-4) now hosts Palmyra (12-7) in the semifinals Tuesday. It’s the Wolverines’ third trip to the sectional semifinals in the last four years and sixth since 2010.

“We’ve been consistent as far as winning for many, many years now, but as far as advancing further we’ve done that the last couple years,” Huck said. “Our goal this year is to go further than we did last year. You always want to do better than the year before.

“We’ve got one more game to go to get us into that situation, but part of my responsibility as a coach is to make sure we’re focused not so much on next Friday (the South Jersey championship game possibly against Schalick), but on this coming Tuesday. Friday will happen if we take care of Tuesday.”

NOTES: The win was Woodstown’s seventh in a row and ninth in their last 10 games. The shutout was their seventh … With his next goal Ibarra will become the fourth player in Woodstown boys history with 50 career goals. He’s already fifth in the all-time points list … Huck and Schalick coach Joe Mannella have been invited to coach in the South Jersey Coaches Association All-Star Game Nov. 26 at Rutgers-Camden. The Tri-County Conference All-Star Game is the day before.

SCHALICK 2, PITMAN 0: After a scoreless first half, the Cougars got goals from Oscar Hernandez and Luke Price. Evan Sepers made five saves in recording the Cougars’ second straight playoff shutout and fifth in their last six wins.

Their semifinal matchup with Haddon Twp. is a rematch of last year’s semifinals (won by Schalick 1-0) and gives the Cougars a chance to avenge their 1-0 opening-round loss in the Coaches Cup, their only loss in their last 15 games..

Cover photo: Woodstown’s Grant Prater earned the right to ring the ball for his play in the Wolverines’ 3-0 playoff victory over Wildwood Friday.