Assistant coach Leamy approved by board to become Schalick’s new head football coach; choice applauded by players

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Schalick has found its new head football coach – and he was already in the house.

Kevin Leamy, an assistant coach with big-picture focus already teaching in the district, was approved Thursday night to become the Cougars’ next coach in a board meeting at the high school.

“I am super excited, but also humbled, that they decided to go with me,” said Leamy, who attended the meeting. “There were a lot of qualified people who applied for the position who have a lot of wins in high school football so being someone who has no high school head coach experience it was something that was humbling, but I believe I sold my vision on what the program should be, is going to be, and they believed in me, so I’m excited to get started and see where it goes.”

He succeeds Mike Wilson, who is leaving at the end of the school year to become the head coach at Clearview. Wilson guided the Cougars for five years, taking them from a program that didn’t win a game his first season to playing for Group I sectional championships each of the last two years.

Leamy, 38, a special education teacher in the district, was an integral part of that staff. He coached various positions on both sides of the ball in his three years with Wilson, most recently as offensive line coach.

“He was a big help with some of the big picture stuff and you need that to run the program properly,” Wilson said. “It was very helpful to have him on the staff. As a head football coach you’re worrying about all that CEO stuff, so it’s nice to have a guy to help you out with the football stuff.

“He made some good adjustments, some really good calls. He was definitely an asset.”

The fact he was already in district, is raising his family in the district and is familiar with the players he inherits checked a big box for Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar, who recommended Leamy after interviews with six finalists that included some current and former South Jersey head coaches.

“He has been a very solid staff member as a coach for the last three years,” Volovar said. “I think he has the depth of knowledge and understand of the game, a very good rapport with the kids he currently coaches and I think he was a good decision with regard what we looking for – somebody who’s a pillar of the community, is vested in the school district and somebody who really cares what’s right for the kids.

“He fits all the bills for it.”

A group of about a dozen players sat in on the board meeting wearing their Schalick jerseys in a show of support for their new coach. Assistant coach Henry Papiano addressed the board during public comments and touted Leamy’s football knowledge and connectivity with the players that he called “second to none.”

“I really like it,” rising senior kicker Hunter Dragotta said. “Everyone knows him, he knows everybody. All the kids love him. When he was at practice he interacted with everybody. We’re all super excited. Everyone wanted it to be him. We were all praying and hoping it would be him.”

Leamy is the fourth new head football coach hired in Salem County within the past year. Pennsville’s Mike Healy is now the longest active head football coach at a county school.

Leamy played his high school football at Gateway and collegiately at Wesleyan University. He previously held coaching assignments at Gateway and Clearview. His background also includes spending a year and a half interning with the New York Jets game operations.

In his three years on the Schalick staff, the Cougars have gone 26-8 – 7-3, 11-1, 8-4 – won back-to-back WJFL Horizon Division crowns and played for Central Jersey and South Jersey Group I championships 

“I like the idea there’s been a lot of success over last couple years and he’s been a part of it,” Volovar said. “There’s continuity and we have a group of kids (who) like him, they respect him and think he’s a very good football coach.

“Quite frankly, there were great candidates who applied for the job. Something that made sense was the idea he’s here for the long haul and to me that says lot about who he is and his character and that’s what I look for in a coach – somebody who has loyalty, somebody who thinks about our school and district first and is prepared to propel our program to higher level than it already is.”

Leamy’s vision for the program is to sustain the success provided by the “fantastic foundation” laid out by his predecessor. With so many of his players involved in spring sports – a situation he favors, by the way – he said he plans to hold a mini-camp for his team right after the Meet of Champions track championship and get started on meeting some ambitious goals.

“I have two goals and they’re big goals,” he said. “I want to beat Woodstown and Glassboro. That’s my goal.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve had a lot of success but we haven’t had any success against those two teams (the Cougars are 0-17 combined since 2014 and beaten each only once since 2010), and if you want to be what people talk about when they talk about Group I football you’ve got to start beating those teams. So, I think that’s the goal, to get over that hurdle and start beating those elite teams and then keep doing it every year.”

Leamy makes his head coaching debut at home in a Week Zero game against Somerville that originally had been a matchup for the Battle At The Beach. The Pioneers went 12-1 last season and lost to Mainland in the Group 3 state semifinals.

“I love starting the season off with that challenge, especially with the way that powr points and the index is set up,” he said. “Even if you lose that game you’re still going to be in a phenomenal position going forward.” 

Cougars heading to Cooperstown

In other athletics related action, the board approved the Schalick baseball team’s two-day trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and play Bridgeton in a May 12 game at Doubleday Field. It also approved the appointment of Robert Morris as a volunteer golf coach.

“The Cooperstown trip will be a unique opportunity for our players to learn more about the history of the game they play along with creating memories of playing on Doubleday Field,” Cougars baseball coach Sean O’Brien said. “It’s an experience not many players get to have and will create memories with their teammates.

“I have done this trip a couple times before when I coached at Salem and the former players still talk about their memories of playing at Cooperstown.”

Top photo: Kevin Leamy addresses the school board Thursday after being approved as Schalick’s new head football coach.

Schalick’s Simmons makes his longtime dream a reality, signing to play football at Millersville

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CENTERTON – Like most kids who play football in their youth, Kenai Simmons always dreamed of playing on the college level one day. Instinctively, those dreams focused on the biggest programs in the country, the teams he would watch every Saturday on television.

As he got older and he saw how the recruiting game was played the focus of his future landing place started to change. And as he saw how the game is played today, with transfer portals and NLI deals, he even doubted at times whether his dreams would ever materialize at all.

That’s what makes today such a special day for the versatile Schalick senior. His dream of playing college football became a reality at about 7:30 this morning when he signed and sent scholarship papers to continue his athletic and academic career at Millersville University.

The Marauders touted the signing with a “welcome to the family” post on their social media pages and Simmons is expected to have a signing event at Schalick to celebrate the feat later today.

“One thing about college recruiting nowadays, you’ve got to be strong for it,” Simmons said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs as anybody who’s in my age bracket could tell you. The transfer portal has kids, kids like me. You could be a good athlete or a great athlete, if you don’t have the right grades and the right exposure you might not find a college that’s for you.

“I started doubting myself. I started thinking like I wasn’t going to be at any college at all, any university. I was starting to look up how much Rowan’s tuition was, stuff like that. I was starting to think of what I would do after high school. 

“For a good period of time my mind was not on college because it just wasn’t really working out for me. I didn’t really tell anybody that, I was just hoping something would come up so I could get even more motivation and really get this thing through. But here comes Millersville with a pretty good deal.”

Simmons visited Millersville last Wednesday and committed Saturday. He also visited Widener and Shippensburg and planned to visit FDU, Kings and D-III Springfield (Mass.), but ended his recruitment after the trip to Millersville. He took an unofficial trip to Villanova.

“College football for me was just a big thing in general,” he said. “It was a dream since I was young. When I was younger it was different, I wanted to go to Oregon or Ohio State, that was my dream when I was young. Once you get older you realize it’s not even just about the college football, it’s about the education, so I had to make sure I was in the right spot, had the right niche for me and they treat me right in the classroom. 

“I went on a couple visits before Millersville and was waiting on some things before I made my final decision. When I got there I just felt at home, coaches were welcoming, players were honest with me about things going on within the team and the coaches got it right and this is their year they feel like, so I think Millersville’s the right place for me.”

Outgoing Schalick coach Mike Wilson agreed Simmons was one of the most versatile player he has coached. 

“I have coached some really good players at Schalick,” he said, “but Kenai is special because we could play him in different roles.”

While Simmons played multiple positions for the Cougars, Millersville likes him as something it calls the Falcon-back, a hybrid slot/running back who sometimes just might be called upon to throw a pass.

It’s really not much a departure from what he was used to and actually what he was hoping to find on the next level. He played something similar in his pre-high school days and right before accepting the quarterback’s role as a junior for the good of the team.

His versatility is reflected in his stats. He ran for 2,358 yards and 40 touchdowns in his four-year varsity career. He passed for 1,760 yards and 19 touchdowns in his last two, and caught 13 passes for 358 yards and five touchdowns in his last three.

Before the move to quarterback reduced his role on defense, he had 67 tackles and three interceptions.

“I’d definitely say I was happy with what we accomplished,” Simmons said. “I wasn’t satisfied, but I was definitely happy. There’s definitely a difference there. Not to be cocky, I don’t think anybody on our team could have played the position I played and the way I played it. 

“I think I really just pushed the idea (of playing quarterback( out of my head that I didn’t like doing it. But I did it for my team. I had guys on that team I really cared about. I did it for the guys. I did it so we could succeed and try to get a ‘ship under our belt.”

And succeed they did. The Cougars went from not winning a game the year before Simmons made the varsity to playing in a Group I sectional title game each of his last two years. Two years ago, in Simmons’ first year as the quarterback, they started 11-0.

His plan is to report to start his new adventure in August.

“I don’t think relief is the word, but I can’t find a better word than relief right now; we’ll go with relief,” he said. “It was definitely a lot of stuff coming off my shoulders. I think I sat down in the tub for the first time in forever. It was that great. I’m happy to have the opportunity and you know I’ll make it count.”

Top photo by Heather Papiano

Schalick football coach, a Group I sectional finalist the last two years, has resigned after five seasons ‘to pursue other opportunities’

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Mike Wilson, an old-school football coach who took Schalick from zero wins to regional contender, resigned Friday after five seasons at the school “to pursue other opportunities.”

He told the players earlier this morning. It was one of the hardest things he’s had to do in coaching, he said. “Definitely not easy.”

“I’m stepping away to pursue other opportunities,” he said. “This has nothing to do with the kids who play football. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Wilson declined to comment on what those “other opportunities” might be. He is said to be a leading candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Clearview, a position that is expected to come before its board next week. Clearview officials declined to comment on their search.

Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar said his school would work quickly to bring in a new coach who is “really going to take hold of what’s there and kind of run with it.” He suspects the opening will attract a large pool of quality candidates and he already has had “a lot of people reach out” in advance of the job being posted sometime next week.

Volovar has experience as a head football coach but is not expected to be a candidate.

“I’m disappointed that he’s leaving, obviously,” he said. “He built the program up after it was down a few years and did a really good job (of it). He created a good foundation for the school and the program moving forward and I think there’s an opportunity for someone new to build on what he’s leaving behind.

“It’s not as it was before when it was a little bit bare before. I think there’s more there and there’s a ton of talent coming back. There’s an opportunity for somebody to take the program and continue to make it grow.”

Schalick hadn’t had a winning season since 2016 prior to Wilson taking over the program in 2020 with fewer than 25 players on the roster. The Cougars didn’t win a game that first season, but he steadily increased their profile every year since, ultimately playing Glassboro for the Central Jersey sectional title in 2023 and again for the South Jersey crown this past season. 

He leaves the program as its winningest coach in terms of percentage. He was 30-21 (.588) in his five seasons, 30-14 the last four years and 19-5 the last two. Their season wins total increased every season until this past year when the Cougars went a respectable 8-4 against the toughest schedule in Wilson’s tenure. The 2023 team started the season 11-0.

They played in the demanding WJFL Diamond Division this season and finished third; they won the Horizon Division each of the two previous years. Their four losses this past season came to three Group I sectional champions, including both state finalists – state champion Glassboro (twice), runner-up Cedar Grove in the season-opening Battle at the Beach and Woodstown.

The Cougars had more than 60 players across grades 9 through 12 this past season.

“We’re leaving it in a better spot than we came from a numbers point of view, from competitiveness, resources,” Wilson said. “Whoever gets to take over is taking over a football program. They’re going to have great kids, great talent. They’re going to be in a good spot.”

“We didn’t hit our ultimate goal, but considering where this program was on Day 1 Year 1 to where it is today, Mike accomplished a lot and there is certainly nothing to be ashamed of or apologize for,” special teams coordinator and team historian Frank Amar said. “I think we’re leaving it way better than we found it. Anybody who thinks otherwise knows as much about football as I know about quantum physics.

“Real football people, people who know and understand the game and what it takes to build a successful program, understand what Mike accomplished and why it was the right thing to do at this time.”

Volovar said that foundation, the quality of players coming back and the support for the program within the school makes the opening attractive.

“The cupboard’s far from bare; things have been established,” he said. “We have tons of kids who are coming back with a lot of potential to be right back in the mix of things like we were this year and last year.”

Wilson’s resignation leaves Salem County with only one head coach with more than one football season at their respective school — Pennsville’s Mike Healy. Woodstown (Frank Trautz), Penns Grove (Mark Maccarone) and Salem (Kemp Carr) all were hired within the past year.

“Mike’s and our style of coaching may not have been everybody’s cup of team, but the proof is in the pudding,” Amar said. “The success we sustained hasn’t been achieved at Schalick in 20 years and the reason we were able to reach those levels is because of what we tried to instill in our players — accountability, commitment, things like the year-round weight lifting program that enabled our guys to withstand the rigors of our schedule. The kinds of things lay people (complain) about is what made us who we are.

“When people think of South Jersey Group I football, Schalick is a part of the conversation. It didn’t happen by accident or luck. That was the result of the hard work and sacrifices made by the players and coaching staff. When the dust settles, that will be Mike’s ultimate legacy at Schalick.”

Schalick football coaches

Taking a look at the Group I championship game from the unique perspective of a coach who played both finalists this season

EDITOR’S NOTE: Schalick football coach Mike Wilson is uniquely qualified to break down Friday’s Group I championship game between Cedar Grove and Glassboro. His Cougars played Cedar Grove in their first game of the year (Battle at the Beach) and Glassboro – twice actually – in their final game (South Jersey Group I final). They are the only team in the state to play both finalists in any of the five public school title games.

By Mike Wilson
Special to Riverview Sports News

OVERVIEW 

Cedar Grove (13-0) has scored 557 points this year (42.8 ppg). Quarterback Stephen Paradiso has thrown for 3,501 passing yards and 42 touchdowns against only seven interceptions. The Panthers have rushed for 1,216 yards as a team and scored 26 touchdowns on the ground. This is a high-powered, no huddle, Air Raid Offense that has been tough to stop this year. 

The Cedar Grove defense has been good this year as well only giving up 13 points per game over 13 games. 

Glassboro (12-0) has Division I talent all over the field led by the Sabb brothers, Xavier and Amari, and the addition of senior transfer running back Kenny Smith has been tremendous for the Bulldogs. 

Amari Sabb has caught 56 passes for 1,049 yards and 12 touchdowns and Xavier Sabb has caught 43 for 774 yards and 11 touchdowns. Smith has rushed for 1,407 yards and 19 touchdowns in nine games (he had to sit the first three as a senior transfer). Their two quarterbacks, Kris Foster and Jack O’Connell both have thrown for more than 1,000 yards and have 30 combined touchdown passes.

Glassboro relies on a defense that only gives up five points per game. 

AT FIRST GLANCE 

Cedar Grove and Glassboro are two of the best football teams I have seen in a long time. It’s going to be a great match up. 

Having played both of them, Cedar Grove doesn’t look impressive on film but they are impressive in person. The Panthers are a different level in person, well coached, know their system very well and execute on a high level. 

Glassboro is just physically tough and have playmakers everywhere. It’s not easy to beat the Bulldogs because of their sheer physical nature of play. It reminds me of playing Bridgeton while I was in high school. 

KEYS TO VICTORY

Can Cedar Grove protect their quarterback against the Front 5 of Glassboro? 

Cedar Grove throws the ball an awful lot. I think we can all agree Glassboro has a very good front five; they’ve only given up like five points per game this year. They’re good, they’re star-studded, they’re big, they’re fast, they’re physical. But Cedar Grove is very good at pass protection. We threw a lot at them and they picked everything up.

That’s going to be the matchup going into the game. I can see Glassboro dominating, but I can also see Cedar Grove picking it up because I’ve seen it on both side.

Can Glassboro slow down an offense that they haven’t seen before? 

Nobody runs what they’re going to see. Nobody they play this year runs anything close to that.

It’s a spread offense, but it’s Air Raid. They’re the fastest no-huddle team I’ve seen ever live for high school football. And the pass concepts they ran, nobody in Glassboro’s schedule runs any of that stuff.

It’s very unique. You can’t practice it. It’s hard to replace stuff that you don’t do. It all depends on how fast Glassboro can ease into the game. Kind of like the Eagles (Sunday) night where the defense took about two or three series to get used to what the Rams were doing and then they were fine the rest of the game. Can you ease into the game when it’s still close?

Can Cedar Grove protect against the big play capability of the Sabbs and Smith?

I think so. Of all the teams we played this year, Cedar Grove is very fundamentally sound. I would think they’ll make Glassboro work for it. I don’t think you’re going to see Cedar Grove line up wrong, be out of place. 

Glassboro might just have better athletes than them, but Cedar Grove is not going to line up wrong, they’ll be in the right spots. It’s can their athletes match up direct with (Glassboro’s) athletes.

Who will win the special teams battle? 

Cedar Grove has a very good placekicker (Sebastian Kovacs). That kid’s going to put the ball in the end zone every time. He can kick a field goal because he has a leg and a half. (Kovacs is 7-of-9 on field goals, long of 42; 70 of 72 on PATs). The quarterback does the punting and the flip side of it is Glassboro hasn’t punted the football in over a month. So, if I’m Cedar Grove I want those guys to punt. And if you look back to how Glassboro got beat last year, I think Mountain Lakes blocked a kick or two.

I think the third phase of the game, if it’s close, can decide the game.

Left cover photo: Schalick kicker Hunter Dragotta (12) tries to corral Cedar Grove receiver Jackson Morrice during their season opener. Right cover photo: Glassboro’s Jordan Gravener (75) wraps up Schalick’s Reggie Allen during the South Jersey Group I championship game. (Photos by Heather Papiano)