Punt, Cougars, punt

Woodstown takes advantage of Schalick’s special teams miscues, wins Diamond Division opener, extends winning streak in series to 12

SALEM COUNTY FOOTBALL
FRIDAY GAMES
Woodstown 26, Schalick 0
SATURDAY GAMES
Glassboro at Penns Grove
Pennsville at Overbrook
Salem at Woodbury

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – If you grew up Down South watching football, especially in the state of Alabama where the sport just means more, there are certain games that just resonate through generations.

One of the most memorable is the 1972 Iron Bowl in which Auburn stunned No. 2 Alabama 17-16, blocking two punts in the fourth quarter and returning both for touchdowns to win a game that is forever known as “Punt, Bama, Punt.”

Woodstown staged its own version of “Punt, Bama, Punt” Friday night, taking advantage of several Schalick miscues in the punting game to win its WJFL Diamond Division opener and extend its dominance in the series with their nearest county rival, 26-0.

All of the Wolverines’ points came as a result of shortcomings on the Cougars’ special teams. There was a safety off a bad punt snap to open the scoring, a short-field touchdown drive with the ensuing free kick, a short-field touchdown drive off a 7-yard punt, a field goal off another bad punt snap and a touchdown off another short punt  They almost had another touchdown after a long punt return into Schalick territory, but turned it over on downs after getting inside the 10.

“Special teams is such an emphasis for us,” Woodstown coach Frank Trautz said. “We put a huge emphasis on it every week and take it very seriously.

“Any time you can get a special teams turnover it drastically swings momentum and it gives you a real good shot at winning a football game, so that was very big for us in terms of helping us get this one.”

The Wolverines (2-0) gained control of the game early. They went up 2-0 when a snap sailed over punter Shawn Kelly’s head and he ended up falling on it in the end zone after a 27-yard loss. They took Schalick’s free kick near midfield and after Bryce Belinfanti softened up the defense with three hard runs, Alex Torres took a shuttle pass from Jack Holladay and went 35 yards for the game’s first touchdown.

“It’s always about setting the tone and that safety really set the tone for us,” said linebacker Anthony Bokolas, who chased down Kelly in the end zone.

A 7-yard punt gave the Wolverines another short field on their next possession and Belinfanti capped that drive with an 11-yard touchdown run. Another bad punt snap set them up at the Schalick 20 shortly before halftime and kicker Jake Ware salvaged that possession with a 29-yard field goal to make it 19-0.

“On film we did see that their punt team was a little off and we knew if we attacked them, just played physical, they were going to mess up,” Belinfanti said.

Belinfanti scored the game’s final touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter when he caught Holladay’s pass wide open across the middle and scored from 35 yards out. That drive was set up by a 12-yard punt.

Belinfanti finished the game with 85 yards rushing on 17 carries and the one catch for 35 yards. Holladay was 8-of-13 passing for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

“Honestly, I’m unsatisfied,” Belinfanti said. “I’m happy that we won, but I know I’m way better than that. I think I could’ve touched the end zone three times today. The best is yet to come for me.”

The game left Schalick looking for answers. It was a first chance for the Cougars to show they had what it took to play in South Jersey Group I’s toughest division after gaining traction as the beast of a lesser division last season. But the Wolverines never gave them a chance to get going and the special teams mistakes kept them at a disadvantage all night.

With the two bad punt snaps sapping a lot of their yardage, the Cougars were held to negative net rushing yardage and 12 yards total in the first half. They managed only 65 net yards in the game. Their deepest penetration into Woodstown territory in the first half was the 32 and that ended in a Garrett Leyman interception. Their most sustained drive came in the opening possession of the second half and reached the Woodstown 22 but ended with a missed field goal attempt.

“The kids played hard all game, they didn’t quit,” Cougars coach Mike Wilson said. “We just couldn’t get out of our way. We spotted them 19 points.

“You can’t have bad snaps like that against good football teams. You have to play clean football in all three phases; we did not do that tonight. We were constantly in bad positions. We’re doing uncharacteristic things.

“I want to play good clean football. We’re giving them points, we’re giving them plays, we’re putting ourselves in bad position. We played on our side of the field all night. I don’t care what level of game, you can’t play like that. You’ve got to play good in all three phases and right now we’re not.”

The win was Woodstown’s 12th in a row in the series. It has been 5,103 days since the Cougars last tasted victory in the rivalry and will be at least another 365 before they have a chance to try again.

Woodstown’s Anthony Bokolas (25) chases down Schalick punter Shawn Kelly for the first-quarter safety that got it all started for the Wolverines Friday night. On the cover, quarterback Jack Holladay and coach Frank Trautz talk over a play on the sideline. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)

Woodstown 26, Schalick 0

SCH (0)WOO (26)
61st Downs13
28-45Rush-yards31-120
4-6-1Passing (C-A-I)8-13-0
20Passing yds108
2-0Fum-lost0-0
4-24.3Punts-avg2-43.0
1-0Pen-yds6-45
Schalick (1-2) 0000-0
Woodstown (2-0)91007-26

SCORING SUMMARY
W-Safety, punter tackled in end zone, 5:38 1Q
W-Alex Torres 35 pass from Jack Holladay (Jake Ware kick), 2:34 1Q
W-Bryce Belinfanti 11 run (Jake Ware kick), 6:16 2Q
W-Jake Ware 29 FG, 1:28 2Q
W-Bryce Belinfanti 35 pass from Jack Holladay (Jake Ware kick), 11:52 4Q

WJFL DIAMOND DIVISIONDIVALL
Woodstown1-02-0
Glassboro0-01-0
Penns Grove0-01-1
Salem0-00-2
Woodbury0-00-1
Schalick0-11-2

FRIDAY GAMES
Woodstown 26, Schalick 0
SATURDAY GAMES
Salem at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Glassboro at Penns Grove, noon

WJFL PATRIOT DIVISIONDIVALL
West Deptford2-02-1
Paulsboro1-02-0
Collingswood1-12-1
Camden Catholic0-01-0
Audubon0-11-1
Overbrook0-11-1
Pennsville0-10-2

FRIDAY GAMES
Audubon 8, Bordentown 7
West Deptford 46, Collingswood 6
SATURDAY GAMES
Camden Catholic at Paulsboro, 10 a.m.
Pennsville at Overbrook, 11 a.m.

Woodstown’s Bryce Belinfanti looks to make a move around Schalick’s Dylan Sheehan Friday night. (Photo by Heather Papiano)

This week’s schedule

Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of Sept. 9-14; all events 4 p.m. unless noted

SEPT. 9
FIELD HOCKEY
Paulsboro at Pennsville
GIRLS SOCCER
Camden County Tech at Salem
GIRLS TENNIS
Woodstown at West Deptford

SEPT. 10
FIELD HOCKEY
Schalick at Triton
GIRLS TENNIS
Glassboro at Penns Grove
Gloucester Catholic at Woodstown
Salem at Schalick
Wildwood at Pennsville
BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Gloucester Co. Christian, 3:45 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Gloucester Co. Christian at Penns Grove
Woodstown at Wildwood

SEPT. 11
GIRLS SOCCER
Salem Tech at Cape May Tech
GIRLS TENNIS
Triton at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m.
Salem at Wildwood

SEPT. 12
FIELD HOCKEY
Deptford at Woodstown
Glassboro at Schalick
Salem at Pennsville
BOYS SOCCER
Clayton at Salem
Salem Tech at Pennsville
Schalick at Overbrook
Woodstown at Penns Grove
GIRLS SOCCER
Overbrook at Schalick
Pennsville at Glassboro
Pitman at Salem Tech
Salem at Clayton
Penns Grove at Woodstown
GIRLS TENNIS
Penns Grove at Woodstown
Pennsville at Schalick, 3:45 p.m.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Gloucester Catholic

SEPT. 13
FOOTBALL
Audubon at Bordentown, 6 p.m.
Collingswood at West Deptford, 7 p.m.
Schalick at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
GIRLS TENNIS
Penns Grove at Lindenwold
Pennsville at Lower Cape May

SEPT. 14
FOOTBALL
Camden Catholic at Paulsboro, 10:30 a.m.
Salem at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Pennsville at Overbrook, 11 a.m.
Glassboro at Penns Grove, noon
FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at Washington Twp., 10 a.m.
CROSS COUNTRY
South Jersey Open, Dream Park, 8:30 a.m.
Woodstown at Belmont Plateau, 10:30 a.m.

Cover photo of Woodstown kicker Jake Ware’s game-winning overtime PAT against Delsea by Ellen Sickler.

The learning curve

Despite second straight loss, Salem coach Carr sees signs of improvement and doesn’t have to dig for them

WJFL DIAMOND DIVISION
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Penns Grove 34, Deptford 0
Schalick 23, Cumberland 0
Woodstown 14, Delsea 13
SATURDAY’S GAME
Collingswood 14, Salem 7
Glassboro 22, Haddon Heights 12
Haddonfield 21, Woodbury 20

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – The players on the Salem football team slowly and sullenly made the long walk back from the field to the locker room after their second straight loss to open the season. There wasn’t a lot to feel good about it.

The post-game conversation was likely to center on the things that haven’t gone right for the Rams in the first two games of the season. There was some of that, but instead of whipping up on the shortcoming of a 12-7 loss to Cinnaminson Saturday, Rams coach Kemp Carr started his post-mortem on something much more upbeat.

“We took a step forward,” he said. “Several degrees we took a step forward.”

And then, when prompted, he proceeded to list all the things the Rams did better in Game 2 than they did in their 35-0 season-opening loss to Willingboro a week ago.

* They scored.
* Gave up fewer points. And yards.
* Got off the field more times on third down, forcing the Pirates to punt five times. 
* Had short-field situations in the second half that they didn’t have last week.

“It’s development; they’re all marginal things you can look at,” Carr said. “I don’t take moral victories. I’m not happy (with the loss). I’m far from satisfied … but you’ve got to make sure you give the guys something positive, so in the game you can find some things.”

Alas, there still are things the Rams need to fix. They didn’t execute in the short-field situations. They were 0-for-9 on third down, 0-for-4 on fourth. They gave up a long touchdown pass over the top in a prevent defense.

“They’re the things we need to fix,” Carr agreed. “We need to execute on offense a little better. We don’t want to be in second-and-long, third-and-long. We want to avoid those because probability-wise, according to anybody’s assessment, they’re not good positions to be in.

“You’re always tweaking. When you don’t execute there’s always things to tweak. We’ll watch the film. We’ll get better. There’s a whole lot of things to do to … make … us … bet-ter. But again we took strides. We just let it slip through our fingers.”

It did start good for the Rams. On the third snap of the game Pop Jackson broke those two waves of traffic close to the line, then bolted 62 yards for the Rams’ first touchdown of the season 65 seconds into the game.

“Everybody was excited, everybody was jumping up and down,” sophomore center Wyatt Irvine said about the early score. “You can see in the end zone, everybody was having a party.”

But that was basically the extent of Salem’s offense. The Rams had 80 yards of offense in the three-play series, but only 26 yards and zero first downs in their 33 plays that followed. In the second half, they had minus-5 yards of net offense, minus-19 rushing. Twenty of their total plays went for zero or negative yards.

Of course, it’s hard to generate much offense when you only have 15 plays in the half. Cinnaminson, while not the offensive juggernaut either, did manage to eat up big chunks of clock when it had the ball, moving it with dives and powers. The Pirates ran 26 offensive plays in the second half.

The Pirates answered Salem’s opening salvo with a 54-yard touchdown drive to tie the game, capping it with an 11-yard Dylan McAndrews TD pass to Jackson Machado. It remained 7-7 until McAndrews beat Salem’s prevent defense in the final minute of the first half with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Palladino on third-and-long.

Salem’s defense kept the Rams in the game. The unit recovered three fumbles, one in the end zone to keep it a 7-7 game and one by Irvine at the 40 with 2:29 to play to give the Rams one more shot at a game-tying score.

But they never moved the chains after any of the takeaways. They turned one of the possessions over downs, punted with another and with the last one took a 12-yard sack and had their final play fall incomplete.

“I was extremely happy (getting that final takeaway),” Irvine said. “I thought we had a big push there. I thought we had a lot of momentum going into that, but unfortunately it didn’t (pan out). Things just kind of fell apart, but next week we’ll fix that and we’ll get the W.”

The Rams open their Diamond Division schedule next week at Woodbury, a 21-20 loser to Haddonfield on Saturday.

Cinnaminson 14, Salem 7

CINN (14)SAL (7)
91st Downs2
40-79Rush-yards17-48
5-10-0Passing (C-A-I)7-18-1
134Passing yds58
4-3Fum-lost1-0
5-27.4Punts-avg5-35.0
3-10Pen-yds6-40
Cinnaminson (1-1)7700-14
Salem (0-2)7000-7

SCORING SUMMARY
S-Pop Jackson 62 run (Andrew May kick), 10:58 1Q
C-Jackson Machado 11 pass from Dylan McAndrews (Aedan Burk kick), 7:26 1Q
C-Tyler Palladino 58 pass from Dylan McAndrews (Aedan Burk kick), 0:51 2Q

WJFL DIAMOND DIVISIONDIVALL
Glassboro0-01-0
Penns Grove0-01-1
Salem0-00-2
Schalick0-01-1
Woodbury0-00-1
Woodstown0-01-0

NEXT WEEK’S SCHEDULE
FRIDAY GAMES
Schalick at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY GAMES
Salem at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Glassboro at Penns Grove, noon

Back on track

Woodstown wins OT thriller over defending state champs in Trautz’ first game as head coach; Schalick, Penns Grove get back in win column

WJFL DIAMOND DIVISION
Penns Grove 34, Deptford 0
Schalick 23, Cumberland 0
Woodstown 14, Delsea 13
SATURDAY’S GAME
Glassboro at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.
Haddonfield at Woodbury, 11 a.m.
Collingswood at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – No matter how long Frank Trautz stays in the coaching game or how many games he wins along the way, he’ll never forget his first one.

Bryce Belinfanti and Jake Ware hand-delivered their new coach his first win in his first game in overtime, running for a touchdown and nailing the extra point, respectively, to lift Woodstown over defending Group 3 state champion Delsea 14-13.

“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life, that’s for sure,” said Trautz, promoted from quarterbacks coach in the offseason to succeed John Adams who retired from coaching after 14 seasons. “It’s been a very emotional day; I just wanted to get to the game. I was just so proud of the kids, proud of my staff, all the work that they put in; that’s what made this win possible.

“To be able to celebrate that with all them was such a cool moment.”

The Wolverines led from the moment Jack Holladay threw his first career touchdown pass with his second career completion in the second quarter. Delsea forced overtime with a touchdown with 3:21 left in regulation and missed a game-winning field goal with 46 seconds left.

The Crusaders got the ball first in overtime and Dan Russo scored on a 22-yard run on the second snap. But they barely missed the extra point to the left, opening the door for Woodstown to win on the ensuing possession.

The Wolverines didn’t waste any time. Belinfanti took the first snap and went 25 yards to tie the game and Ware drilled the extra point for the win. Belinfanti, a 1,700-yard rusher a year ago, ran for 97 yards in the game.

Holladay had waited his entire life to be the Wolverines’ starting quarterback and seized the opportunity when presented to him. He hadn’t thrown a pass in a varsity game, but connected with Garrett Leyman for his first career touchdown. He was 3-for-5 for 43 yards.

“It was huge for him, huge for his confidence,” Trautz said. “I told him I have confidence in you to open the playbook and we’re going to let it rip, and he did a great job. I know getting that first touchdown pass out of the way is a big deal for a quarterback, so I was very happy for him.”

Carter Orlandini preserved the 7-0 halftime lead when he intercepted a pass at the 2 and the Wolverines stopped Delsea’s seven-minute opening drive of the second half.

“Our defense came up huge all night in a game that was an incredibly physical game and obviously Delsea is such a great team,” Trautz said. “To come up with that interception right there at the end of the half was huge.”

The new coach won’t have a lot of time to enjoy his first win. The Wolverines open their WJFL Diamond Division schedule next week.

“I’m going to go enjoy it with my wife tonight and we’ll celebrate the win,” he said, “and tomorrow it’s back to work and we’re going to get ready for Schalick.”

Woodstown 14, Delsea 13 (OT)

DEL (13)WTN (14)
40-143Rush-yards23-102
2-14-0Passing (C-A-I)3-5-1
121Passing yds43
Delsea (0-1)00076-13
Woodstown (1-0)07007-14

SCORING SUMMARY
W-Garrett Leyman 19 pass from Jack Holladay (Jake Ware kick), 6:28 2Q
D-Luke VanAuken 12 pass from Jimmy Reardon (Zack Greer kick), 3:21 4Q
D-Dan Russo 22 run (kick failed), OT
W-Bryce Belinfanti 25 run (Jake Ware kick), OT

Jack Holladay made the most of his first varsity start. The senior threw his first career touchdown pass and directed the Woodstown offense to an overtime victory. On the cover, the Wolverines celebrate after winning. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)

Simmons returns in Schalick win

PITTSGROVE – Senior quarterback Kenai Simmons returned to the Schalick lineup Friday night and helped the Cougars exorcise the demons of last week’s dud in the Battle at the Beach, 23-0 over Cumberland.

“This week was all about getting a win, that’s all that mattered,” Cougars coach Mike Wilson said. “It didn’t matter how we won or how we looked, it was just about getting our mojo back and getting a W.”

It’s the first time in two years the Cougars faced that kind of adversity and the resiliency of bouncing back from an in-season setback. They haven’t lost back-to-back games since mid-October 2021. Since then, they have gone 22-5.

“It says a lot about the kids’ fortitude, a lot about them being mentally strong, a lot about their work ethic and bouncing back and being honest about what they had to do,” Wilson said.

Simmons returned after a full week of practice and ran for a pair of short-field touchdowns. Reggie Allen scored on a 20-yard run early in the third quarter. Allen rushed for 135 yards.

The defense recorded the Cougars’ first shutout in the series since 2016. They held the Colts to 86 net yards, had four interceptions (two by game MVP David Stewart) and a safety. Riley Papiano led the unit with eight tackles and was in on the safety with Thomas Hymer. Alec Bramell had six tackles.

“In my (five) years here that’s probably the best we played defensively overall,” he said.

It’s the first time either team has won back-to-back games in the Battle for the Hars-Lake Trophy since Schalick won in 2018-19. The Cougars have won 11 of the last 15 meetings.

CUMB (0)SCHAL (23)
61st Downs10
23-79Rush-yards41-123
3-16-4Passes (C-A-I)2-4-0
7Passing14
0-0Fum-lost1-1
12-95Penalties6-74

A convincing first win

DEPTFORD – Penns Grove needed a win and got it in convincing fashion.

The Red Devils bounced back from their season-opening loss with a convincing 34-0 win on the road over Deptford Twp. for head coach Mark Maccarone’s first win at the head of the program.

Melo Erickson threw a career-high three touchdown passes – to Knowledge Young, Kylee Goodson and Karon Ceaser – and a two-point conversion to Tre Brown. Ceaser played tailback most of the game and ran for two scores and the defense kept the Spartans out of the end zone.

“I’m happy for the kids,” Maccarone said. “It gives them a confidence build. They start to see the system works. When we say to do X, Y and Z and they do X, Y and Z, it results in good things. You saw when they don’t do what they’re being asked to do, the outcome is not good.

“It was a good win, a good team effort by everybody. It’s a good one for the program … a good win to build confidence in what the system is and how I run a program, how my brother runs an offense and how I run a defense.”

The Red Devils open their WJFL Diamond Division gauntlet next week against Glassboro, where Maccarone was the head coach for seven seasons (2011-17).

“Coming back as a head coach for the first time against Glassboro, not an assistant coach, it’s definitely going to be different for me,” he said. “The current head coach at Glassboro was a player under my brother when I was an assistant coach in 2008.

“It’s going to be different. I don’t really know how to describe it. I really haven’t given much thought to it other than it’s another game on the schedule. I probably would feel different if we were playing them there. It’s been seven years since I’ve been around Glassboro.

“It is going to be different for my brother (Gary). It’s the first time he’s coaching against the guys he coached last year, the kids that he has in class. It’s going to be more (nostalgic) for him than me.”

Penns Grove (1-1)147013-34
Deptford (0-2)0000-0
DIAMOND DIVISIONDIVALL
Glassboro0-00-0
Penns Grove0-01-1
Salem0-00-1
Schalick0-01-1
Woodbury0-00-0
Woodstown0-01-0
Woodstown’s Bryce Belinfanti rushed for 97 yards and scored a touchdown in overtime that sent the Wolverines to a 14-13 win over Delsea. (Photo by Ellen Sickler)

Special delivery

West Deptford sophomore quarterback pressed into emergency duty with game on the line, throws winning TD pass on fourth down with 34 seconds to play to spoil Pennsville’s home opener

WJFL PATRIOT DIVISION
Camden Catholic 36, KIPP Cooper Norcross 0
Collingswood 12, Overbrook 6
West Deptford 29, Pennsville 26
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Paulsboro at Audubon, 11 a.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — John Emel may have moved on to another program, but he didn’t forget to take his magic over Pennsville with him.

Emel ran his personal coaching winning streak over the Eagles to eight games Friday night when backup quarterback T.J. Cross hit Zamir Davis on a 32-yard fourth-down touchdown pass with 34 seconds left to give his new West Deptford team a 29-26 win in their WJFL Patriot Division opener.

Before moving to West Deptford in the offseason, Emel won the last seven games his Penns Grove team played against Pennsville. 

“Every year’s different, different kids; tonight it was magic,” he said. “West Deptford football is always about the next man up. You hope it’s not fourth-and-6 on the road when you’re oh-and-1 looking for your first win.”

Of the eight, this one may have been the hardest to get. West Deptford trailed 20-7 midway through the third quarter but started putting together big plays and engineered their winning drive with a quarterback who had never completed a varsity pass.

Cross was pressed into action with 2:21 left — right after Pennsville regained a 26-21 lead — because starter Brady Cobb injured his surgically repaired collarbone on the previous possession that gave West Deptford its first lead of the game.

Cobb actually reaggravated the injury earlier in the drive, but it popped back into place allowing him to continue only to pop out again on his two-point conversion pass that put his team ahead 21-20 with 7:19 to play.

“They told me to get ready and I was ready to step up,” Cross said. “I’ve been practicing, I’ve been a quarterback for a while, and I was just ready to step up. My guys had my back. I just wanted to get the job done.”

Despite never playing a varsity game at quarterback before, Cross, a sophomore, got his team inside the Pennsville 30 with about a minute left, but the Pennsville defense stood its ground with back-to-back 1-yard losses to leave West Deptford to face a do-or-die fourth-and-4. Davis was wide open along the West Deptford sideline and Cross dropped the pass into his arms perfectly.

“There’s a lot of strategy that goes on at the end of the game,” Emel said. “When there was like three minutes left we were saying we got to let them score. Forget the fact that my backup quarterback was in. I feel like we can score if we have enough time. “I told (Cross) in the huddle it’s called split red 79 post wheel (and) he’s gonna be wide open. I don’t know if you can make the throw, but he’s gonna be wide open. That’s what we said and we didn’t lie; he was wide open. Just don’t drop it.”

“That kid won us that game today,” Cobb said. “He took the team on his back. He took his moment and rode with it. I’ve never seen anything like that. That was awesome.”

Pennsville had a chance for its own magical ending, but the bid ended when Davis intercepted Robbie McDade’s fourth-down pass with two seconds left.

The loss spoiled an exceptional outing from Pennsville running back Rylan Hardy that was part of an improved overall team effort from the week before. The junior rushed for 157 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdowns. And he had another 44-yard run that would’ve given his team a 27-13 lead called back by a holding penalty.

And when the Eagles used Hardy as a decoy, McDade broke through for big gains. McDade scored on a 6-yard run to give his Eagles a 20-7 lead and finished with 86 yards rushing.

“He just flies around the field – on offense and defense,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “He keeps his feet moving. He’s not the biggest kid but he runs physical. He’s very good at finding the hole. He knows what to do. He was awesome today.”

It was just spoiled by a bitter defeat.

“I told the kids there was nothing I can say to make you feel better after that,” Healy said. “That was just a gut punch.”

Cover photo: West Deptford quarterback T.J. Cross (7) goes through the handshake line after leading the Eagles to victory with a last-minute touchdown pass.

West Deptford 29, Pennsville 26

WDEPT (29)PVILLE (26)
121st Downs13
32-185Rush-yards42-258
6-8-0Passing (C-A-I)3-7-1
74Passing yards46
1-0Fum-Lost1-0
2-36.5Punts-avg1-37.0
3-15Penalties4-35
West Deptford (1-1)07616-29
Pennsville (0-2)7676-26

SCORING SUMMARY
P-Rylan Hardy 10 run (Luke Wood kick), 0:00 1Q
WD-Michael Joseph 16 pass from Brady Cobb (Aiden Paskiewicz kick), 5:30 2Q
P-Rylan Hardy 5 run (kick failed), 1:22 2Q
P-Robbie McDade 3 run (Luke Wood kick), 7:39 3Q
WD-Zamir Davis 32 run (kick failed), 2:11 3Q
WD-Cole Paskiewicz 46 run (Zamir Davis pass from Brady Cobb), 7:19 4Q
P-Rylan Hardy 10 run (pass failed), 2:21 4Q
WD-Zamir Davis 31 pass from T.J. Cross (Logan Rivell run), 0:34 4Q

PATRIOT DIVISIONDIVALL
Collingswood1-02-0
West Deptford1-01-1
Audubon0-00-0
Camden Catholic0-01-0
Paulsboro0-01-0
Overbrook0-11-1
Pennsville0-10-2



His time now

Jack Holladay takes over as Woodstown’s quarterback, getting his shot to lead the offense after learning behind cousin Max Webb

FRIDAY’S SALEM COUNTY GAMES
Penns Grove at Deptford, 6 p.m.
Cumberland at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Delsea at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
West Deptford at Pennsville, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAME
Cinnaminson at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – It may be a little hyperbole, but Jack Holladay has been waiting for tonight all his life.

Ever since he got to high school, Holladay has dreamed and worked for the day he would become Wolverines’ starting quarterback. The day comes tonight when the Wolverines host Delsea in the first game of Frank Trautz’ tenure as head coach.

The last couple years Holladay’s been on the team but on the quarterback depth chart he was behind his cousin Max Webb as the Wolverines’ lead signal caller.

Well, Max has moved on after leading the Wolverines to three straight deep playoff runs and now it’s Holladay’s time to step up and shine.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” Holladay said over the summer. “Since freshman year I’ve wanted to be the quarterback. I know that’d be behind Max, but I was just learn from him and do what I can in practice and I knew I’d be ready for my senior year.

“It’ll be different (now as the starter), but I think the coaches will have me prepared and I think I’m ready for it.”

It was always been like that as the two were coming up. Webb would be the starter because he was older and the next year Holladay would follow because Max would move up to the next level.

Holladay always felt he “did good” in the seasons he immediately followed his cousin.

He doesn’t have a lot of game statistics to show for the work he’s put in behind Max because his cousin was so durable – he hasn’t thrown a pass in varsity two seasons and has been credited with just five career carries – but he’s said to have a big upside.

Trautz said every time the Wolverines needed to put the 6-1, 170-pound Holladay in a game they were “completely confident” in his ability.

He’s shown a strong arm in the summer and an even disposition to combat the pressure of his elevated circumstances. In his first 7-on-7 game his first pass was intercepted, then he went 7-for-7 on the next series, culminating in a touchdown to Anthony Bokolas, and ultimately completed eight in a row. 

“I’m really excited to see what Jack’s gonna do this year,” said Trautz, Holladay’s quarterback coach before being promoted to succeed John Adams last spring. “He’s a great athlete. He’s got all the tools you want in a quarterback. He can make every throw. He’s a really good athlete, so he’s going to be able to help us out as well in the run game a little bit. I’m excited about the direction this offense can go with him under center.

“He’s definitely ready for this. He got a ton of reps last year in practice and already what I’ve seen from him early on in the summer is a lot of good stuff. I think the sky’s the limit for him. He could have a real special year.”

So tonight’s game has been a lifetime in the making.

When Holladay did allow himself to think of what it would be like to step into the starting role, his dream covered the total package.

“Just playing in front of everyone, the students, everyone at the game,” he said. “I thought that would be fun throwing touchdowns and just winning. I want to win a championship.”

AROUND THE COUNTY: There has been no change in Schalick quarterback Kenai Simmons’ status, coach Mike Wilson said Thursday, so it appears sophomore Ayden Jenkins will draw his second straight start in tonight’s home opener with Cumberland. Jenkins was under center the entire 41-3 loss to Cedar Grove in the Battle at the Beach. “We will be making sure to call the correct stuff to help him,” Wilson said. Tonight’s neighborhood rivals have split the last four games in the battle for the Hars-Lake Trophy, once a staple of the Thanksgiving Day slate … West Deptford coach John Emel may have moved onto a new team this season, but he’ll be looking for a same result when his Eagles take on Pennsville’s Eagles in tonight’s WJFL Patriot Division opener. Emel was 8-2 with a current seven-game winning streak against Pennsville when he was head coach at Penns Grove … Last week was a rarity in Salem County football. It was the first time in more than 20 years the county was shut out of the win column on the opening weekend with four or more teams playing. The county schools went 0-4 last week with Woodstown idle.

This week’s schedule

Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of Sept. 2-7; all events 4 p.m. unless noted; x-scrimmage

SEPT. 3
FIELD HOCKEY

x-GCIT at Woodstown
x-Overbrook at Pennsville
x-Schalick at Haddon Heights
BOYS SOCCER
x-Clayton at Penns Grove
x-Woodstown at GCIT
GIRLS SOCCER
x-GCIT at Woodstown
x-Penns Grove at Clayton
GIRLS TENNIS
Gloucester Catholic at Salem
Pennsville at Penns Grove
Schalick at Overbrook
Woodstown at Glassboro

SEPT. 4
BOYS SOCCER
x-Pennsville at Cumberland
Cape May Tech at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
x-Delsea at Pennsville
x-Pitman at Penns Grove
Woodstown at Deptford, 6 p.m.

SEPT. 5
GIRLS TENNIS

Schalick at Gloucester Catholic
FIELD HOCKEY
Audubon at Pennsville

SEPT. 6
FOOTBALL
Overbrook at Collingswood, 6 p.m.
Penns Grove at Deptford, 6 p.m.
KIPP Cooper Norcross at Camden Catholic, TBA
Cumberland at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Delsea at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
West Deptford at Pennsville, 7 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Pennsville at Wildwood
GIRLS SOCCER
Deptford at Pennsville, 4:15 p.m.

SEPT. 7
FOOTBALL
Paulsboro at Audubon, TBA
Haddonfield at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Glassboro at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.
Cinnaminson at Salem, noon
GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick at Cherokee, 1:30 p.m.
CROSS COUNTRY
Pennsville in Cherokee Challenge, 9 a.m.

Looking for the magic

Salem shut out by Willingboro in Carr’s first game as Rams’ head coach; Chimeras win first opener in 13 years

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – It was about a half-hour after the game had ended. Kemp Carr had finished talking to his players after a disappointing season-opening loss and there was still a lot about it he didn’t like.

But as the new Salem coach walked back to his office, his youngest grandson Nathaniel raced across the field and jumped into his arms. Carr held him tight and in that moment all was right with the world.

“You’ve got to separate the two, right?” he explained. “You’ve got to know how, you’ve got to know when, even though you’re an emotional human being, right. We go through it, we’ve got to process some joys in life. You’ve got to take the ups with the ups and the downs with the downs.

“That was my youngest grandson. That’s the future. Anytime you see the future running up and it’s part of your DNA, your bloodline, you get excited about that, right.”

WILLINGBORO 35,
SALEM 0
Next: Cinnaminson at
Salem, Saturday, noon

But soon after that interaction it was back to what the day was all about. And that would be Salem’s 35-0 loss to Willingboro in Carr’s first game back as a head coach in six years and what the Rams were going to do about it going forward.

While there were some things the coach found to his liking, there were a lot of others things the Rams need to correct to be the team Carr knows it can be.

They gave up two short-field touchdowns early in the game because of turnovers to fall behind 14-0. The running game, which was expected to be a strong suit, had too many carries of negative or zero yards. They didn’t come close to scoring, although they looked headed that way in the fourth quarter until the running clock caught up to them.

“It’s all about that magical box,” Carr said. “We weren’t able to establish the run, which is always going to be an issue if you can’t do that. They beat us in the TBR – tackle, block, run. If we can’t do the TBR against teams you’re going to have a hard time beating them. Your special teams better be real special in order to win games if you can’t TBR. We didn’t TBR well.

“We thought we were built for this. I thought we had a great pre-game. I thought we looked like, before we out there, we had that mojo, that ‘it’ factor, and it just never showed up on the field, but I promise you it will. This ain’t no 2-7 football team.”

Willingboro’s James Pemberton scored two touchdowns and had an interception on a tipped ball. Mekhi Cottle did some “purposeful” running and scored a touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter. Jamier Harper and quarterback Sean Taylor also found the end zone. Taylor threw three touchdown passes.

For the Chimeras, it was their first Week Zero or season opening victory since 2011 (Cinnaminson).

“This team is gritty, they’re hard working, they show up and bust their humps every day,” Willingboro coach Kenny Scott said. “We just wanted to make a statement. They haven’t won a Week Zero game in over a decade, so they earned that one.” 

On the positive side for Salem, Carr was happy with the active and disruptive play of defensive ends Michael Green and Antwan Rogers and the running of sophomore Jamaal Shockley, who had two nice runs in the fourth quarter when the Rams’ offense finally seemed comfortable.

“I think if he’s willing to learn I think he’ll be decent player here,” Carr said of Shockley. “He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s active. Once he starts to understand his development, once Pop (DaviYonn Jackson) is gone, who’s it? The job’s open right. So those guys should be fighting and clawing. I’m looking for the next guys and he showed some bright signs that he can be it.”

Willingboro (1-0)77147-35
Salem (0-1)0000-0

SCORING SUMMARY
W-Brandon Cox pass from Sean Taylor (James Pemberton kick)
W-James Pemberton pass from Sean Taylor (James Pemberton kick)
W-James Pemberton pass from Sean Taylor (James Pemberton kick)
W-Mekhi Cottle run (James Pemberton kick), 0:48 3Q
W-Sean Taylor 1 run (James Pemberton kick), 2:41 4Q

Willingboro quarterback Sean Taylor (1) accounted for four touchdowns against Salem Saturday.

Back in the game

Penns Grove, Salem drop season openers in their head coaches’ return to the sidelines; PG’s Maccarone on being back: ‘Like riding a bicycle’

SATURDAY’S WJFL SCORES
Diamond Division

Paulsboro 12, Penns Grove 7
Willingboro 35, Salem 0

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PAULSBORO – The Penns Grove offense had the Red Devils right where they wanted to be. They were in a position to win their new coach Mark Maccarone’s first game with little time left on the clock.

All they had to do was make a play. But it was a high-pressure play. Fourth down and 5 yards to move the chains, 16 yards to pull off a thrilling win. A head coach couldn’t have asked for anything better in his first game back in charge in seven years..

The Red Devils got the look they wanted, but apparently Paulsboro wanted it more. The Red Raiders chased down Penns Grove quarterback Melo Erickson and sacked him with 13 seconds left to kill the threat and secure a 12-7 victory.

“Playmakers have to make plays; we didn’t make plays,” Maccarone said. “Playmakers have to make plays. Theirs made plays and we didn’t. Plain and simple. Cut and dry.”

The defense had kept the Red Devils in the game and gave the offense the chance to win it at the end. Twice during the game it turned back the Red Raiders on fourth down inside the 10.

It all came down the final drive. The Red Devils took over at the 40 with 6:52 to play and with KaRon Ceaser back in the backfield, where he was a 1,000-yard rusher a year ago, got it into the red zone with less than a minute to play.

A short pass from Erickson to Anthony Brown got them to the 16. Erickson’s third-down pass over the middle to Knowledge Young was a tad too hard leaving the Red Devils with their fourth-and-5 for the game.

The play was supposed to be a misdirection screen and Devine Arce was wide open, but it never connected. Erickson rolled to his left and was chased down by Red Raiders’ junior Jason Yandach and sacked for a 12-yard loss. All the Red Raiders had to do was take a knee and they had their first win in a season opener since 2021.

“I feel like I could’ve gotten a little bit more help on the outside, but then again I’m the quarterback so I have to step up and make that throw,” Erickson said. “We were really forcing the ball down the field, we just had to complete the passes. If we complete the passes then we’ll be in there. We’ve just got to get back in the Lab, get back at it.”

There really was no science to it on the defensive end.

“I just saw he had the ball and tackled him,” Yandach said. “That last drive was tough. We had to push it. Our D-line did good.”

Penns Grove quarterback Melo Erickson (R) rolls out looking for a receiver on the Red Devils’ potential game-winning fourth-down play in the final minute Saturday. On the cover, Mark Maccarone calls a play in his first game as the Red Devils’ head coach.

Maccarone was in his first game as a head coach since stepping down at Glassboro in 2017. He was the Red Devils’ defensive coordinator the next two years and helped them in a less formal capacity post-COVID. He was approved as their head coach in March, just their third head coach in the last 25 years.

“Like riding a bicycle,” he said of the return. “Just trying to get the kids to adapt to how it is on game day; it’s a little bit different than what they’re used to.”

Maccarone’s return got off to a balky start. The Red Devils’ first two possessions ended in lost fumbles. The second came at the 1 after their defense had just stopped quarterback Malakhai McKenzie short of the goal line on fourth down on Paulsboro’s first drive of the season.

McKenzie didn’t miss the second time around, pushing his way into the end zone on the first play. But the Red Raiders didn’t get the extra point.

Penns Grove answered on the ensuing drive and took a 7-6 lead on Erickson’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Young and Anthony Brown’s PAT. Erickson completed 8-of-13 passes for 90 yards. 

The TD pass to Young was the first of his career. He didn’t throw one in 54 passing attempts his first two seasons.

“I feel like I’m taking a lot more accountability and stepping up to be a leader,” he said. “I feel like I’m taking control of the offense more and moving the ball, as you can see.”

Paulsboro retook the lead on the next drive. KyAire Harvey took a toss and threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Carr, who went over Penns Grove’s Kylee Goodson to make the grab. The Red Raiders missed the extra point again, giving the Red Devils the opening to win it at the end.

“It’s a game of who makes the least amount of mistakes wins,” Maccarone said. “We made more mistakes than they did. 

“To have the ball going in to score to win the game at the end, that’s the position you want to be in. They gave us what we were looking for defensively on that last drive, we didn’t execute. That’s about as cut and dry as it can be. We didn’t execute.”

Paulsboro 12, Penns Grove 7

PG (7)PB (12)
111st Downs8
33-101Rushes-yards23-65
8-13-0Passes (C-A-I)8-15-0
90Passing yards130
2-2Fumbles-lost0-0
2-28.5Punts-avg2-35.0
7-53Penalties-yards6-45
Penns Grove (0-1)0700-7
Paulsboro (1-0)6600-12

SCORING SUMMARY
PB-Malakhai McKenzie 1 run (pass failed), 6:06 1Q
PG-Knowledge Young 7 pass from Melo Erickson (Anthony Brown kick), 7:09 2Q
PB-Jeremiah Carr 21 pass from KyAire Harvey (pass failed), 5:25 2Q

Willingboro 35, Salem 0

Willingboro (1-0)77147-35
Salem (0-1)0000-0

TOUCHDOWNS: James Pemberton (W) 2, Jamier Harper (W), Mekhi Cottle (W, 0:48 3Q), Sean Taylor (W, 2:41 4Q).

WJFL STANDINGS
DIAMONDDIVALL
Glassboro0-00-0
Penns Grove0-00-1
Salem0-00-1
Schalick0-00-1
Woodbury0-00-0
Woodstown0-00-0
PATRIOTDIVALL
Audubon0-00-0
Camden Cath.0-00-0
Collingswood0-01-0
Overbrook0-01-0
Paulsboro0-01-0
Pennsville0-00-1
West Deptford0-00-1

Embattled at the beach

Schalick was looking to launch a season of high expectations with a big start, but instead found the opposite

WJFL SCORES
Patriot Division
Friday’s Games
Collingswood 30, Clayton 26
Diamond Division
Friday’s Game
Cedar Grove 41, Schalick 3 (BATB)
Saturday’s Games
Penns Grove at Paulsboro, 10 a.m.
Willingboro at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

EGG HARBOR TWP. — The Battle At The Beach was no paradise for the Schalick football team Friday morning. That, ladies and gentlemen, was on the other sideline.

Quarterback Stephen Paradiso threw for 227 yards and four touchdowns as Cedar Grove had its way with the Cougars 41-3 in the Day Two opener of the BATB at Egg Harbor Twp. High School. The Labor Day weekend series opened in Ocean City Thursday night, but had to move inland due to a scheduling conflict with the stadium there.

“We were not ready to play and that falls on me completely,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “As the head football coach I have to prepare my staff better, I have to prepare the players better. We weren’t ready to play and it showed today.

“Schematically we were well prepared. I think we were. We’ve got to go back and watch tape and obviously re-evaulate that because it didn’t work. But mentally. Personally I think a lot of the kids have been hanging on that 11-win season last year that carried on through the summer. We’ve had our off-the-field issues. We’ve not had a good week of practice. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, you don’t do it in practice you’re not going to do it today. So, the mistakes we made all week in practice we made today.”

It was an ill-fated trip for the Cougars from the start, even though they did have a 3-0 lead after an early takeaway.

Schalick senior quarterback Kenai Simmons didn’t make the trip, left back in Salem County as a “team internal decision” related to accountability and program protocols.

His absence threw sophomore Ayden Jenkins directly into the fire. Jenkins had been practicing to be prepared to play because Wilson said he didn’t want a situation similar to last year’s Gloucester Catholic game happening again, but he was told just three days ago he’d be drawing the start.

In that game, which Schalick won by three touchdowns to complete an undefeated regular season, Simmons went out early in the second quarter forcing Matthew LaMazza to run the offense the rest of the game. The Cougars reduced the offense that night on the fly to make it easier on their backup, but this time Jenkins had the full package at his disposal against a vastly stronger opponent.

Jenkins admitted he didn’t sleep very well overnight as he thought about the game ahead and his first play as a varsity quarterback — the first play from scrimmage in the game — resulted in a fumbled exchange with Levi Feeney-Childers in the backfield. Fortunately, the Cougars recovered, but for a loss and moved the ball only nine more yards on Jenkins’ first career completion to LaMazza.

“It was a lot of pressure on me,” Jenkins said. “This is my first year ever playing quarterback. I never played quarterback before. My goal was to show everyone I wasn’t just a backup quarterback and wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.”

The Panthers had prepared all summer for Simmons, but coach Rob Gogerty said they changed very little when they discovered Jenkins was the starter. They did pressure the sophomore hard. He completed 5 of 9 passes for 57 yards and had 13 rushes for 2 net yards.

“We prepared four months for the quarterback, so we really didn’t change much,” Gogerty said. “We just stuck to our guns, stuck to our reads, things like that. We had some spies set up for pass situations, which we kind of dropped them off. I think that was the biggest change with the quarterback not playing.”

Cedar Grove kept the pressure on Schalick sophomore quarterback Ayden Jenkins (11) all game. (All photos by Heather Papiano)

Wilson didn’t throw his sophomore quarterback under the bus; truthfully, there was trouble across the board. The Cougars had less than 100 yards of net offense, only 39 yards rushing, and four fumbles. They finally lost a fumble in the fourth quarter when a center snap hit a player in the backfield who had gone in motion.

“Nothing against his effort; he’s played hard, he was locked in,” Wilson said. “But we as coaches have to do a better job of putting him in a better position to succeed.”

Wilson said the coach in him was preparing for Simmons not playing all season, but that didn’t seem likely. The senior easily could return to the starting spot next week against rival Cumberland.

But if that’s the case and they don’t have Simmons, Wilson is confident Jenkins can hold up against the gauntlet that is the WJFL Diamond Division schedule where every game projects to be as intense as this one.

“I’ve been in many programs before that have started sophomore quarterbacks,” he said. “But that’s on us to put that young man in a better position to succeed. We didn’t do that today offensively.

“I have full faith in our talent and our ability to play with anybody. I truly do. That’s why we scrimmage the way we do. That’s why we wanted to play this game against these guys. We have to do a better job. We did not put the best effort out there. That wasn’t Schalick football today.”

But it did start out well. Kicker Hunter Dragotta, Schalick’s MVP for the game, gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter with a 36-yard field goal. The drive was set up by Nick Lopergolo’s interception.

And then it went south in a hurry. The Panthers scored touchdowns the next five times they touched the ball and 41 straight points altogether. Paradiso threw two touchdown passes each to Jackson Morrice and team MVP Nick Russo among his 19 completions. Morrice also returned the second half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown that devastated the Cougars.

Paradiso completed 9 of 11 passes in the second quarter and 11 of 13 with three touchdowns at one stretch in the game.

“I thought we came out of the gate a little slow,” Gogerty said. “I kind of expected that. It’s the first game of the year, we’re not really going live in the scrimmages and getting those looks, so I think it took us a quarter to really get going, especially Jackson and guys like that, but Nick made some big plays early on to kind of weather the storm a little bit until everyone kind of started clicking.”

EXTRA POINTS: Schalick is the third Salem County team to participate in the four-year history of the BATB. The other two — Salem (2-0) and Penns Grove — were 3-0 … Schalick had won 10 straight regular-season games. The Cougars’ last regular-season loss came to Cumberland on Oct. 22, 2022.

Schalick kicker Hunter Dragotta (12) makes a last-ditch effort to keep Cedar Grove’s Jackson Morrice from returning the second half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

Cedar Grove 41, Schalick 3

SCH (3)CG (41)
61st Downs14
34-39Rushes-yards29-73
5-9-2Passes (C-A-I)19-27-2
57Passing yards227
4-1Fumbles-lost0-0
7-34.6Punts-avg1-29.0
8-53Penalties-yards4-35
Schalick (0-1)3000-3
Cedar Grove (1-0)72077-41

SCORING SUMMARY
S-Hunter Dragotta 36 FG, 7:28 1Q
C- Nick Russo 49 pass from Stephen Paradiso (Sebastian Kovacs kick), 5:13 1Q
C-Jackson Morrice 27 pass from Stephen Paradiso (Sebastian Kovacs kick), 11:13 2Q
C-Anthony Tronio 5 run (Sebastian Kovacs kick), 8:26 2Q
C-Nick Russo 8 pass from Stephen Paradiso (kick blocked), 4:58 2Q
C-Jackson Morrice 94 kick return (Sebastian Kovacs kick)
C-Jackson Morrice 27 pass from Stephen Paradiso (Sebastian Kovacs kick), 4:20 4Q

WJFL STANDINGS
DIAMONDDIVALL
Glassboro0-00-0
Penns Grove0-00-0
Salem0-00-0
Schalick0-00-1
Woodbury0-00-0
Woodstown0-00-0
PATRIOTDIVALL
Audubon0-00-0
Camden Cath.0-00-0
Collingswood0-01-0
Overbrook0-01-0
Paulsboro0-00-0
Pennsville0-00-1
West Deptford0-00-1
Schalick’s David Stewart (0) reaches back to make a spectacular one-handed interception close to the goal line in the third quarter Friday against Cedar Grove.
Schalick linebacker Riley Papiano (16) tries to bring down Stephen Paradiso before the Cedar Grove quarterback can get off another pass. Paradiso passed for 227 yards and four touchdowns in the game.