Glassboro takes momentum from Salem early in game, Foster comes off bench to lead Bulldogs’ offense, regain QB1 spot

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

GLASSBORO — Football is such a momentum game. Salem had it early Thursday night after a huge drive-stopping takeaway in the end zone, but Glassboro took it right back with an equally big defensive play and kept Ol’ Mo on its side it the rest of the night.

Salem got the momentum late in the first quarter when William Dunn made an incredible one-handed interception two steps deep in the end zone and returned it out near the 25.

But all that good fortune was taken away when the Rams were hit with a block in the back right as Dunn exited the end zone. So, instead of the offense setting up with some comfortable field position, the Rams had to start from their own 1.

And then on the first play they jumped offside moving the ball back even closer to the goal line. When they finally got set, Glassboro’s defense smothered Terrance Smith in the end zone for a safety.

The Bulldogs returned the free kick to the Salem 33 and three plays later Jack O’Connell hit Amari Sabb for a 15-yard touchdown on the final play of the first quarter for the game’s first touchdown in an eventual 46-0 victory.

Interestingly, the Bulldogs (3-0) scored touchdowns on the final play of the first, second and third quarters.

“That was the game changer,” Salem coach Kemp Carr said of the safety. “We make a nice play (then) we get penalized. That causes an avalanche. We make an interception in the end zone, we get penalized. We return it to the 24 and we get backed up and they get a safety on the half-inch line.

“You know this game is about momentum. We were playing well up to that point; we caused three turnovers. That was the game changer. Come on, you get a safety down there? We aren’t a team that wants to play from behind. We haven’t had any success this year. You can’t play from behind.”

But even after that frustrating start, the offense showed signs of life. They held the ball for most of the second quarter and in one six-minute drive got down to Glassboro 11 before DayShaun Day blocked Andrew May’s 29-yard field goal attempt inside the final minute.

The Rams (0-4), who have scored only one touchdown in their first four games, had only 100 yards of net offense. Half of that came on two plays in the second half – a 31-yard catch by Smith and a 14-yard run by Jamaal Shockley on their final play of the game.

“We’ve got to get some things getting better,” Carr said. “We’ve got to get in the end zone, man.”

The first-quarter touchdown pass notwithstanding, Glassboro didn’t really move the ball with O’Connell at quarterback. The Rams intercepted him twice, recovered a ball he fumbled and held Glassboro to 59 net yards in the first quarter and a half he directed the offense.

Sophomore Kristopher Foster replaced him on the Bulldogs’ final possession of the second quarter (after the blocked field goal) and threw three touchdown passes and directed four straight touchdown drives the rest of the game. He completed 8 of 13 passes for 137 yards with scoring strikes of 31 and 55 yards to Xavier Sabb on either side of halftime and 13 yards to Day in the fourth quarter.

Foster was basically the only quarterback the Bulldogs had last year and he passed for 1,036 yards and 13 touchdowns in their run to the state finals, but he was beaten out by Gateway transfer O’Connell in a tight battle this summer in camp. 

“All practice I knew (O’Connell) was going to start, but in my head I was thinking if I get in I’m going to make it worthwhile,” Foster said. “I put trust in my teammates and my coaches and once I got in I just showed out. I don’t think we could’ve scripted it up better than that.

“I wasn’t sure (if he’d get another shot), but I knew I was going to keep working hard, doing what I do, studying the playbook, practicing hard, and all that.”

Glassboro coach Timmy Breaker said after the game the Bulldogs have “two varsity quarterbacks,” but the resiliency Foster showed in fighting for his spot and his poise and play against the Rams earned him the start next week against Woodbury.

“We always tell them we have two great quarterbacks, and tonight was just Kris’ night,” Breaker said. “We have two really good quarterbacks, two varsity quarterbacks, we are blessed to get two of them, and either night it could be either of their times and you saw Kris put on a masterful performance.

“Tonight, he showed a resiliency; he showed how to battle back. Even when he didn’t get the call he came to practice to work. I tell them all the time you never know when it’s your time, just be ready when it’s your time; you’ll never have to get ready if you stay ready, and this week has been his best week at practice. He’s the guy next week. He earned that. He outright earned that.” 

NOTES: Kaden Robinson had Salem’s other interception and Antwan Robinson had the strip sack and fumble recovery … Day had a 36-yard pick-6 for Glassboro’s final touchdown … The Bulldogs will add to their offensive arsenal next week when Hammonton transfer Kenny Smith becomes eligible. Smith rushed for 1,473 yards and 16 TDs last season and 3,143 yards and 37 TDs over the last two. “I’m excited to have him,” Breaker said. “The stuff he does in practice I can’t wait for everyone to see” … Salem is hoping to see the return of Omarion Pierce and Jared Pew from injuries next week. “We’re going to keep getting better,” Carr said. “It’s a long season. Once we get in, we’ll be a different team. We’ve got three key guys out right now – a coverage guy, a couple receivers – that makes a difference. We’re going to be fine. We’ve just got to get healthy.”

Glassboro 46, Salem 0

SCORING SUMMARY
G-Safety, runner tackled in end zone, 1:30 1Q
G-Amari Sabb 15 pass from Jack O’Connell (kick blocked), 0:05 1Q
G-Xavier Sabb 31 pass from Kristopher Foster (Amari Sabb run), 0:00 2Q
G-Xavier Sabb 55 pass from Kristopher Foster (Hakim Theresa run), 10:18 3Q
G-Amari Sabb 8 run (DayShaun pass from Kristopher Foster), 0:32 3Q
G-DayShaun Day 13 pass from Kristopher Foster (DayShaun Day pass from Kristopher Foster), 9:26 4Q
G-DayShaun Day 36 interception return (PAT failed), 5:10 4Q

THURSDAY’S GAMES
Glassboro 46, Salem 0
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Penns Grove at Schalick, 7 p.m.
Woodbury at Woodstown, 7 p.m.

THURSDAY’S GAME
Paulsboro 47, Collingswood 7
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Overbrook at Florence, 6 p.m.
Audubon at Pennsville, 7 p.m.
West Deptford at Camden Catholic, 7 p.m.

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

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

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

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.”

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.”

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