Fierce familiar foes

Woodstown, Woodbury expecting another epic battle as they meet for South Jersey Group I title in a rematch of the 2021 sectional final

GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
Friday’s Games
South: Woodbury Thundering Herd (6-3) at Woodstown Wolverines (8-2), 7 p.m.
Central: Glassboro Bulldogs (7-3) at Schalick Cougars (11-0), 7 p.m.
North I: Mountain Lakes Herd (8-2) at Hawthorne Bears (8-2), 6 p.m.
North II: Shabazz Bulldogs (7-3) at Butler Bulldogs (9-1), 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Every year it seems the Woodstown football season has been on a collision course with Woodbury.

The Wolverines are either thinking about playing the Thundering Herd, preparing to play the Thundering Herd or playing the Thundering Herd.

It’s been that way ever since they hastily put together a late-season game in 2018, but it has become even more meaningful for the Wolverines since the Herd broke their heart in the 2021 South Jersey Group I finals.

And they meet again in the same situation Friday. Senior quarterback Max Webb last week called it “the biggest game of my lifetime.”

“We have a chance at revenge on the team that beat us two years ago,” he said. “I can’t be more excited for me, for this team, for this town.”

As if the game needed any more hype, the Wolverines plan to break out an orange-on-orange uniform color scheme for the first time this season and the spirited student section plans on white-out conditions.

The Wolverines gained a small measure of that revenge they’re looking for earlier this year when they beat the Herd 27-21 in overtime in a game that got contentious at the end. That feeling probably won’t be complete, however, until they knock them off in a game as meaningful as the one in 2021 that comes Friday.

It’ll be a little different Woodbury team than the Wolverines faced five weeks ago. Quarterback Dante Viccharelli didn’t play because of a shoulder injury and running back Anthony Reagan Jr. was limited after getting hurt early in the second half.

Both are back at full strength, but Viccharelli is at wide receiver as Jayden Johnson has grown in the quarterback role. Over the last four games he has thrown for 820 yards and 12 touchdowns. In that same period, Ibn Muhammad has caught 19 passes for 459 yards with a pair of touchdowns in each of the last three games. Marquis Taylor has caught 12 passes for 339 yards and five touchdowns in the same stretch.

“They’re a tough physical team that can do it both through the air and on the ground,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “Just like last week, another hard rematch. It’s just a big game.

“The kids know it’s going to be a heavyweight fight. I think our kids are amped up for it.”

The Wolverines have gone through their share of adversity as well. They started the year with the anticipation of getting injured running back James Hill back, but Hill injured his other knee the week he was expected to return.

But Bryce Belinfanti has emerged as a game-breaking lead back, rushing for 1,459 yards and 20 touchdowns. And Webb gives them a dual threat as a rusher (393 yards) and passer (698 yards, 8 TDs), spreading it around to Zach Bevis (12-189), Belinfanti (15-182) and Anthony Ford Dale (12-145).

It’ll be the Wolverines’ fourth trip to the sectional finals in school history and third under Adams. They’re still looking for their first win having suffered losses to Delsea, Haddonfield and Woodbury.

“We want to get over that hump and get a win in this game,” Adams said. “The history of Woodstown has never had a sectional championship in this game. That’s over 100 years of football. I know the playoffs were only as recently as the 80s, but that’s a lot of time we haven’t had a sectional championship here. In the past it’s been can we get to this game. Now we need to get over that hump.”

They appeared headed that way in the game with Woodbury until the Herd snatched it away with the go-ahead touchdown on fourth-and-1 with 3:55 to go and then an interception with 1:35 left.

“It’s been in all our heads since then,” Webb said earlier this summer.

“We still talk about it,” Adams said. “We talk about things that happened in the past. Like last week we talked about we lost a rematch with Paulsboro (last year) and we’re still talking about that. We’re still talking about (Woodbury) beat us in this game 8-6 and we felt like we let it slip away because we were up at halftime. We want to keep that motivation going.”

The survivor draws the winner of the Glassboro-Schalick Central Jersey final in the state semifinals. It sets up the Wolverines to play a third Salem County team this season or their third regular-season rematch in as many weeks.

“We won’t worry about that until after (this game) and if we’re moving on we’ll put our attention on that,” said Adams, who did allow in a general sense he was impressed with what both those teams have done. “But right now there’s no game next week without getting past Woodbury.”

Battle royal

The last five games between Woodstown and Woodbury

DATE	WINNER	SCORE
Oct. 6, 2023	Woodstown	27-21 (OT)
Oct. 8, 2022	Woodbury	28-6
Nov. 20, 2021	Woodbury	8-6
Nov. 14. 2020	Woodstown	6-0
Nov. 8, 2018	Woodbury	28-21

Never forget

Schalick senior standout Siedlecki reflects on the Cougars’ journey from winless afterthought to undefeated contender for section championship

GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
Friday’s Games
South: Woodbury Thundering Herd (6-3) at Woodstown Wolverines (8-2), 7 p.m.
Central: Glassboro Bulldogs (7-3) at Schalick Cougars (11-0), 7 p.m.
North I: Mountain Lakes Herd (8-2) at Hawthorne Bears (8-2), 6 p.m.
North II: Shabazz Bulldogs (7-3) at Butler Bulldogs (9-1), 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Jake Siedlecki is one of those players who believes nothing worth having comes without hard work. And it has taken a lot of work to get where the Schalick senior and his teammates find themselves today.

Although it seems like a lifetime ago now, it was really only four years ago, when Siedlecki was a wide-eyed freshman, the Cougars football team was a winless afterthought in the landscape of South Jersey football.

Siedlecki was in his first year playing football recovering from a baseball elbow injury, Mike Wilson was just coming aboard as the head coach, COVID was creating chaos with everyone’s workout regimens and the roster was as small as the program’s current freshman group is large.

The Cougars were getting beaten like a rented mule. Their scores were ridiculously one-sided. They were one of 23 teams that played in 2020 that didn’t win a game.

On Friday, when they host Glassboro in the Central Jersey Group I championship game, they will be one of 10 remaining undefeated teams in the state and their journey to get there will have come full circle. Ironically, the Bulldogs, now with a former Schalick player at the helm, was the first team the Cougars played in that dreadful 2020 season, losing 54-7.

Most people would want to forget that whole experience, but the Cougars embrace it as part of their journey back to respectability.

Siedlecki doesn’t have to go far to find a reminder of those difficult days. Every day before he leaves for school he sees a Senior Night picture of brother Mack, a senior on that 2020 team, in the No. 2 jersey Jake proudly represents today.

“Even though it seems like a long time ago, I think it’s important for me and the leaders of the football team and Coach Wilson, obviously, to keep what happened that freshman year and coach’s first year fresh in our minds,” the 6-1, 180-pound tight end/safety said. “That gives us an edge over a lot of these other teams in the playoffs that are expected to win.

“We’re not expected to be here. No one believes in us. No one wants to give us any credit. Knowing where we came from gives us an edge against the other teams because we know what it’s like to be at the bottom.

“When I see that picture I know that’s where we were. That’s the jersey my brother wore and he fought in. Now I’m No. 2. Now I’m a senior. Now I get to fight for a championship. Every day I see that picture in the house it reminds me of the struggle, the work my brother put in and he never got to experience where I’m at right now. He would have done anything to be where I’m at right now. I don’t take that for granted.”

Similarly, Wilson has a picture of that first team in his classroom along with the three that have followed it and uses the images to reflect on the progress of what he has been given credit for building. None of the other teams in the state that were oh-for that year are undefeated in 2023. Only seven have winning records.

“I’ve said this to people multiple times,” Wilson said. “When I took over the program my goal wasn’t to build a team, my goal was to build a program. We want to build a lasting program where what we’re doing this year needs to become the new normal. We want to be involved in sectional championship conversation every year.

“We want every year that we’re not rebuilding, we’re reloading. The standard needs to become sectional championships, where if you don’t get there, then we’re going why didn’t you get there. I want the expectations that we’ve got to be there.”

The Cougars have five seniors on this year’s roster, but Siedlecki and tight end/defensive end Ryan Johnson are the only two who were on that first team. Receiver and cornerback Nasir Sutton came out as a freshman, but wasn’t able to play.

Wilson praised their resiliency and commitment to something bigger than themselves. And it has been rewarded in their play. In his last four games alone, Siedlecki has caught seven passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns and had 18 tackles and three interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown against Gloucester Catholic and one in the final minute that sealed their second-round win over Shore Regional.

It was tough that first year. The Cougars’ approach was no different than it is now and they tried real hard, but undermanned as they were they lost by scores of 54-7, 49-6, 48-6, 56-14 right out of the gate. They actually lost their first 11 games over two seasons – scoring only eight touchdowns – and 13 of their first 14. Opponents were making fun of them and getting louder each week.

That was “probably the most difficult thing to go through as a group,” Siedlecki admitted. But he stuck with it, he said, because of the optimism and leadership Wilson demonstrated through it all. It was the kind of thing, reflecting on it now, that makes them even prouder of where they are today on the cusp of a sectional title.

With their coach’s enthusiasm to guide them, they knew the worm would turn – and it did. The Cougars won their last three games of that second season and now have the last laugh, going 21-3 in their last 24 games.

“It was unfortunate we got our butts kicked, but the whole time we knew if we just kept our head down, kept pushing forward, we’d be in a better place,” Siedlecki said. “We knew at the time if we just trusted in coach Wilson and gave it 110 percent in the weight room that over the course of time we’d get better and that’s what ended up happening.

“We knew what was coming. I didn’t know that we knew how fast it would come. It was hard then losing every game, sometimes it was frustrating, but we held together and it paid off.”

From oh-for to undefeated

A progression of teams statewide that were winless in 2020 to this season

TEAM	2020	2021	2022	2023
Schalick	0-7	4-6	7-3	11-0
Barringer	0-3	0-10	4-6	3-6
Bergen Tech	0-2	1-7	3-4	1-8
Chatham	0-7	6-4	6-4	4-7
Ferris	0-4	0-9	0-9	0-8
Hunterdon Cent.	0-6	2-8	4-6	6-4
Immaculata	0-7	7-3	4-6	6-3
Indian Hills	0-5	4-5	4-5	5-4
J.P. Stevens	0-4	0-9	0-8	0-11
Kearny	0-4	1-7	2-6	1-8
Lindenwold	0-8	1-8	0-9	1-9
Manchester Reg.	0-6	3-7	0-9	4-4
Manville	0-5	6-3	8-2	3-7
Metuchen	0-7	4-7	4-7	5-5
Morristown	0-3	1-9	3-7	4-6
Newark Cent.	0-6	2-8	3-7	5-4
Oakcrest	0-7	3-7	7-4	5-5
Paramus Cath.	0-6	0-9	2-7	3-8
Pascack Hills	0-4	4-6	7-1	8-2
Ridgefield Park	0-3	8-3	4-5	2-7
St. Mary (Ruth.)	0-4	1-5	2-6	6-5
Sussex Tech	0-5	3-7	2-8	7-4
Westfield	0-2	4-6	8-3	5-5

Making a little history

Penns Grove wins late-scheduled season finale, makes some history with freshman, multiple 1,000-yard rushers

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – John Emel will never pass up a chance to give his football team one more game to play, so when the opportunity came up a couple days ago to play one last game that was mutually beneficial to both sides he didn’t hesitate. And it gave his Penns Grove team a chance to make some history.

Make that a lot of history.

The Red Devils beat Riverside 51-22 Thursday to score their sixth win of the season and finish at .500 or better for the first time since 2021. It was the most points they’ve scored in a game since a 54-7 win over Woodbury in the second round of the 2019 playoffs.

Bryce Wright rushed for 195 yards and four touchdowns and Karon Ceaser rushed for 180 yards and a score. The additional game allowed Ceaser to become their first freshman to rush for 1,000 since 2005 and gave them two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season for the first time since 2012.

“There were a lot of historical firsts,” Emel said.

Wright finished the season with 1,278 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, while Ceaser wound up with 1,085 yards and eight rushing touchdowns. Both players return next season when the Red Devils are expected to open the year in the Battle at the Beach.

The last Penns Grove freshman to rush for 1,000 yards in a season was Aaron Hayward (1,049), who went on to rush for 4,479 in his career. The last Red Devils’ duo to go for 1,000 in the same year was Nick Elmer (1,341) and Anthony Robertson. (1,244).

“Nowadays, in the era of the spread, pass-happy offense, it’s something you don’t see,” Emel said. “That’s just a credit to the line and the commitment to the effort of those guys working hard. They’re two guys who represent our program well.”

Wright scored on runs of 32, 3, 73 and 40 yards. He carried multiple Riverside defenders on his back for the last 20 yards of his first touchdown and he either slipped or juked at least three defenders after Isaiah Upshur sealed the block on the 73-yard run.

Ceaser, the Red Devils’ first true freshman starting skill position player in 20 years, scored only once, on a 3-yard run, and missed two other chances to score on runs of 60 and 36 yards.

The 60-yarder left him one yard shy of 1,000; he went over the milestone on his next carry, cutting back across the field to make positive yardage. He missed a chance to score on the 36-yarder when he did a Dak Prescott, stepping on the sideline at the 3 trying to catapult into the end zone.

“I was thankful for it,” Ceaser said of the milestone. “It was just hard work, that’s all it is. I knew it could happen because I know my ability to do stuff. When I woke up this morning I was like I’m going to get this 1,000. I’m going to get it.”

His running mate in the backfield knew it, too.

“I think he’s a D-I athlete,” Wright said. “I’ve been watching him play since Midgets (and) he’s been the guy, so when he came through here we knew he was going to be the best freshmen we’ve had.”

The fact the Red Devils got to .500 before packing up the gear for the winter was an incredible story in itself. They started the season 0-3 and 1-4 and were down 19-0 at halftime to Paulsboro in their sixth game.

But they cut down their turnovers and turned it around. The scored 22 second-half points to beat Paulsboro and won three in a row to give them a chance to grab a piece of the WJFL Diamond Division title. They made the playoffs and won a first-round game over a legendary coach before being eliminated in what would have been their final game before Thursday.

“It’s nice to finish .500, it’s nice to finish with six wins (and) to beat another quality opponent,” Emel said. “It’s nice to play this week instead of waiting nine months to get back on the field. Getting a home game for our seniors to go out with a win, that’s all icing on the cake. You got to end the season on a high note.”

And 6-6 will make the entire offseason feel a lot better going into summer workouts.

“I’m very excited with how far we came,” Wright said. “We made it to the second round of the playoffs. We fought ‘til we couldn’t any more. I asked my team to fight for four quarters and that’s what they did for me.”

“It’s our season next year,” Upshur said. “A championship team next year. We just started off slow.”

Cover photo: Bryce Wright (1) leads the way for Karon Ceaser to get around the corner during Penns Grove’s game against Riverside Thursday. The backs combined for 374 yards rushing in the game to give the Red Devils a pair of 1,000-yarder rushers this season.

Penns Grove 51, Riverside 22

RIV (22)		PG (51)
19	1st Downs	13
39-188	Rushing	23-429
13-17-0	Passes	0-1-0
128	Passing	0
0-0	Fum-lost	2-1
2-32.0	Punts-avg	0-0
1-5	Penalties	4-30

Riverside (6-4)	6	8	8	0 –	22
Penns Grove (6-6)	8	22	13	8 –	51

Scoring plays
PG – Bryce Wright 32 run (Bryce Wright run), 7:08 1Q
R – John Boston 3 run (run failed), 1:48 1Q
PG – Karon Ceaser 3 run (Jaden Days run), 11:02 2Q
R – Carmine Smith 10 pass from Jamir Brown (John Boston run), 4:52 1Q
PG – Jaden Days 8 run (Bryce Wright run), 2:08 2Q
PG – Knowledge Young 2 run (Bryce Wright run), 0:28 2Q
PG – Bryce Wright 3 run (kick blocked), 7:53 3Q
PG – Bryce Wright 73 run (Anthony Brown kick), 3:19 3Q
R – Carmine Smith 18 pass from Jamir Brown (John Boston run), 5:42 4Q
PG – Bryce Wright 40 run (Mahkye Murray run) 2:42 4Q

This week’s schedule

FOOTBALL
Friday
South Jersey Group I Championship
Woodbury at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Central Jersey Group I Championship
Glassboro at Schalick, 7 p.m.

GIRLS SOCCER
Monday
Group I Sectional Championships
South: Schalick at Audubon, 3 p.m.
Central: Shore vs. Pt. Pleasant Beach
North I: Pequanock vs. Lenape Valley
North II: Mountain Lakes-New Providence

Wednesday
Group I state semifinals
Pequanock-Lenape Valley winner at Mountain Lakes-New Providence winner
Shore-Pt. Pleasant Beach winner at Schalick-Audubon winner

Sunday
Group I state championships
Franklin HS, Somerset, 12:30 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY
Tuesday
Group I Sectional Championships
South: Schalick vs. West Deptford at Gateway, 2 p.m.
North: Boonton at Shore

Saturday
Group I state championship
At Bordentown
Boonton-Shore winner vs. West Deptford-Schalick winner, noon

CROSS COUNTRY
Saturday
Meet of Champions, Holmdel Park

Simmons a ‘Shore’ thing

Quarterback scores on a 63-yard scramble in the final two minutes to lift Schalick past Shore Regional and into the Central Jersey Group I finals

CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s games
Schalick 16, Shore Regional 14
Glassboro 20, South Hunterdon 0
Championship
Friday
Glassboro at Schalick, 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Kenai Simmons has learned to be a quarterback and passer this season, but his bread and butter has always been his legs. And when it came down to having to make something happen Friday night he used those legs to carry Schalick to a place it hasn’t been in two decades.

With the Cougars whole undefeated season on the line, Simmons pulled it down on a pass play that wasn’t there and scrambled 63 yards for the touchdown with 1:20 to play to give the Cougars a 16-14 win over Shore Regional and a spot in the Central Jersey Group I finals.

The Cougars (11-0) will host Glassboro Friday in their first sectional final appearance since 2004.

“Kenai just took over the game,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “It was reminiscent of the Gloucester City game, throwing, running; he just flat out took over the game. He wasn’t going to lose.

“You’re right, he’s evolved as a passer, but he’ll break your back with his legs.”

The Cougars opened a 10-0 lead in the first quarter but had several opportunities to add a lot more and those missed chances came back to haunt them as they fell behind 14-10 midway through the third quarter.

They got their chance to win it at the end after stopping the Blue Devils (6-4) on fourth down at the 5, one of four fourth downs they won in the game. Actually, they had to cover 97 yards to get the winning score after a false start on the first snap had the back of their britches backed up to the goal line.

“There was no panic,” Wilson said, the Cougars just put their fate in the hands of their playmakers.

Reggie Allen got them some breathing room with a nice run and then Simmons hit Levi Feeney-Childers with a pass to create some more space. Then the quarterback lowered the boom.

The Cougars wanted to throw a play-action pass, but all the receivers were covered. The Blue Devils had been blitzing all night and Simmons knew it coming on that play. That’s when he pulled it down and tried to get as much as he could.

Once he got to midfield and the sideline everyone thought he was going to step out, but when Nylan Sutton and Nyzier Wynder cleared a path on the right side he saw nothing but green grass in front of him and raced to the end zone.

“I had to get in there,” Simmons said. “It was definitely a do-or-die. We had to get it done.

“You know our school’s history. They call us ‘the same old Schalick,’ ‘scrubs,’ whatever. It meant a lot (to score there) for a lot of the guys, especially our four-year seniors. They went through a lot their freshman year, getting blown out almost every game. It also meant a lot to Reggie Allen’s family. All the Allens went through Schalick and we were seeing them at the game tonight and putting on for them.”

The touchdown scramble gave him 105 rushing yards in the game, putting him at 883 for the season. He also threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jake Siedlecki in the first quarter and completed 9-of-15 passes for 122 yards.

“My history was about me using my legs a lot, not me throwing the ball, not me being a quarterback or a leader of a team,” Simmons said. “I think people have to respect that. I call it pick your poison. Whatever one you pick, you better try your hardest to stop it. I don’t want to be that quarterback who guys are like ‘this guy is gonna run.’ I definitely look at my wide receivers before I think about running.”

The Cougars still had some work to do after the touchdown and the Blue Devils didn’t make it easy for them. The visitors moved the ball downfield against the nickel package, but Siedlecki ended any threat with an interception inside the final minute.

“We found a way to win tonight,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch, it was a good, hard football game, but they found a way to win. That’s a characteristic of this team. We have games where we’re not playing perfectly, but we find a way to win football games.”

As for next week, the Cougars have played Glassboro only once before in Wilson’s four years as their head coach. It was his first game as their coach and the Cougars got crushed 54-7. In their last 24 games, however, they are 21-3.

“I feel like this is a challenge,” Simmons said. “I feel like everyone doubts us, you know how they get. We’re going to come out there and ball and give it our all and we’ll see the results. We believe in ourselves. I don’t know about anybody else.”

Schalick 16, Shore 14

SHORE		SCHAL
9	1st Downs	17
40-143	Rushing	32-175
10-16-1	Passes	9-15-1
112	Passing	122
0-0	Fum-lost	0-0
3-23.7	Punts-avg	1-39.0
5-37	Penalties	6-48

Shore Regional (6-4)	0	7	7	0 –	14
Schalick (11-0)	10	0	0	6 –	16

Scoring plays
S – Hunter Dragotta 26 FG, 6:57 1Q
S – Jake Siedlecki 26 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2:41 1Q
SR – Lucas White 5 run (Cyrus Unangst kick), 2:01 2Q
SR – CJ Sears 16 pass from Josh Moeller (Cyrus Unangst kick), 6:54 3Q
S – Kenai Simmons 63 run (pass failed), 1:20 4Q

Logan Hancock (62) leads the Schalick football team off the field after the Cougars clinched their 16-14 victory over Shore Regional. Top photo: Quarterback Kenai Simmons glides into the end zone at the end of his 63-yard touchdown run that gave the Cougars the lead. (Photos by Heather Papiano)

Woodstown wins rematch

Wolverines going back to sectional final after methodically putting down Penns Grove, awaits opponent

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s game
Woodstown 34, Penns Grove 14
Saturday’s game
Burlington City at Woodbury

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Max Webb and his Woodstown teammates have been wanting to get back to the sectional final for two years.

They did their part to make it happen Friday night. Now they wait to see who they’re playing and finish the job.

The Wolverines punched their ticket to the South Jersey Group I final Friday night by beating Penns Grove 34-14 for the second time in three weeks.

They won’t know who they’re playing until Saturday afternoon, but more than a few are not-so-secretly hoping it’s Woodbury, the team that broke their hearts the last time they played in the sectional final in 2021. Woodbury and Burlington City play Saturday morning and many of Woodstown’s players are expected to be there.

The Wolverines hoped to get back there last year for a rematch, but they were knocked out in this game by Paulsboro.

“The biggest game of my lifetime right here,” Webb said. “Next week and here, as a matter of fact. Only one other time being in this position, maybe against the team we’re about to play next week, depending on what happens. We have a chance at revenge on the team that beat us two years ago. I can’t be more excited for me, for this team, for this town. It’s awesome.”

“After our lost against Paulsboro last year we were pretty down, but this year it feels really, really good,” two-way lineman Bump Carter said.

It’ll be their fourth trip to the sectional finals since the playoff format begin in 1984 and third under coach John Adams. They are looking for their first win (Delsea, Haddonfield, Woodbury).

“I told the kids right before the game you go through life to make mistakes and learn from them,” Adams said. “We came out here last year in the rematch against Paulsboro and we made mistakes; I said we have to learn from that. I thought the kids did a pretty good job learning from that and capitalizing on getting the W today.”

But it wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t sharp against the Red Devils, a team they beat in the final week of the regular season to win the WJFL Diamond Division title outright.

This one kind of followed the same script. It was a run-dominated first half with limited possessions. The Wolverines (8-2) put together methodical drives behind its offensive line and those same linemen kept the Red Devils (5-6) from getting anything going. As a result, the Wolverines had a 14-0 lead at halftime.

Quarterback Webb mixed the run and pass well. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Bryce Belinfanti rushed for two scores, including a 61-yard burst in the fourth quarter to seal the win on a play the Wolverines had only put in prior to the last Penns Grove game.

Belinfanti finished with 145 yards. Webb rushed for 63 yards and completed 6 of 8 passes for 119 yards. He had 56 yards rushing in the first half, mostly bursting up the middle as the Wolverines exploited the Red Devils’ tendencies.

“They were real sharp on offense,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said. “Even though we didn’t give up a ton of huge plays, they were just really efficient. Our strategy was to try to take away Belinfanti and even though he had the big run the quarterback game was there and they took advantage of it.”

The Wolverines had three possessions in the first quarter and a half. They scored on the first one – on Webb’s first TD pass – and their next two were basically one 19-play touchdown drive that was split by the first of Garrett Leyman’s two first-half interceptions on the only play Penns Grove ran in the quarter to that point.

Woodstown’s Bryce Belinfanti tries to get around Penn Grove’s Justin Martin (9) during Friday night’s South Jersey Group I semifinal game. On the cover, quarterback Max Webb shows his running skills for another gain in the first half. (Photos by Ellen Sickler)

The Red Devils wanted to start fast and be within one score at halftime, but to that point in the game they had run only eight plays and trailed by two touchdowns.

While the Wolverines took their time getting to the end zone in the first half, they struck quickly in the second half. Webb hit Anthony Ford Dale on a 55-yard pass play on their first snap of the third quarter and Belinfanti broke off his 61-yarder on the first play after they regained possession.

“As soon as we got in the second half we wanted the hard play-action out of the gate and see if we could get the deep one on them, which we did,” Adams said. “And then we saw them adjust to no high safety and we were like if we can break Bryce through there he could be gone. Bryce hit that seam and he was gone.”

Penns Grove’s offense came to life in the second half, putting together two long touchdown drives that while impressive weren’t exactly conducive to driving a comeback.

Bryce Wright got the Red Devils on the board at the end of a 12-play, 68-yard drive that alternated runs between him and Karon Ceaser. And Ceaser scored their second touchdown at the end of a 10-play, 82-yard drive that featured the same two players.

Wright rushed for 116 yards on 24 carries and finished with 1,082 for the season. He’s the Red Devils’ first 1,000-yard rusher since 2020. Ceaser, a freshman, finished with 58 yards on 14 carries to surpass 900.

“I thought we played better in the second half; we kind of figured some things out,” Emel said. “We’re not a passing team and we threw two picks in the first half and they threw two touchdowns … and that was really the difference in the game.

“To win in the second round in the playoffs and to win a championship you’ve got to be a complete team and those guys were a complete team tonight.”

Woodstown 34, Penns Grove 14

PG		WOOD
12	1st Downs	15
41-170	Rushing	29-200
2-5-2	Passes	6-8-0
3	Passing	119
1-0	Fum-Lost	0-0
4-18.7	Punts-avg	0-0
3-30	Penalties	3-30

Penns Grove (5-6)	0	0	8	6 –	14
Woodstown (8-2)	7	7	6	14 –	34

Scoring plays
W – Bobby Donahue 27 pass from Max Webb (Jake Ware kick), 8:38 1Q
W – Bryce Belinfanti 2 run (Jake Ware kick), 4:34 2Q
W – Anthony Ford Dale 45 pass from Max Webb (kick failed), 9:23 3Q
P – Bryce Wright 5 run (KaRon Ceaser pass from Bryce Wright), 2:11 3Q
W – Max Webb 1 run (Jake Ware kick), 8:06 4Q
W – Bryce Belinfanti 61 run (Jake Ware kick), 5:56 4Q
P – KaRon Ceaser 17 run (pass failed), 1:34 4Q

**Woodstown quarterback Max Webb tosses the ball back to an official after scoring his touchdown in the fourth quarter. (Photo by Ellen Sickler)**

Turnaround complete

Pennsville plays its most complete game of the year, wins regional consolation tournament final to complete turnaround, secure winning season

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — If playing in the regional consolation tournament is meant to be a reward for barely missing the playoffs and a springboard to the next football season, Pennsville is getting a lot of bounce.

The Eagles completed one of the biggest turnarounds in their program’s history Thursday night when they beat Keansburg 35-0 in the South Jersey Group I consolation tournament finals.

The Eagles were a messy 1-8 a year ago and finished 6-4 this year for their first winning season since 2016. They were in the hunt for a South/Central Jersey Group I playoff spot, but got nosed out on the final weekend of the regular season and were the first team out.

It’s their biggest one-year turnaround since going 9-3 in 2013 after going 4-6 the season before.

“To go from (nearly) winless to having a winning record is … awesome,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “I couldn’t be more proud and happy for these kids. It was just a completely different mindset this year and the way they worked. The way this team had to come together and really put in the work necessary to (do this) has been awesome and I could not be more proud of them.”

The Eagles were guaranteed a .500 season regardless of how they made out against the Titans (4-6), who traveled more than 100 miles from Monmouth County to play. But there’s just something special about an outright winning season.

“It was important to us to be able to say we had a winning season this year,” Healy said. “I just told them in there that’s something to be proud of. That also raises expectations for us, too, now. We told them yesterday you want to try to leave this program better than you were, so these seniors leaving 6-4 we told the next guys that’s not OK for them, we want to constantly improvement.”

Sky Eppes made the most of his final high school game. He rushed for 167 yards and tied his career high with four first-half touchdowns as the Eagles opened a 35-0 halftime lead.

He scored on runs of 5, 14, 8 and 67 yards to finish with 802 yards and 19 rushing touchdowns for the season and 1,464 yards 25 TDs for his four-year career. He also recovered a fumble to kill the Titans’ opening possession and intercepted a pass in the drive between his first and second touchdowns.

“I just wanted to try to go out with a bang and dominate and set the record high for the freshmen, the sophomores and juniors coming up for next year,” Eppes said. “We want them to go up to the playoffs. We didn’t make it this year, but I feel like they have a good chance to make it next year.

“Coming from 1-8 to 6-4, that’s a huge improvement, a really high bar to set. We could’ve come out this year and went like 2-7, but instead we came out and did 6-4, so that’s a big jump. I’m so happy they turned it around and didn’t lay over on their heads like we did last year. Hopefully next year they go to the playoffs, maybe go 10-0.”

It was the Eagles’ most complete game of the year.

They consistently moved the ball on offense and scored on their last five possessions of the first half. It had the ball for all but one play in the running clock of the third quarter. The defense, meanwhile, posted its first shutout since mid-October 2021. It had three takeaways and held the Titans to 90 net yards, most of it coming on a 53-yard completion on their next to last play of the game.

“The defense did their jobs today and stuffed it the best we did all year; we just shut them down, honestly,” junior linebacker Connor Ayars said. “Everyone was hyped about this championship and they really wanted this win to finish 6-4. It’s really a step up from last year. We’re headed for big things in the future, for sure.”

Pennsville 35, Keansburg 0

KBURG		PVILLE
4	1st Downs	12
22-(-3)	Rushing	30-281
5-9-2	Passes	4-6-0
93	Passing	44
1-1	Fum-lost	0-0
4-21.5	Punts-avg	1-45.0
3-30	Penalties	4-45

Keansburg (4-6)	0	0	0	0 –	0
Pennsville (6-4)	14	21	0	0 –	35

Scoring plays
P – Sky Eppes 5 run (Jack Leino kick), 6:02 1Q
P – Sky Eppes 14 run (Jack Leino kick), 3:13 1Q
P – Sky Eppes 8 run (Jack Leino kick), 10:58 2Q
P – Robbie McDade 9 run (Jack Leino kick), 8:35 2Q
P – Sky Eppes 67 run (Jack Leino kick), 4:34 2Q

Higher stakes

Woodstown, Penns Grove meet in rematch of the Diamond Division championship game two weeks ago, but it’s a whole new ball game

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Sectional semifinals
Friday’s game
Penns Grove at Woodstown, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s game
Burlington City at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The stakes were high the last time Penns Grove and Woodstown played. They’re even higher now.

All that was on the line when the teams played 12 days ago was the Diamond Division title, which is really a big deal if you know the strength of the division. But Friday night, they’ll be playing to keep their seasons alive and a spot in the South Jersey Group I championship game.

Both teams understand what’s at stake so there’s no sense dancing around it.

WOODSTOWN (7-2)

“Our kids know it’s a bigger game and that’s helping them approach it that way,” Woodstown coach John Adams said. “Everybody knows if you win you’re going to the South Jersey finals for Group I. A lot rides on the game. It’s not only being a division opponent, it’s a county rival. You stack it all up, the environment’s going to be fun at Woodstown Friday night.”

They say it’s tough to beat a team twice, but since 2003 when it comes to regular season rematches in the playoffs, among Salem County rivals at least, the winner of the regular-season game is 8-3. The home team in those games are 8-3 also.

That being said, the Wolverines know how difficult playoff rematches can be. Last year, they beat Paulsboro early in the regular season 18-0, then two months later had their hearts broken in the sectional semifinals 15-6.

“Our kids remember that and understand you can beat somebody in the season and the playoffs are a whole different animal and I think they’re preparing that way,” Adams said. “They’re basically preparing as if we’ve never played them before. It’s going to be a dogfight and that’s what we’re preparing for.”

The biggest battle is these type games is the psychological gymnastics that take place, especially when it’s only been a short time since they last met. You might have won the first game after a week preparing for a bunch of unknowns, but now the opponent is known, does complacency set in over the confidence of a past victory or do you fret over what that highly incentivized losing team changes from the first game.

And if you were on the losing side, do you make a bunch of changes or remain confident in the things you did in the first game and just work on fixing the mistakes that were made.

It was a battle the first time they played with the difference being three rapid-fire completions from Max Webb that produced a touchdown at the end of the half and gave the Wolverines a 14-0 halftime lead the Red Devils couldn’t overcome.

It’s doubtful the Wolverines will run their two-minute offense the whole game just because it worked in that situation two weeks ago, but it’s safe to say the Red Devils will have worked to be sharper against it this time around.

Penns Grove coach John Emel doesn’t think either team has changed “a whole lot” from that first game, but Adams expects both will throw in “a wrinkle or two” that wasn’t there the last time. That’s just the nature of the game.

“It’s way more psychological than physical with a rematch,” Adams said. “I think the team that lost the first go-round has an added incentive to win that next game. It’s like all right, you got us, we want to even the score.

“We tell our kids one of those touchdowns came because we caught them off-guard and caught them misaligned, but they’re going to be aligned this time, you’re not going to be able to catch them off-guard. That’s where it gets tough.”

PENNS GROVE (5-5)

The key for the Red Devils, Emel said, is starting fast and finishing like they have since their second half comeback on Paulsboro that launched their current 4-1 run. They’ve given up only two field goals in the last 14 quarters of those four wins.

“We’re a second-half team and we’re probably a second-half-of-the-season team,” said Emel, whose team started the year 0-3 and 1-4. “We’re playing our best football, not just in one week but over the last month plus, and during that stretch the defense has done really good and we’ve been able to close games out in the second half.

“When you’re playing a team as good as Woodstown who has the ability to score a lot of points in spurts we’ve got to get into halftime with the game close. We played pretty well in the second half the last time we played them, but what they did in the first half was too much to overcome.

“If we play well we have a good chance to win and that’s all you want as a coach. You don’t need to dp anything extraordinary and hope for a miracle. We just have to go out and play a good Penns Grove type game and we’ll have an opportunity at the end.”

Both teams should be at full strength. The Wolverines welcomed Corbin Walz back to practice Wednesday. The Wolverines’ starting defensive end and offensive lineman dislocated his elbow against Deptford in Game 3, but Adams said he “looked really good,” but wasn’t immediately certain how he’d be used in a game where it’s all hands on deck.

There is a chance for a lot more rematches going forward as three of the four teams in the South semifinals are Diamond Division rivals and Penns Grove played the fourth, Burlington City in its season opener.

“Only one of us is going to make it through in the next 10 days,” Emel said. “My message to our guys is ‘Why not us?’ We’re here, whatever’s happened up to this point has no bearing this weekend.

“It’s two teams that played recently but you get a fresh start. That’s the way our guys look at it. Because when you walked off that field we were kind of disappointed with the way it ended and we didn’t have to wait too long, so here we go again. It’s a new game and you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to play one play at a time.”

Stars are rising

Salem County has strong representation on the WJFL Horizon, Diamond Division all-star teams

Horizon Division

When you win the division, it’s just about a cinch you’ll have the most players on the all-star team. Undefeated two-time division champion Schalick brought in the largest haul on the Horizon Division first-team offense and defense as voted upon by the division coaches Wednesday night.

The Cougars picked up 11 total spots on the 28-man first-team roster – seven on offense and four on defense. Riverside had seven players and Gloucester Catholic had six. Wildwood had three and Lindenwald one.

The Cougars dominated the offense with quarterback Kenai Simmons, running back Reggie Allen, receivers Jake Siedlecki and Dylan Sheehan, linemen T.J. Hymer and Logan Hancock, and kicker Hunter Dragotta.

They had four players on the defense – linemen Jermaine Loney and Jake Magonagle, linebacker Riley Papiano and defensive back Levi Feeney-Childers.

Siedlecki is the only senior in the bunch.

“Players deserve the recognition and the other coaches in the division recognized their hard work,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said.

The Cougars (10-0) host Shore Regional Friday in the Central Jersey Group I semifinals. The winner faces either Glassboro or South Hunterdon in the sectional final.

POS	OFFENSE	POS	DEFENSE
QB	Kenai Simmons, Schalick	DL	Jermaine Loney, Schalick
RB	Reggie Allen, Schalick	DL	Chris Hagan, Gloucester Cath.
RB	John Boston, Riverside	DL	Teddy Hawkins, Riverside
WR/TE	Jake Siedlecki, Schalick	DL	Jake Magonagle, Schalick
WR/TE	Dylan Sheehan, Schalick	LB	James Ayers, Wildwood
WR/TE	Kyle Guldin, Gloucester Cath.	LB	Riley Papiano, Schalick
ATH	Isiah Bookman, Lindenwald	LB	Gabe Rossett, Wildwood
ATH	Junior Hans, Wildwood	LB	Isiah Ali-Lewis, Riverside
OL	George Brandon, Riverside	DB	Levi Feeney-Childers, Schalick
OL	T.J. Hymer, Schalick	DB	Kybron Ricks, Gloucester Cath.
OL	Frank Keenan, Gloucester Cath.	DB	Carlos Mendez, Gloucester Cath.
OL	Chase Perry, Riverside	DB	J.J. Mary, Riverside
OL	Logan Hancock, Schalick	ATH	Jamir Brown, Riverside
K	Hunter Dragotta, Schalick	P	Mike Freeman, Gloucester Cath.

Diamond Division

Top overall seed Woodstown and Penns Grove, two Salem County rivals who played for the division title two weeks ago and meet in the South Jersey Group I semifinals Friday night, combined for more than half the picks on this year’s WJFL Diamond Division all-star team.

Woodstown, the champion of the toughest Group I division in the state, pulled down nine spots. division champion, nailed down nine spots: QB Max Webb, RB Bryce Belinfanti, OLs Damien Eichler and Jack Knorr, K Jake Ware, DL Bump Carter, LB Zach Bevis, DB Garrett Leyman and P James Hill.

Penns Grove had six spots: RB Karon Ceaser, OL Isaiah Upshur, DLs Dameon Wilson and Justin Martin, LB Bryce Wright and DB Knowledge Young

Salem, which made a late-season run to get in the playoffs, placed four players on the team: WR-TE Ramaji Bundy, RB Pop Jackson, OL Detric Simmons and DB Omarion Pierce.

POS	OFFENSE	POS	DEFENSE
QB	Max Webb, Woodstown	DL	Bump Carter, Woodstown
RB	Bryce Belinfanti, Woodstown	DL	Dameon Wilson, Penns Grove
RB	Anthony Reagan, Woodbury	DL	Justin Martin, Penns Grove
WR	Marquis Taylor, Woodbury	DL	Javion Payne, Paulsboro
WR/TE	Ramaji Bundy, Salem	LB	Bryce Wright, Penns Grove
WR	Jayden Johnson, Woodbury	LB	Zach Bevis, Woodstown
RB	Pop Jackson, Salem	LB	Jason Solomon, Woodbury
RB	Karon Ceaser, Penns Grove	LB	Robert Meadows, Woodbury
OL	Damien Eichler, Woodstown	DB	Wilson Torres, Woodbury
OL	Detric Simmons, Salem	DB	Omarion Pierce, Salem
OL	Jack Knorr, Woodstown	DB	Garrett Leyman, Woodstown
OL	Isaiah Upshur, Penns Grove	DB	Knowledge Young, Penns Grove
OL	Bryant Banks, Woodbury	ATH	Shariff Green, Paulsboro
K	Jake Ware, Woodstown	P	James Hill, Woodstown

Secret’s out

People outside Salem County are starting to notice what undefeated Schalick has been putting together

CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP I
Friday’s Semifinals
Shore (6-3) at Schalick (10-0), 7 p.m.
Glassboro (6-3) at South Hunterdon (9-1), 7 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — The football team at Schalick High School is quietly turning into one of the biggest comeback stories in the state.

At 10-0, the Cougars are one of four remaining undefeated teams in the West Jersey Football League and one of 16 left in the state in any classification. But outside of their community in Salem County hardly anyone is noticing.

Until now.

Where once the team’s “coverage” consisted of maybe three paragraphs off the call-in sheet on Friday nights, one of the larger media outlets in South Jersey finally stumbled upon the Cougars’ story and sent a reporter to practice earlier this week. A TV station from Philadelphia is due in Thursday on the eve of their Central Jersey Group I semifinal game against Shore Regional. There is said to be ‘mutual interest’ in playing in next year’s season opening Battle at the Beach extravaganza in Ocean City.

What makes it even more compelling is just four years ago, in coach Mike Wilson’s first season with the program, when this year’s senior class were wide-eyed freshmen, they were 0-7 with about two dozen players who probably weren’t ready for varsity competition. None of the other 15 unbeaten teams have come from that far back, although three (Weehawken in 2021, Roxbury in 2020 and Holmdel last year) have had one season of just one win at any time in the previous three years.

“I think it’s great for the kids, they’re finally getting recognition for all their hard work over the last four years,” Wilson said. “It’s new, it’s refreshing, I’m happy for the kids they’re finally going to get the recognition they truly deserve. Now they have to learn we can’t read our own press clippings. There’s still work to be accomplished.”

This undefeated stuff is relatively new to the Cougars, who haven’t been 10-0 since their 12-0 season of 2004, but Wilson has been 10-0 before. It was 2019 as an assistant coach at Mainland Regional, where the rebuild he helped undertake there was similar to what he’s done at Schalick with admittedly some of the same concepts.

That year his team got through the regular season undefeated and then lost to rival Ocean City just a week after beating it in the annual Battle of the Bridge rivalry for the division title. It’s a loss his coaching buddies talk about all the time and he admits still stings whenever they do.

The Cougars have built their success story with a genuine be-where-your-feet-are, one-game-at-a-time approach with players who have grown with the program.

And through that approach they now have an offense full of dynamic skill players, a line that allows them to control the clock and a defense that’s been hard to move on — most of whom will be back next season. They have literally outgrown the WJFL Horizon Division they’ve dominated the last two years and are prepared to be competitive on whatever stronger division they’re sure to be dispatched to in the next rotation.

“I knew we had a good group of younger, we had good kids coming up from the youth program, so we knew they were brighter days ahead, but to get as one of my assistants said this good this quick I don’t think we knew that,” Wilson said. “I knew we would be better every year but we have really exceled this year, we have really jelled as a team.

“I told the kids today in practice we have an opportunity in front of us, let’s not take it for granted. We have a very winnable game in front of us, let’s not take anything for granted right now because football is so unforgiving you may never get this chance again.”

Current Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar didn’t hire Wilson to succeed long-time coach Seth Brown, but he has had a front-row seat to the whole metamorphosis. As an assistant principal at the time he was involved in the interview process and then served as Wilson’s receivers/defensive backs coach in that difficult first year.

Among the elements Wilson brought with him from Mainland were establishing a weight room for strength training and injury prevention and a re-engagement with the booster club. Both continue to be an integral part of the program.

“It’s become not just a football team, it’s become a football program,” Volovar said. “Things have gotten so much better. The program has progressed. Mike has filled in all the pieces and pushed all the right buttons at this point in time to get us to where we’re going in this direction.

“Obviously it’s taken a lot of hard work from not only him but everybody else who’s involved. For us, being a small community, there’s a ton of buy-in from everybody that’s in the community and even in the school and we’ve gotten nothing but support. Without foundation you can’t build a house.”

All the players remember those tough early days and that’s what makes this ride so fun for them. The Cougars lost their first 11 games under Wilson and 13 of their first 14, usually giving up a lot and scoring very little. They have gone 20-3 since. It’s the best run in the program’s history since they went 29-3 between 2003 and 2006.

‘’Me and (tight end) Ryan Johnson, our freshmen year we went 0-7 and we really got our butts kicked every game,” senior receiver Jake Siedlecki said after the win over Gloucester Catholic that completed their first undefeated regular season since 2006. “This game meant a lot for both of us and the program. To go 0-7 to 9-0 in four short years, it’s unbelievable. To play a part in that … means a lot.”

Of course, with the new-found success comes a whole new set of distractions. Like the sudden media attention that’s fallen upon them in the run up to the biggest game of any of their players’ careers.

“We have to focus on the game ahead and go 1-0 every week,” Wilson said, repeating the mantra of the season. “As you stack the wins staying focused is even harder. Like I told the kids (Monday) for the first three years it was kind of nice because people kind of ignored us as a team. Now we have to learn how to ignore the distractions and how do we handle success. That’s a big learning curve right now. We’re being successful and people are noticing and that’s awesome because of all your hard work, but we have to learn how to stay focused and continue to build upon that and not get distracted by what we did last week.

“The other thing is we have to resist the temptation to do things different. Even though the competition is better, we’re getting deeper in the playoffs, we are good enough as we are right now and we have to continue to get better at the things we’re doing and eliminate the things that can beat us and avoid the temptation of trying to do something that we don’t usually do on the field and continue to get better at what we’re already doing.”

Shore makes the 100-mile drive across the state with a 6-3 record and a team that had a chance to shake up the South Jersey Group 1 seedings had they beaten undefeated Group III Holmdel in the final regular season game. They were sixth overall in the South Jersey Group I UPR.

The Blue Devils run a true Delaware Wing-T offense that confounds their opponents so close to the real thing TE-DE Jackson Whitacre has committed to the Blue Hens. The defense has shut out two of their last three opponents. Both teams are coming off first-round shutouts.

Cover photo by Heather Papiano