Salem CC uses robust second half, all three phases to win first game in football program history, beating Thaddeus Stevens 18-13

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — Jay Accorsi was soaked to the bone. He was a little cold, but he was happy. And proud. And maybe even a little relieved.

It was an historic day for the Salem Community College athletics. The football program Accorsi has been building since he brought the idea to the college president some 18 months ago scored its first win in school history Saturday, an 18-13 come-from-behind victory over Thaddeus Stevens at Penns Grove High School.

The Mighty Oaks used a robust second half fueled by the disappointment of an empty red-zone possession at the end of the first half to rally from deficits of 7-0 (halftime) 10-6 and 13-12 (fourth quarter). They scored on the first play of the third quarter, took the lead on Malakhai McKenzie’s determined 3-yard fourth-down run with 5:15 to play and secured the win with a fourth-down stop with 1:24 to go and driving to run out the clock.

“That group is the first group that ever got the first Mighty Oaks football win, so their legacy is etched forever and I think they understand at,” Accorsi said. “It’s a lot of responsibility but I think they get that. That’s why they were dancing at the end and enjoying it.”

The win brought Accorsi the traditional water bucket bath. He saw spur-of-the-moment perpetrators Mark Moore and Gio Parente coming around the corner with the cooler in tow. There was no escape. 

“At 62, soon to be 63, I ain’t outrunning those dudes, so as long as they don’t hit me in the head – because that happened once before – it’s all fun,” Accorsi said. “It’s good to see. That’s what college football is all about.

“I think it happened a couple times at Rowan and it’s usually for big wins and special moments. It’s good to see them excited, starting to play as a team, pull for one another. It’s always fun when you have that stuff. It doesn’t bother me at all. I actually feel pretty cool right now.”

“We really looking for the Gatorade, but the water was first thing we saw,” Parente said.

The Mighty Oaks felt they were getting closer to a win each week, but could never put together a complete game to pull it off. They put it together in this last of three straight local dates to open the season. And all three phases made major contributions.

They ran the ball effectively, rushing for a season-high 147 yards. The defense didn’t allow much, giving up a season-low 259 yards and holding the Bulldogs to 5-of-19 on third or fourth down with 10 tackles for loss and two sacks. And they got many happy returns from the special teams, the element that made the biggest difference between Saturday and their previous two games.

“It was a good blend,” Accorsi said. “I think for the most part we played pretty much mistake-free football. We played four good quarters and at times we were dominating with a lot of the return game.”

The offense came alive in the second half, and it started right from the jump. On their first play of the third quarter Aidan Hill unloaded a 68-yard touchdown bomb to Jeremiah Russell for the Mighty Oaks’ first touchdown. They didn’t get the tying extra point, but they let it be known this half was going to be different.

They had only 91 yards at halftime. They nearly doubled that in the second half.

“They said the go ball was there and we were going to go to it,” said Hill, one of three quarterbacks Salem used in the game. “They said the DBs when they think you’re going to run are looking you; you gotta throw it up. Trust your receiver. I got the ball. I trusted my receiver. I threw it up. He caught it and scored.”

It brought the Mighty Oaks such an emotional lift after the way the first half ended. Hill had them knocking on the door for the tying touchdown right before halftime, getting to the Bulldogs 5 with 41 seconds left. They ran five plays and even got a defensive holding penalty on an incomplete fourth-down pass to give them one more chance from the 4 with two seconds left but came away empty.

“They were adjusting to what we were doing, they were predicting what we were doing,” Hill said. “It was too much me. Coach told me to take my time, but I kept rushing, not giving it time to execute.”

It could have been the kind of thing that sent the Mighty Oaks into a second-half tailspin. Instead, with the intermission to talk about it, they turned it into something positive.

“I think they started to believe in themselves,” Accorsi said. “You can only preach and talk to somebody for so long about them and what they’re doing and then it’s got to kind of change. It’s got to be them and they have to believe. As disappointing as it was just before the half, I think they realized they’re that close.

“That heartbreaking stuff that happens, but that’s what creates a team and makes them believe in themselves and each other, and I think that’s really what happened. I think they realized we’re really close, like we can win this, we need to do all these things.

“It’s one of those things you want something and it doesn’t happen and it’s so disappointing and so heartbreaking, but you have to turn that into a positive, and that’s what they did. They started to believe in themselves and they started to believe we can actually win this game. Telling them but having them believe in doing it are completely two different things and I think that’s what occurred today.”

Stevens extended its lead to 10-6 with the first of two Jeremiah Moncreff field goals, but the Mighty Oaks answered with the help of one of those big special teams returns. Demetris Williams brought the ensuing kickoff back 68 yards to get Salem on the edge of the red zone. Two plays later Jamar Smith went 21 yards up the middle to put the Mighty Oaks back in front.

The visitors took a 13-12 lead into the fourth quarter after Moncreff kicked a 32-yard field goal in the final minute of the third.

The Mighty Oaks used another big special teams play to set up their go-ahead touchdown. DJ Binck picked up a punt on the run and returned 46 yards to the Stevens 30. Smith got them inside the 10 with a 23-yard run. They needed all four downs to get in the end zone, but on fourth down from the 3 McKenzie saw open space in front of him and bolted for the end zone.

“It was a wide open hole,” McKenzie said. “I just stepped up in the pocket. I felt a little grab on my jersey, but the touchdown was wide open. I had to dive in there.”

The Mighty Oaks still had to keep the Bulldogs from answering and the defense did that. Linebacker Charlie Shute wrapped up David Akpuru on third down for force a fourth-and-long and when quarterback Thomas McGinnis’ fourth-down pass fell incomplete Shute knew the game was theirs.

The offense took over with 3:51 left and they weren’t letting it get away.

“Before that drive I told the offense you guys have had to overcome a lot of adversity,” Accorsi said. “The defense has carried us a lot, you’ve really had to find your way. You now have an opportunity to pay the defense back and win the game – and that’s what they did.”

When Brian Pritchett picked up the last first down with less than 30 seconds left, the Mighty Oaks knew they had it won. That’s when Moore and Parente starting going for the water bucket. And that’s when the celebration began.

“I’m very excited because yesterday was my birthday as well,” Moore said. “The past couple years we’ve lost before my birthday or after, so this is the first time doing it. I’m really excited for the team.”

Salem CC 18, Thaddeus Stevens 13

SCORING SUMMARY

TS-Kahyear Whaley 27 run (Jeremiah Moncreff kick), 2:17 1Q
SCC-Jeremiah Russell 68 pass from Aidan Hill (run failed), 12:53 3Q
TS-Jeremiah Moncreff 28 FG, 6:41 3Q
SCC-Jamar Smith 21 run (run failed), 5:57 3Q
TS-Jeremiah Moncreff 32 FG, 0:52 3Q
SCC-Malakhai McKenzie 3 run (pass failed), 5:15 4Q

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Thaddeus Stevens: Kahyear Whaley 13-69-1, David Akpuru 11=3, Tariq Thorton-Trice 3-5, Thomas McGinnis 7-0; Salem CC: Jamar Smith 8-55-1, Aidan Hill 5-40, Jahfarri Payne 1-27, Kahmaj Kearney 9-22, Brian Pritchett 2-5; Demere White 2-5; Malakhai McKenzie 1-3-1, Demetris Williams 3-0, Cam Wright 4-(-10).

PASSING — Thaddeus Stevens: Thomas McGinnis 12-28-1-172-0; Salem CC: Aidan Hill 4-11-0-68-1; Malakhai McKenzie 2-5-0-11-0, Cam Wright 2-4-1-5-0.

RECEIVING — Thaddeus Stevens: Damoj Gray 5-105, Kahyear Whaley 3-44, Victor Schlosser 3-21, David Akpuru 1-2; Salem CC: Jeremiah Russell 2-74-1, Darion Joyner 1-20, Lamar McCoy 1-13, Kahmaj Kearney 1-9, Darrell Baldon 1-3, Jahfarri Payne 1-2, Terrin Walker 1-2.

TACKLES — Thaddeus Stevens: Samuel Kelley 4, Andre Gordon 3, Abubakarr Tholley 3, Victor Toliver 3; Salem CC: Ezriah Poutre 5 (2 TFL), Zaahir McNair 5 (2 TFL), Aidan Alexander 4, Quardell Richards 4 (1 TFL), Noah Shields 4 (1 sack).

Salem CC football plays Thaddeus Stevens Saturday at Penns Grove HS in search of its inaugural win


By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Jay Accorsi didn’t expect success for his Salem CC football program to come overnight. With any new program trying to find its way, the road to victory is taken in small, incremental steps.

The Mighty Oaks have gotten closer to the desired result each week to that historic first win, but in each of the first two games fell short of pulling it off. 

They fell behind in the opener after staying close early, but made it close with a touchdown on the very last play. Last week they had their first lead and seemed in control of the game for the longest time until buckling under a series of bad penalties and miscues that reached a head in the fourth quarter.

Nothing to do about it now but live and learn. They’ve got another shot at it Saturday against Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology at Penns Grove High School and this time, like every time, they’re looking to complete the deal.

“I know as coaches we talk about teaching everybody how to win,” Accorsi said. “It’s a new program, new coaching staff, so as coaches we talked about it. We talked about with the players. I know the coaches addressed it in all their meetings. We’re trying to learn to do everything and winning is one of those things.

“When you look at the film you’re like what team showed up for the fourth quarter. That’s the part we’re all kind of perplexed about. Maybe we’re tired, maybe we’re not in good enough shape, so we’re looking at that. Maybe we don’t feel confident in ourselves to win games. That was the message we talked about and the part were trying to piece together.

“I knew we weren’t going to get a lot of wins this first year anyway, just being realistic, but we’re much closer than I thought we’d be. Now what do we have to do to get us over the top? That’s kind of what we’re trying to concentrate on. The first game we played around three quarters or less of football. This one we played three and into the fourth quarter of good football. Now what do we need to do to play four quarters of football?

“I was not really going to try to get caught up in the wins and losses (this first year), but now that we’re that close now you kind of have to figure out how to get closer to be able to do it and finish games off.”

After finishing strong against Hudson Valley and having an open week in between to make adjustments, the Mighty Oaks started sharply last week against Nassau CC. They put together an 80-yard drive in their first possession, getting it all on the ground, and finished it off with Demetris Williams’ 13-yard touchdown run for their first lead in a game that counted. (They led throughout the first half in their scrimmage at Montclair). 

They were on their way to a second score and a two-touchdown lead that would’ve made it “a different game,” but were hit with one of those ill-timed penalties and never recovered.

Jamar Smith made a great block to free Jahfarri Payne for a 23-yard touchdown, but the score was called back by a block in the back away from the ball and the Mighty Oaks never scored again. It’s been that kind of thing that’s plagued them the first two games. Nassau scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the half and never trailed again.

Later in the game second-half starting quarterback Cam Wright slid too soon on a fourth-down run that stopped a drive in Nassau territory, they dropped a wide open touchdown pass in the end zone and in the fourth quarter trying to make something happen Aidan Hill was intercepted twice leading to two Nassau touchdowns that inflated the final margin.

“The score is the score and it never changes, but I think we’re doing things at the end of the game to try to win the game that we’re not very good at right now, especially offensively,” Accorsi said. “We need to control the clock, run the ball, minimize mistakes, don’t put our defense in harm’s way and we didn’t do that in that fourth quart“

Going forward, the Mighty Oaks will “juggle some guys around” on both sides of the ball to best match abilities with situations, although they didn’t provide specifics.

“That happens with any team all the time all year long,” Accorsi said. “It’s just different for us because, again, these are all really new players. We have a lot of really good players, we’re just still trying to find out who can do what. That’s going to be probably all the way through the season.”

The Bulldogs come into the game with a 1-1 record, having beaten the New Jersey Warriors, a post-graduate football program whose players can attend any New Jersey community college, after opening the season with a 39-9 loss to Erie. They affiliate with something called the Seaboard Conference, but it’s hoped they would join with Salem, Sussex, Hudson Valley, Nassau and Erie, and perhaps others, to form their own conference.

So it’s another week and another chance to break through. The Mighty Oaks are getting close. The first win might not come this week, but Accorsi knows what it’ll do when it does.

“it validates a lot of things we’re doing,” he said. “I think it more than anything it cements and validates all the things we’re trying to do with the coaches and the players. Even in your first year to get a win, that’s not really easy to do. Whenever it comes, it comes. Whether it’s this year or next year, we’re just going to try to do the best we can to get close and try to get one.”

Salem CC leaders

RUSHING: Aidan Hill 15-52, Jon Pettigrew 7-47, Kahmaj Kearney 11-43, Tre McLeod 6-35, Demetris Williams 5-9-1.

PASSING: Aidan Hill 5-17-2, 98 yards, 1 TD; Malakhai McKenzie 5-11-0, 41 yards; Cameron Wright 1-3-0, 14 yards.

RECEIVING: Darion Joyner 2-21, Kahmaj Kearney 2-12, Jon Pettigrew 2-12, Jahfarri Payne 1-44-1.

TACKLES: Charlie Shute 11, Zariah Poutre 6, Mark Moore 6, Ben Secouler 5, Germer Jones 5.

SACKS: Charlie Shute 1.

INTERCEPTIONS: Jarrell Burks 2, Mark Moore 1.