With two dynamic additions, Salem looks like the team it envisioned at the beginning of the season; Penns Grove remains undefeated after benchmark win
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM — The alarm for school went off in Desmund Thomas’ house Monday morning at precisely 5:51 a.m. The one in Raymond Brown’s house buzzed him awake even earlier. It was the dawn of a new day for the Salem football team.
Salem coach Kemp Carr has often said in these first four weeks of the season his Rams would be a better team in the second half of the season than it was at the beginning, and a big reason for it was knowing he’d have Thomas and Brown back on the field.
The two seniors saw their first action of the season after satisfying NJSIAA senior two-time transfer rules and their presence definitely was felt in the Rams’ 42-0 rout of Overbrook.
“It’s good to have seven (Thomas) and five-four (Brown) back,” Carr said. “It adds to the team. They’re the leaders. You don’t have to be a captain to be a leader. They’re leaders on this football team. if you really want to be good, you need leaders. They did a good job of orchestrating when it was their time and their number was called, and football players make plays.
“They’re special football players. They were first teamers last year within their conference, so they’re pretty good football players. They got to show their talent, their skill level, their ability to play football and they’re hungry. You keep a wild dog caged up and you let him out, you expect him to go crazy, do things you expect him to do because they have that extra fuel.”
Their debuts were delayed two days as Saturday’s scheduled kick was postponed by the weekend’s weather. All that did was make the two players more eager to play.
They all had even more reason to be excited. Before the game Carr sprung a new set of black jerseys on the players, laying them out along the basketball court sideline and having them pick their numbers as they came out of the locker room door.
And as soon as Brown and Thomas got in the game they had an immediate impact.
Brown, who landed at Salem after stops at Penns Grove and Hammonton’s St. Joseph Academy, didn’t start on the Rams’ deep defensive line Monday. The coaches all wanted to put him in the second play after the Rams gained seven on their first snap, but pumped the brakes. He went in after Overbrook’s Axcel Bailey picked up another seven on a second-and-13 and on his first play he broke through the line and sacked quarterback Mark Hailstork with such authority it forced a fumble that Mahkye Murray recovered at the 21.
Brown had at least two sacks in the game and several other tackles for loss. Salem’s Blue Storm defense held Overbrook (2-3) to minus-seven yards of offense on a limited number of plays in the second half.
“It felt good, especially being in this environment with these teammates; I really feel like we can take it far,” Brown said. “I was really excited to get out here, just the atmosphere we have during practice and in games, it really keeps me going.
“That first play, it was just my teammates, they do such a good job with their one-on-ones it just opened it up for me. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was a surreal moment. I couldn’t have dreamed it any better.”
The fumble gave Thomas a short field to work with on his opening drive of the season. He transferred to Salem from suburban Atlanta before the start of last season, returned to his original school after football season for personal reasons, then came back to Salem constituting a second transfer.
His first play was negated by a holding penalty, but on the next snap he floated a beautiful 31-yard pass to Quemere Bergen for the game’s first touchdown. He threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Kane Green the next time they got the ball.
The Rams (2-3) scored on all six of their meaningful possessions. They had the ball for the final two snaps of the first half after denying Overbrook on fourth down from the 11, but they simply took a knee to run out the clock.
Thomas completed all seven of his pass attempts for 122 yards and two touchdowns – a 340.69 NCAA passer rating (NFL 158.33) – and rushed for 47 yards and another score on 10 carries. He made all the throws to all areas of the field. The one pass he did overthrow was erased by a roughing penalty. He also was 3-for-3 on two-point conversion throws.
“I just wanted to get out there with my guys,” Thomas said. “I was looking forward to playing last game, but I just knew I had to stay patient; my day was going to come. It’s all about patience. This was the start of us being a collective. Have you ever seen a complete puzzle that’s good? We were missing pieces. We put the pieces back together, you’re ready to win as one.”
Overbrook coach Frank Wilczynski said the appearance of Thomas at quarterback caught the Rams by surprise. All the film they had seen of Salem had either freshman Owen McDonald or sophomore Kyvion Parsons directing the offense.
“We had no idea he was going to be behind center today,” Wilczynski said. “As I said to him after we shook hands, he is a phenomenal, phenomenal football player and it just changes the whole dynamic of them offensively. He can throw it. He can run it. Watching the last four games on them, we were not prepared for him.
“They’re going to hit their stride right now and they’re going to be a tough team to beat when it comes late October, November. They’re going to be very, very good.”
That’s what Carr has been saying all along.
| OVER (0) | SAL (42) | |
| 6 | 1st Downs | 17 |
| 34-64 | Rushing | 31-187 |
| 2-7-0 | Passes | 7-7-0 |
| 1 | Passing | 122 |
| 1-1 | Fum-Lost | 1-1 |
| 1-29.0 | Punts-Avg | 0-0 |
| 10-87 | Penalties | 6-65 |
| Overbrook | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0- | 0 |
| Salem | 16 | 8 | 12 | 6- | 42 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-Quemere Bergen 31 pass from Desmund Thomas (Desmund Thomas run), 9:30 1Q
S-Kane Green 24 pass from Desmund Thomas (Izaiah Santiago pass from Desmund Thomas), 0:30 1Q
S-Desmund Thomas 5 run (Quemere Bergen pass from Desmund Thomas), 2:26 2Q
S-Cashmir Parsley 1 run (run failed), 8:48 3Q
S-Cashmir Parsley 2 run (run failed), 6:01 3Q
S-Rahkye Seals 4 run (run failed), 3:22 4Q
Red Devils play like ‘grown men’
WOODBURY — After handling its first three opponents rather handily, about the only thing Penns Grove had yet to experience this season is any kind of serious adversity.
The Red Devils had plenty of it in the first half here Monday, but they weathered the storm well enough for coach Damian Ware to be impressed.
Three turnovers and a late touchdown in the second quarter sent the Red Devils to face their first halftime deficit of the year. They bounced back with three scores in the second half, held Woodbury off the scoreboard and won 24-12 to remain undefeated.
They’re 4-0 for the first time since 2019, which is also the last time they beat the Thundering Herd.
“The story was showing some resiliency and learning how to win a tough game,” Ware said. “We’ve been having these blowout games, but today we had a tough game.”
Penns Grove’s Thomas tandem – freshman Jaivon and senior Terrell – combined for 211 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Jaivon Thomas rushed for 145 yards on 21 carries and scored on runs of 13 and 9 yards. Terrell Thomas rushed for 66 yards, scored on runs of 5 and 11 yards, and played a big role on a defense that held Woodbury to minus-32 yards of offense.
The Thundering Herd had minus-2 yards of passing and minus-30 yards of net rushing. The Red Devils held Dale Thomas, one of the top 10 rushers in the WJFL, to minus-17 yards on 13 carries.
“Our defense was really the stalwart today,” Ware said. “Our defense was lights out.”
The two touchdowns Woodbury scored came on a fumble return in the first quarter and a blocked punt that set up a short field for Dale Thomas’ 1-yard run in the final 30 seconds of the first half. The Red Devils trailed 6-0 and 12-6, but outscored the Herd 18-0 in the second half.
Penns Grove almost scored after Woodbury took its 12-6 lead. The Red Devils got the ball back with 14 seconds left in the half. Jaivon Thomas broke off a long run to get to the 5. Terrell Thomas looked to get in the end zone on the final play of the half, but the officials ruled he was out of bounds before hitting the pylon.
“Today was a game of learning how to win through adversity,” Ware said. “When we had three turnovers in the first half we could have easily felt sorry for ourselves, but they just kept fighting. They scored on two plays we gave them and we moved the ball at will. If we didn’t turn it over a couple times we probably would’ve scored two more touchdowns in the first half and been up and they wouldn’t have had any points.
“That was the game today, learning how to win through adversity when it’s not easy. That was a growing up game for us. I told the guys we played like some grown men today because we didn’t cower down, we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves, we just kept fighting and punching and punching and punching. It showed me a lot today.”
| PG (24) | WBURY (12) | |
| 12 | 1st Downs | 5 |
| 44-236 | Rushing | 25-(-30) |
| 3-4-0 | Passes | 2-13-0 |
| 23 | Passing | -2 |
| 11-80 | Penalties | 12-102 |
| Penns Grove | 0 | 6 | 6 | 12- | 24 |
| Woodbury | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0- | 12 |
SCORING SUMMARY
WB-Kayir McIntosh 43 fumble return (kick failed)
PG-Terrell Thomas 5 run (PAT failed)
WB-Dale Thomas 1 run (run failed)
PG-Jaivon Thomas 13 run (run failed)
PG-Terrell Thomas 11 run (run failed)
PG-Jaivon Thomas 9 run (pass failed)
