Eagles expect some growing pains, but still have plenty of players who know what it takes to make the playoffs

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – A couple years back during one of the WJFL realignment cycles Pennsville sought a move into a stronger division because with the team it had been developing there was a feeling the Eagles could win their assigned division and still not make the Group 1 playoffs. It had been known to happen.

Their appeal was granted, they proved worthy of the promotion and made the playoffs each of the last two years. Fast forward to now. The group that got them there has cycled out but the team has stayed in the stronger division to restart the cycle again. But they’re not as short-handed as one might think.

“We’re young, we’re inexperienced, we’re going to have some growing pains here and there, but we believe there’s enough talent there where over the next two years we’re going to be competing,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “It’s not bare at all.

“That was a different situation (back then). We were coming off a couple bad years where now I think we have that success as part of our team now. We have a good foundation of what we’ve done the last couple years. The seniors have been part of three straight successful years. They’re bringing back experience and know what it takes to make the playoffs.”

And it’s with that foundation they expect the train to keep moving forward.

“I think it’s only like a half a rebuild,” quarterback Jake Layfield said. “If you look at our skill guys, we have players all around the board.” 

“I thought we were going to be in a major rebuild,” linebacker Dante Cummings said. “And then that first day of practice the freshmen showed up and they didn’t show an ounce of fear from midgets to high school. They came ready to work and I was excited from Day One how much they were eager to learn, how much they wanted to fight and how much they wanted to keep the program where it’s at and make us a better team instead of a rebuild team.”

The Eagles’ offense will look a little different than it has in the past with more experience in the skill positions than on the line, where Hunter Coulbourn is the only returnee and possibly three freshmen will start in the interior. Layfield and Grady Sanders battled for the quarterback spot all camp, just as they have since eighth grade, but Layfield worked with the first unit in their last scrimmage apparently giving him a leg up for Thursday’s season opener against Woodstown. Regardless how it ultimately shakes out, the one not playing quarterback will be involved in the offense in some capacity.

Layfield was the backup last year. He usually got in games late, but courageously kept the Eagles in their quarterfinal playoff game with Schalick after starter Robbie McDade got hurt early in the game. 

“I’m happy to come out (of the battle), but I’ve also got to watch out because if I mess up a couple times there’s a guy right there ready to take it,” Layfield said.

The Eagles had been run-heavy in their return to the playoffs even with McDade’s strong arm, producing a 1,000-yard rusher each of the last two years (Rylan Hardy), and will still have that as the foundation, but with a smaller, quicker makeup up front they expect to pass “a little more” this season.

They have weapons — Danny Knight, Jake Kimani and C.J. Johnson on the outside, Lucas Thomas, Aidan Collazo and Cummings on the inside, and rushing threats Tristan Horner and Vic Mosher out of the backfield. Cummings caught a touchdown pass in the scrimmage against Delaware’s PolyTech.

“Last year our offense was a lot of smash-mouth, down-the-middle football with deep play-action taking a shot to one of our fast guys,” Layfield said. “If you think back to my sophomore year, Robbie’s junior year, we threw a lot. I think the only reason we didn’t throw last year was because in wrestling season Robbie hurt his shoulder, so we didn’t have the ability to throw whenever because he wasn’t always 100 percent . This year, now that we have fresh arms I think we’ll be back to it. It will just be a bigger part of our offense.”
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Without the size up front to fill up the run, the Eagles defense will turn to a more aggressive, attacking style to create negative plays.

“I like it a lot better,” Cummings said. “Obviously, I’m going to miss (Jacob) Hand, Gurney (Jayden Gurnovich), T-Wad (Trevor Waddington), but I like our style a lot better, especially as a linebacker. I can read and attack as much as I want. And these boys up front, just because they aren’t (those guys) doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to attack, which I love as well. They want to get in the backfield and attack.”

Healy, who enters his 10th season as the longest tenured head football coach in Salem County, is looking forward to see how it all comes together.

“It’s going to be exciting to see some of these kids kind of get the opportunity to be the guy,” he said. “I’m excited to see them step up and kind of lead this team in the direction we want to go.”

Pennsville’s Healy enhances his fandom of the Green Bay Packers as a shareholder of the team

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – The email hit Mike Healy’s in box in early July like it does every year and he knew exactly what it meant. It was time he could tell his players he’s an NFL owner.

The 10th-year Pennsville football coach is one of more than 535,000 stockholders who own a “piece” of the Green Bay Packers. The framed certificate hangs in his home like a diploma. It’s largely ceremonial, mostly a fundraiser for the team with no voting position, but it is a great conversation starter.

“It’s a unique thing; something cool to be part of,” said Healy, the longest-tenured head football coach in Salem County. “It’s fun. It’s cool. It’s something I find entertaining. I have fun with the kids every year. I put some things out there for my freshman classes and they argue with me, like no you’re not, and I say yes I am an NFL owner.

“Usually there’s one kid in each class that kind of knows the background to it and then to the other kids I explain it. They’re like, wait, is that the worse investment of all time? Yeah, financially the worst investment you could ever make, but pretty much you get to say I’m an NFL owner.”

Healy’s fandom for the Packers in deep-rooted. His father grew up in Baltimore and was a huge Colts fan. The family would go to church on Sunday with players like Johnny Unitas and then make their way to Memorial Stadium for the game. The Colts infamously and covertly relocated to Indianapolis in 1984, ending 31 years of football in the city.

“He still gets a little emotional when they talk about the Colts leaving in the middle of the night,” Healy said of his dad

When the family moved to Jersey in broad daylight, they brought their fandom for the Orioles with them but didn’t have a football team to root for. Healy always liked quarterback Brett Favre growing up and by association became a Packers fan. A trip to Green Bay with Dad sealed it for him. The rest of the family, of course, have become Eagles fans.

“I still remember fourth-and-26 (in the 2003-24 NFL divisional playoffs),” he said. “I’ll never forget that. My brothers don’t let me live that down.”

The Packers’ public stock program is one of the most unique arrangements in all of professional sports. The team has been a publicly owned, non-profit corporation since 1923. There are approximately 5.2 million outstanding shares owned by 538,967 stockholders throughout the United States, its territories and Canada, none of whom receives a dividend on the initial investment. There have been six stock sales: 1923, 1935, 1950, 1997, 2011 and 2022. Future offerings are not currently being considered.

The year Healy bought in, individual shares went for $200. That sale raised more than $24 million to help fund the construction of the five-story Lambeau Field Atrium.

As a stockholder, Healy can attend the annual shareholders meeting, which this year was July 27, but cannot vote. And he can buy gear from the Packers Team Store with “Shareholder” on it. He’s never physically attended a meeting, but has logged into them remotely.

To protect from someone taking control of the team, the articles of incorporation prohibit any person from owning more than 200,000 shares. Recent stock sales have limited purchases to 200. Healy is quite happy with his one.

“The shares are more for the fans,” he said. “I would definitely love it (to get a vote); it’d be cool. It’d be complete chaos if they let everyone vote on it, but it would be kind of fun. Even if there was one thing a year that was really not a big issue and they just kind of let everyone who has a share a vote kind of for entertainment purpose, I would definitely do it.”