Here are the first and second team selections for the Tri-County Conference Diamond and Classic All-Star Teams; 27 Salem County players recognized; x-known TCC-v-Colonial All-Star Game picks
Woodstown boys place third as a team, Marino siblings post top 10 finishes in their respective races to qualify for Meet of Champions; further research indicates best finish ever
NJSIAA Group I XC Championship
BOYS TEAM: Glassboro 70, Metuchen 109, Woodstown 140, Indian Hills 160, Dayton 195, Haddon Twp. 201, Manville 221, Shore 239, Mountain Lakes 264, McNair 280, New Milford 299, Secaucus 305, Park Ridge/Emerson 306, Bogota 323, Kinnelon 331, Audubon 357, Highland Park 382, Rutherford 413, Verona 415, Schalick 514.
GIRLS TEAM: Shore 45, Metuchen 76, Bogota 110, Audubon 116, Mountain Lakes 142, New Providence 179, Rutherford 253, Haddon Twp. 260, North Warren 270, Hanover Park 286, McNair 337, Hasbrouck Heights 342, Maple Shade 358, Newton 364, Pequannock 370, Dayton 392, Woodstown 393, Saddle Brook 402, South Hunterdon 480, Schalick 490.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
HOLMDEL – Steve New doesn’t mind digging deep when it comes to chasing cross country history. Some might find it painstaking and tedious, but he’s digging because he thinks he’s going to find treasure.
That’s the reason the Woodstown cross country coach will be happily diving into the history of the state cross country championship today looking to find the last time the Wolverines did as well as they showed Saturday at Holmel Park.
The Wolverines came in third at the Group I boys meet, and that’s as good as New can ever remember. They scored 140 points, pulling behind team champion Glassboro and runner-up Metuchen and solidly ahead of fourth-place Indian Hills. All five of their counters placed in the top 50 among runners competing on teams.
“In all honesty I would have loved to have gotten second; you can actually come home with a pretty cool trophy,” New said. “But I can’t complain. They got up on the podium, they got to get up on the stage, they got recognized for a third-place finish.
“I’ve never seen that in my years coaching here, and I’ve looked back a decent amount and I’ve never seen anything like that. I was pumped by it. I couldn’t have been more pleased with how they ran. Everyone ran tough. That made that two-hour school bus ride well worth it.”
(Upon a deep dive into the records Sunday morning, New discovered this was indeed the Wolverines’ best finish ever. He went all the way back to 1919 and they had never finished higher than 11th (last year) before.)
One of the keys to their high finish was the showing of Torsten Duva and Jackson Perry. Normally fifth and sixth finishers, they were the Wolverines’ fourth and fifth runners across the line on this day. Jake Marino, Karson Chew and David Farrell were their first three.
“Third place doesn’t move us on to MOC as a team but it’s a really good place for us and I’m happy with how everyone did,” Chew said. “We all finished close to each other and all around did everything we needed to do to have a great states.”
The Wolverines grabbed another piece of history that was even harder to find. Siblings Jake and Abby Marino both scored top 10 finishes in their respective races to qualify for the Meet of Champions. Jake was ninth in the boys race (17:15.87) and Abby was tenth in the girls race (20:45.22). The top 10 go.
With the help of AI, Jake learned they are only the second brother-sister combination since 1986 to qualify for MOC in the same year. Chris and Cate DeSousa, running for Christian Brothers and Red Bank Catholic, respectively, in 2019 are the only others to do. There have been seven sets of siblings since 1986 making it in the same year, but they’ve all been sisters or brothers.
“It’s crazy to think about,” Jake said. “To be able to have the opportunity to be able to compete at states together, but to not only capitalize on that and cement ourselves as one of two brother-sister duos going to the Meet of Champions the same year – and the only ones to go to the same school – is phenomenal. It’s something I will never forget.”
BOYS TOP 10
GIRLS TOP 10
Jayran Rodriguez, Manville
16:35.39
Alexandra Klein, Shore
18:54.88
Joseph Saicic, Glassboro
16:50.42
Ella Andersen, Metuchen
19:13.97
Frank Coppa, Indian Hills
16:51.42
Riley Fayer, Audubon
19:16.47
Michaelangelo Lepore, Mt. Lakes
17:00.82
Violet Page, Mt. Lakes
19:46.66
Zacchaeus Harrigan, Glassboro
17:04.27
Grace Montanari, Shore
20:27.61
Elliott Reines, Dayton
17:07.15
Micah Dalello, Sussex Tech
20:34.58
Jaeden Wesley, Glassboro
17:11.57
Erin Dushinka, DelVal
20:37.59
Maddox Paulin, Shore
17:37.27
Taylor Zaneto, Metuchen
20:39.79
Jacob Marino, Woodstown
17:15.87
Milla Scalise, Shore
20:42.63
Kai Englert, Metuchen
17:20.90
Abby Marino, Woodstown
20:45.22
LOCAL BOYS COUNTERS (Number in parentheses is overall place) WOODSTOWN: 9. Jacob Marino (9) 17:15.87, 18. Karson Chew (18) 17:46.75, 27. David Farrell (30) 18:13.11, 28. Torsten Duva (43) 18:30.15, 39. Jackson Perry (53) 18:42.55. SCHALICK: 76. Collin Bittle (84) 19:28.66, 82. Salvatore Longo (90) 19:39.22, 112. Joshua Weiner (120) 20:59.41, 119. Mason Cain (127) 21:43.83, 125. Chase Riley (133) 22:12.31.
LOCAL GIRLS COUNTERS (Number in parenthesis is overall place) WOODSTOWN: 8. Abby Marino (10) 20:45.22, 50. Anabel Schaal (60) 23:37.64, 99. Arianna Mott (115) 26:19.04, 113. Lucianna Mannella (129) 27:13.15, 123. Alice Bowser (139) 29:37.37. SCHALICK: 42. Helen Lillia (50) 23:10.65, 97. Emma Cain (113) 26:17.01, 115. Emma Wilbur (131) 27:33.37, 117. Sarah Torpey (133) 27:47.21, 119. Ava Melnick (135) 28:48.01. PENNSVILLE: IND. Sawyer Slad (68) 24:04.77.
Cougars take an emotional win over Penns Grove in SJ Group I boys soccer tournament; Pennsville blanked by top seed Haddon Twp.
SJ GROUP 1 BOYS SOCCER
FRIDAY’S QUARTERFINALS
TUESDAY’S SEMIFINALS
Haddon Twp. 6, Pennsville 0
Palmyra at Haddon Twp.
Palmyra 1, Pitman 0
Audubon at Schalick
Audubon 5, Riverside 2
Schalick 4, Penns Grove 0
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE — Schalick scored three goals in the second half after a dust-up right before intermission and handled Penns Grove 4-0 in the South Jersey Group I boys soccer quarterfinals.
In a game between two county and division rivals, tempers flared along the far sideline just as the first half ended. There was some discussion of ending the game right there with Schalick leading 1-0, but it was agreed the game would continue if the principal protagonists, Schalick’s Anthony Sepers and Penns Grove’s Michael Schultz, did not play in the second half and no further incidents would be tolerated. There were no red card ejections.
Schalick coach Joe Mannella declined to comment on the incident and Penns Grove’s Mano Massari said he was preoccupied with getting a sub into the game at the time and didn’t have a good enough vantage point of the scuffle to comment.
Officials, coaches and administrators huddled at midfield during the entire halftime before making their decision to continue.
The second-seeded Cougars were on their Ps and Qs after that so not to jeopardize their playoff hopes. Playing for their ousted teammate, they scored three times in the second half.
“It definitely fired us up,” Mike Nelson said.
“We wanted to do it for our teammate,” Jaxon Weber said.
Marco Spinnato told Sepers after the incident he was going to score a goal in the second half and he scored the first of his two five minutes into the period to give the Cougars some breathing room. He had a third goal waved off for offsides. Nelson got the other goal in the half, deflecting a long free kick from Weber inside the left post.
“I think that motivated us and pushed us to win this game,” Spinnato said. “It helped us because we knew if we made one mistake we were out of there.
“Our coaches, Jaxon, our captains, all told us we have to stay through the game plan and we have to keep motivated, we can’t let one thing get to us because if we let it get to us we’re jeopardizing our playoff run.”
“Momentum is a real thing,” Massari said. “They did nice job of putting the ball in the back of the net and staying in control. Good team over there.”
Nolan O’Toole banged home a rebound for the first goal of the match midway through the first half.
In terms of what took place between the lines, the Cougars (15-3-2) controlled the action on both sides of the ball. They created numerous chances on offense and when the Red Devils (9-6-3) appeared to mount an attack their defense was there to collect the ball and move it out of harm’s way. Goalie Evan Sepers had three saves.
“Defensively we continue to play really strong; we know that’s the key to winning in the playoffs, keeping the ball out of your net,” Mannella said. “They continue to do that and they were excellent today.”
The Cougars now host third-seeded Audubon in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Pennsville coach Derek Foglein. (Photo by Brian Tortella)
HADDON TWP. 6, PENNSVILLE 0: The top-seeded Hawks scored three goals in the first eight mights of the second half to open a comfortable margin and finished it off before the 20-minute mark to end Pennsville’s historic season and reach the sectional semifinals.
Sophomore Brody Beals scored his first career hat trick and Bobby McIlvaine scored twice to lead the victory. Danny McIlvaine scored the other goal.
Beals and Bobby McIlvaine scored in the first half to give the Hawks (14-5-1) a 2-0 lead. Beals opened the scoring in the second half and the McIlvaines scored a minute apart to make it 5-0.
“We ran into one of the best Group 1 teams in the state and they were on form,” Foglein said. “We battled with them for the first half, but then in the second half every shot they had was perfect.
“I know it’s crazy to praise my keeper in that scoreline, but Coen (Rinnier) was fantastic. He made some unbelievable stops in the first half. When it got to the second half, it wouldn’t have mattered who the goalie was.”
The Eagles (11-7-2) checked off a lot of boxes during the season. They enjoyed their winningest season since 2017, won their first division title in 32 years and won their first playoff game since 2014 in the opening round.
“It leaves a sour taste tonight, but tomorrow we’ll wake up and remember that we had a historic season,” Foglein said. “That’s what I reminded the guys on the bus.”
Woodstown strikes in final minute of first half, beats Pennsville in opening round of South Jersey Group I girls soccer tournament; top-seeded Schalick draws first-round bye
SJ GROUP 1 GIRLS SOCCER TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND GAMES
SATURDAY QUARTERFINALS
Schalick bye
Glassboro at Schalick, 10 a.m.
Glassboro 2, Pitman 0
Audubon at Palmyra
Audubon 6, Buena 0
Haddon Twp. at Clayton, 2:30 p.m.
Palmyra 7, Wildwood 0
Woodstown at Gateway
Clayton 9, Woodbury 1
Haddon Twp. 8, Maple Shade 0
Woodstown 2, Pennsville 0
Gateway 7, Cape May Tech 0
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN — The two teams on the pitch were locked in a scoreless tug-of-war. Woodstown was getting the best of it but after repeated attacks had nothing to show for it. As the clock hit the final minute Wolverines coach Kieran Keyser was starting to make mental plans for the second half.
Then in the blink of an eye the whole complexion of the match changed.
Sophie Wells sent a bouncing ball towards the goal that the Pennsville keeper couldn’t corral and just that quickly the Wolverines had the lead 30 seconds before halftime.
It was the kind of jolt that energized the Wolverines and sent the Eagles, who had thought they were holding their own, into the break looking to regroup.
With a renewed sense of fire, Woodstown kept the pressure up in the second half, added a more conventional goal from freshman Hailey Kucharczuk in the eighth minute of the half and went on to win 2-0 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group 1 girls soccer tournament.
“Our first half we started off really strong, really fast,” Keyser said. “We came out firing right away and I think our girls maybe got a little frustrated when we didn’t score when we had a couple chances early and I thought we deflated a little bit about halfway through the first half. We didn’t have that intensity.
“Having that goal right before the half gave us the momentum we needed. It was a lucky goal. Sometimes you gotta get shots, sometimes you get lucky. That carried us into the second half and I thought we played way better in the second half. We played our game the second half.”
Wells admitted it was weird goal and a shot she didn’t expect to go in. “I thought it was just going to be an ordinary shot,” she said. She agreed it did bring the Wolverines energy after a “stressful” first half.
Pennsville’s Marley Wood clears away another first half Woodstown threat.
As shocking as the goal was in its arrival, it didn’t devastate the Eagles as much as one might think. They created more chances in the second half although the Wolverines were successful keeping the ball down in Pennsville’s end.
The Eagles got their first real shot of the game three minutes into the second half when Marley Wood broke in on the keeper and Ellie Wygand saved a soft shot. Wygand turned back a sharper shot from Taylor Bass 10 minutes later and went on to complete her ninth shutout of the season.
“At halftime we just needed to get the girls’ heads back in the game, get them to lock in and refocus,” Pennsville coach Casey Slusher said. “They kept playing the whole game; they played the whole game. They didn’t give up. At all.”
Kucharczuk gave the Wolverines a little more breathing room with her 10th goal of the season. She took a throw-in from Ally Sheppard, deked around several defenders in the box and put one inside the near post from the 6.
“When I have the chance I definitely take them and it’s definitely great when it all works out,” Kucharczuk said.
The seventh-seeded Wolverines (14-3-1) now play at Gateway (16-1) in Saturday’s quarterfinals. The second-seeded Gators routed Cape May Tech Wednesday 7-0.
Pennsville’s Cameron Robbins (3) keeps an eye on Emma Perry as the Woodstown senior tries to take the ball down the sideline. (Top photo) Woodstown’s Hailey Kucharczuk takes a shot in the first half.
Penns Grove freshman takes game to next level in playoffs; Red Devils, Pennsville score historic wins in SJ Group I boys soccer tournament; also includes opening round of field hockey tournament
SJ GROUP I BOYS SOCCER
SJ GROUP I FIELD HOCKEY
Tuesday’s first round
Tuesday’s first round
Haddon Twp. 5, Woodbury 0
Shore 6, Collingswood 0
Pennsville 1, Glassboro 0
Haddon Hts. 2, Woodstown 0
Pitman 2, Clayton 0
S. Hunterdon 2, Bordentown 1
Palmyra 1, Woodstown 0
Gloucester 5, Lower Cape May 0
Audubon 4, Wildwood 0
Haddon Twp. 6, New Egypt 0
Riverside 2, Maple Shade 0
Schalick 2, Florence 1
Penns Grove 3, Gateway 1
Gateway 1, Audubon 0
Schalick 2, New Egypt 0
West Deptford 11, Pennsville 0
Friday’s quarterfinals
Thursday’s quarterfinals
Pennsville at Haddon Twp., 4 p.m.
Haddon Heights at Shore
Palmyra at Pitman
S. Hunterdon at Gloucester
Riverside at Audubon
Schalick at Haddon Twp.
Penns Grove at Schalick, 2 p.m.
Gateway at West Deptford
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – Prince Ledbetter came off the pitch with about 10 minutes to play and a two-goal lead to series of high fives on his way to the bench. The celebration started early, but coach Mano Massari warned his players it wasn’t over.
It was necessary to do, but it really wasn’t.
Necessary because only three weeks ago the Red Devils held a two-goal lead on a high-powered opponent with a lot less time remaining and left with a draw that felt a lot worse. Unnecessary because they played a strong second half and continued to after their flashy freshman came off the field, putting away Gateway 3-1 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I boys soccer tournament.
It was the Red Devils’ first win in the tournament since 2022. They now travel to second-seeded Schalick Friday for the quarterfinals.
“The history is we were up 2-0 on a very good team (Woodstown), dominated that game for a while, but we took our foot off the gas and got comfortable, complacent, and you know how that ended,” Massari said. “It ended in a tie with a good team, but it felt like a loss to us.
“All season long they’ll say we’ll fix it tomorrow, we’ll fix it tomorrow, and the message today was there is no tomorrow. I’ve got a good team, but they’re very inconsistent at times and to be the best you’ve got to be consistent.”
The Red Devils (9-5-3) had a lot of messages sent their way during the game.
Huddled in the goal at halftime trailing 1-0, Massari told them to just take a breath and “clear the mechanism.”
They had the best of the opportunities, but still were behind. Watching Mario Fuentes’ penalty kick slam off the crossbar in the 19th minute got them out of sorts and their fears intensified when Gateway’s Max Hohl parked a shot just out of the reach of PG keeper Dwayne Guzman Silva 17:38 before halftime. They needed to regroup.
They got it back together in the second half. They continued to have the best of the chances, but this time they finished, scoring three goals in 17 minutes.
“I wanted them to fight out of a hole and they did,” Massari said.
Ledbetter had a part in all three goals, but a more direct one in the second two.
Poyrez Erdonmez got the equalizer three minutes into the second half off a rebound of a Ledbetter shot. The freshman put the Red Devils ahead with a bullet into the upper left corner on a free kick from just outside the box nine minutes later and then made a nifty side-boot flick to set up Erdom Yardim’s insurance goal with 20:24 to play.
“I saw the open gap and saw the keeper was off his line a little bit and I took a hard rip to the top corner and it went in,” Ledbetter said of his goal. “I was anticipating (the final goal). I was waiting for the perfect moment (to make the pass). I knew that play was going to happen and it just came out how I wanted it and we got the goal.”
Ledbetter figures his freshman season is “going pretty well.” His goal is to become the best player he can. Massari believes he went to a another level Tuesday.
“I’ve been praising this kid since August,” Massari said. “I said to my assistant coach (Jesus Lopez) today this is the day Prince is going to take over this game and take over this team, and I really do believe he just did that.
“He is a special kid. If he can get out of his own way at times and make smart decisions, my God is he going to be a problem for the next couple years. He is going to be a problem in this conference, I really do think that.
“I am petrified to lose Dwayne next year, but having a kid like Prince kind of softens the blow a little bit.”
This defense doesn’t rest
GLASSBORO – Pennsville just keeps checking off historical boxes.
The Eagles won their first division title in 32 years earlier this season and Tuesday they picked up their first playoff win in 11 years with a 1-0 victory over eighth-seeded Glassboro. It also was coach Derek Foglein’s first playoff win as head coach.
The ninth-seeded Eagles (11-6-2) now travel to top-seeded Haddon Twp. for Thursday’s quarterfinals.
“Today just solidifies how hard this year’s team has worked, especially this group of seniors,” Foglein said. “Even these guys have been working in May, but Coen (Rinnier) and Steve (Fatcher), in particular, have been working their butts off all four years. It’s really nice to see them kind of get something out of all that labor and everything that they’ve put into the program.
“Yeah, it feels nice to win this game today, but it really is a win for Pennsville soccer and that, to me, is bigger than anything else, for sure.”
It was the first time the Eagles have beaten Glassboro in nine games since the teams began playing regularly in 2018, including a 1-0 own-goal loss earlier this season. They had been 0-9 against the Bulldogs since 2010, the first year records are publicly available.
“It feels really good to get it done especially after the season we are having and especially on Glassboro because that’s a team me and my coaches, I’m pretty sure, have never beaten,” Fatcher said. “We had lost to them in the summer league championship and earlier in the season so it felt like we had a little something to prove as well as continuing me and the other seniors’ careers.”
Sam Hassler scored the game’s only goal two minutes before halftime, cashing in a free kick by Edwin Castaneda-Sanchez from 35 yards out.
“We’ve been focusing on set pieces all year,” Foglein said. “We got plenty of opportunities in the first half and we took advantage of the one that we needed.”
Much of the credit for the historic victory goes to the Eagles’ defense, led by stopper Fatcher and defensive mid J.P. Laughrey. Rinnier was credited with seven saves in goal, but thanks to the play of the back line he was rarely tested. It was their 11th shutout in 19 games.
“Coen’s leadership and his calm demeanor at the back was super helpful for us, for sure, but overall this was our best team defensive effort of the season and it wasn’t even close,” Foglein said. “Once we scored that goal, in the second half everybody on the field was committed to defending as a team and making smart choices when they were on the ball.”
“I talked to the boys before the game and said we need to win me and the other seniors another game because this team deserves that,” Fatcher said. “I also felt a little bit of pressure being that this could have been my last high school soccer game so I felt like I had to prove something any way I could and tried my best to limit shots on goal. It feels really good to know that me and the team left everything out on the field and won.”
Cougars find a way
PITTSGROVE – Schalick ran into another team that didn’t want to play with them, but the Cougars still had plenty of firepower to overtake their opponent’s conservative approach.
The second-seeded Cougars scored two goals in the second half to push past No. 15 New Egypt 2-0. They now host Penns Grove in the quarterfinals Friday.
The Warriors seemed not to want to push the ball forward , instead just nudging it up towards the front and hoping to capitalize on a Schalick mistake. But once Nolan O’Toole broke the ice it opened things up for the Cougars.
“When teams are playing like that, (if) you get that early goal that kind of opens things up and makes it less frustrating,” Schalick coach Joe Mannella said. “We didn’t do that, so we did a good job of just continuing to play at it and keep poking away until we found a breakthrough and then it clearly opened up after that.”
Jaxon Weber had a hand in both goals. He assisted on O’Toole’s goal and then scored the insurance goal on an assist from Tyler Vanlier.
Mannella expects “a lot of teams” to take a conservative approach against his team the deeper they get into the playoffs.
“We’re still trying to find our way without Luke (Price) and with some young guys, figuring out a way to integrate some of the other guys whose roles have now changed,” Mannella said. “We need Jaxon Weber to get more involved in the offense.”
No pal of theirs
WOODSTOWN – An old nemesis did it to Woodstown again.
Palmyra, the team that knocked the Wolverines out in the sectional semifinals three times in the last four years, did it to them again, this time in the opening round, 1-0 in overtime.
The Panthers beat them in a shootout last year and with shutouts in 2021 and 2023.
“I guess we’re just destined to run into them,” Woodstown coach Darren Huck said. “For a while there when I was in Group 2 it always seemed like we were going against Cinnaminson. Then the one year we didn’t have Cinnaminson, we had Delran. For us right it’s just that Palmyra is the team we’re running into.
“When you look at South Jersey Group 1, I’ve said it for many years, the team that wins it they have to go through either Palmyra, Woodstown, Haddon Twp. or Schalick. If you want to win it, you have to beat one of those teams or we’re all beating each other, that’s what it comes down to.”
Patrick Broadbelt scored the golden goal two minutes into overtime when he ran onto a bending free kick Kian Briant sent into the box and headed into the goal.
The fourth-seeded Wolverines (11-4-4) had several good chances in the first half that keeper Deakon Haines came out to stop. Meanwhile, they played their typically gritty defense to keep the Panthers out of the goal through regulation.
“Disappointed we lost, but all in all, looking back on it, we played 19 games this year and only lost four of them,” Huck said. “I’m proud of that. I’m proud of the 4-seed. Who else would have to play a 13-seed Palmyra team. If anybody would have said that in the soccer world they would have gone that must be a different sport than boys soccer.”
Field Hockey
SCHALICK 2, FLORENCE 1: Caylen Taylor and Luci Virga scored goals in the first quarter and goalie Lydia Gilligan made 15 saves to help the sixth-seeded Cougars hang on. Ryann Smith scored in the second quarter for Florence and the teams battled through a scoreless second half.
“It was a tough one, for sure,” Schalick coach Heather Cheesman said. “I don’t think the girls were expecting Florence to come out like they did. They were fast and aggressive.”
HADDON HEIGHTS 2, WOODSTOWN 0: Abigail Lovelidge and Lily Paul scored goals in the second quarter and the Garnets completed the shutout to bring the curtain down on Gloria Byard’s first season as the Wolverines’ head coach. The loss snapped Woodstown’s four-game winning streak
WEST DEPTFORD 11, PENNSVILLE 0: The Eagles were just too strong and overpowered Pennsville in coach Lisa Doran’s return to the sideline. Avery Gasparovic, Isabella Gibbons and Julia Barger scored two goals apiece and five other players had individual goals
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of Nov. 3-8
MONDAY, NOV. 3 FOOTBALL Woodstown at Clayton, 6 p.m. GIRLS SOCCER South Jersey Group I Tournament Wildwood at Palmyra, 2 p.m.
TUESDAY, NOV. 4 BOYS SOCCER South Jersey Group I Tournament Woodbury at Haddon Twp., 4 p.m. Pennsville at Glassboro, 2 p.m. Clayton at Pitman, 2 p.m. Palmyra at Woodstown, 2 p.m. Wildwood at Audubon, 2 p.m. Maple Shade at Riverside, 3 p.m. Gateway at Penns Grove, 2:30 p.m. New Egypt at Schalick, 2 p.m. FIELD HOCKEY South Jersey Group I Tournament Collingswood at Shore, 6 p.m. Woodstown at Haddon Heights, 2 p.m. Bordentown at South Hunterdon, 2 p.m. Lower Cape May at Gloucester, 3 p.m. New Egypt at Haddon Twp., 2 p.m. Florence at Schalick, 2 p.m. Gateway at Audubon, 2 p.m. Pennsville at West Deptford, 1 p.m. WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Hagerstown at Salem CC, 6 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5 GIRLS SOCCER South Jersey Group I Tournament Glassboro at Pitman, 2 p.m. Buena at Audubon, 3 p.m. Woodbury at Clayton, 3 p.m. Maple Shade at Haddon Twp., 4 p.m. Pennsville at Woodstown, 2 p.m. Cape May Tech at Gateway, 2 p.m.
THURSDAY, NOV. 6 FIELD HOCKEY South Jersey Group I Tournament Collingswood-Shore vs. Woodstown-Haddon Heights Bordentown-South Hunterdon vs. Lower Cape May-Gloucester New Egypt-Haddon Twp. vs. Florence-Schalick Gateway-Audubon vs. Pennsville-West Deptford COLLEGE BASKETBALL Salem CC at Atlantic Cape, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY, NOV. 7 FOOTBALL South Jersey Group I Playoffs Salem at Glassboro Schalick at Paulsboro BOYS SOCCER South Jersey Group I Tournament Woodbury-Haddon Twp. vs. Pennsville-Glassboro Clayton-Pitman vs. Palmyra-Woodstown Wildwood-Audubon vs. Maple Shade-Riverside Gateway-Penns Grove vs. New Egypt-Schalick
SATURDAY, NOV. 8 GIRLS SOCCER South Jersey Group I Tournament Glassboro-Pitman winner at Schalick Audubon-Buena vs. Palmyra-Wildwood Clayton-Woodbury vs. Maple Shade-Haddon Twp. Woodstown-Pennsville vs. Cape May Tech-Gateway COLLEGE BASKETBALL Salem CC at Delaware County
Woodstown, Schalick boys and girls advance to Group I state race after top five finishes at DREAM Park
By Riverview Sports News
LOGAN TWP. – The boys and girls teams from Woodstown and Schalick and an individual runner from Pennsville all advance to the Group I cross country state championship meet after posting qualifying finishes in the South Sectionals at DREAM Park Saturday.
Woodstown and Schalick finished 3-4 in the boys standings, while they went 4-5 in the girls standings.
Woodstown’s Jacob Marino finished sixth overall in the Boys Group I race and the Wolverines placed all five counters in the top 15 to score 75 points. Chase Riley was Schalick’s fastest runner, finishing 10th. Collin Bittle was 15th.
Woodstown’s Abby Marino finished second overall in the girls race, running 19:44.80. Teammate Anabel Schaal was seventh. The Wolverines finished two points behind third-place Maple Shade. Helen Lillia led Schalick across the line with an 11th overall finish.
Pennsville’s Sawyer Slad qualified individually after finishing 13th in the girls race.
The top five teams and individual runners in the top 15 not already qualified advance to the state meet. The top 10 runners received medals.
The championship meet is Nov. 8 in Holmdel. The Meet of Champions is there Nov. 15.
Group I South Sectional
BOYS TEAM SCORES: Glassboro 25, Haddon Twp. 58, Woodstown 75, Schalick 117, Audubon 127, Pitman 173, Maple Shade 184, Cape May Tech 253, Riverside 276, Buena 280, Paulsboro 315, Salem 330, Pt. Pleasant Beach 367, New Egypt 378.
GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Audubon 43, Haddon Twp. 61, Maple Shade 86, Woodstown 88, Schalick 108, Pitman 135, Cape May Tech 163,
Schalick puts together strong second half to take a Halloween thriller from Pennsville in their South Jersey Group I playoff opener
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I Quarterfinals Glassboro 41, Audubon 0 Salem at KIPP, Saturday Schalick 21, Pennsville 16 Woodbury at Paulsboro, Saturday Semifinals Salem-KIPP winner at Glassboro Schalick vs. Woodbury-Paulsboro winner Finals Nov. 14 at highest seed
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – It’s nights like this that Kevin Leamy was thinking about when he was approved as Schalick’s new football coach way back in March.
Even when the Cougars bogged down with a four-game losing streak in the middle of the season the first-time head coach was confident if they could get it turned around and play their best ball when it counted most they could do something special.
They delivered on that Friday, putting together a big second half defensively and making big plays offensively to knock off third-seeded Pennsville 21-16 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.
“I knew coming into the season that we were going to struggle early because there are a lot of new things … so there was going to be an adjustment period,” Leamy said. “But the message from that very first time I saw them was if you keep improving and we’re playing our best football when we need to, we can make some noise. And that’s what these kids are doing.
“They did exactly what I wanted them to do; they should be really proud of themselves. Hats off to them for coming out and playing the way they needed to in the second half.”
The sixth-seeded Cougars (4-6) now await the winner of Saturday’s Woodbury -Paulsboro game to determine their second-round plans. If second-seeded Paulsboro wins, the Cougars will be there next Saturday. If Woodbury pulls the upset, the Cougars will host Friday.
The night didn’t start off well for them. Pennsville, hosting its first playoff game since 2016, put together two time-consuming 80-play drives to take a 16-7 halftime lead.
The Eagles did it all on the ground; they didn’t throw a pass in the first half. They rushed for 165 yards in the first two quarters and Rylan Hardy had 133 of it.
”They were really running all over us,” defensive back David Stewart said.
But the break gave the Cougars a chance to make some adjustments and they came out a different team in the second half. They held their hosts to just 22 yards rushing, 53 yards total and two first downs in the second half.
“We dared them to do whatever they wanted because we were going to come at them any way we could,” linebacker Dezyon Purnell said.
“It’s hard to make adjustments on the fly,” Leamy said. “We knew we just had to get to halftime and if we could get there we could make the adjustment we need to and then shut the run down in the second half. We knew if we could stop them, we had enough offensive firepower to win the game.”
The Cougars showed that firepower midway through the third quarter when Kenny Bartee hit Stewart with a 54-yard bomb on third-and-15 to get within 16-14 with 7:20 left in it. Stewart put them ahead in the final minute when he fell on a loose ball in the end zone after Bartee fumbled inches from the goal line after a 9-yard gain.
“My guts dropped completely,” Bartee said describing his reaction to the fumble. “I tried to lean the ball over and he just punched it out; it was a great play by the kid. I give my thanks to David Stewart. He came in the clutch and got it back for me.”
“I just thought I had to get there as quick as I could,” Stewart said. “It was moving around a little bit and I just grabbed it as hard as I could and laid on it. I was nervous. I really thought they were going to get on the ball and capitalize on it, but I just made a play on it.”
The teams battled through an intense but scoreless fourth quarter.
Not to be overlooked in the loss was the play of Pennsville backup quarterback Jake Layfield. The junior was pressed into action on the opening possession when four-year starter Robbie McDade sustained a foot injury on a pass Dylan Sheehan tipped, picked and returned for a touchdown but later overturned by penalty and played the rest of the game.
Like a batter stepping in for another hitter mid-count, Layfield completed the Eagles’ opening drive, burrowing in from the 1 for his first career touchdown. He then flawlessly directed the Eagles on his own 12-play, 80-yard drive with Hardy scoring on a 12-yard run. Eagles coach Mike Healy said he “cannot be more impressed” with the job his quarterback of the future did.
“You always have to imagine the possibility,” Layfield said. “When you’re the next man up you have to know there’s always a situation where you’re going to go in, whether you’re second, third, fourth. They were big shoes to fill. I don’t think I filled them up enough ultimately and it led us to fall short.
“I started in a little better than I finished. I started with good field position and drove down and scored; that got me fired up. Halftime kind of cooled me off a little bit. It would’ve been better if there was no halftime, to be honest.”
The Eagles started their last possession near midfield with 6:08 to play. As much as McDade wanted to get back in the game, Healy said it “wasn’t in the books” for the 3,000-yard passer to return for a potential heroic finish, so the comeback rested with Layfield.
They got it moving, but another ill-timed penalty threw them back. Ayden Jenkins ran down Layfield for a loss on third down and then Stewart knocked away a deep fourth-down pass to Hayden Sherman.
“We made mistakes in the second half that set us being the sticks and behind where we wanted to be,” Healy said. “But the bottom line is they made the big plays tonight and we didn’t. We knew they were a good team going in and they executed better tonight.”
After the fourth-down pass fell incomplete, the Cougars took over and ran out the final three minutes plus to keep their season alive.
“it was a hell of a win,” Purnell said. “I’m glad we got this for our team, glad we got this for the Cougars, glad we got this for our coach.”
“We’re getting hot at the right time, all our pieces are falling into place at the exact right time,” added Jenkins. “This is where it all comes together and I think we’re going to go and beat whoever we play next week and play even better.”
Pennsville’s Jake Layfield was pressed into action in the first quarter because of an injury to starter Robbie McDade, played the rest of the game and led the Eagles on two long early touchdown drives. (Photo by Amory Alleyne)
Schalick 21, Pennsville 16
SCH
PV
14
1st Downs
14
30-136
Rushing
37-187
8-14-0
Passing
2-4-0
147
Passing yds.
31
0-0
Fumbles-lost
1-1
1-19.0
Punts-avg
1-23.0
3-25
Penalties
5-45
Schalick
7
0
14
0-
21
Pennsville
8
8
0
0-
16
SCORING SUMMARY P – Jake Layfield 1 run (Adrian Alleyne run), 4:18 1Q S – Kenny Bartee 7 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 0:03 1Q P – Rylan Hardy 12 run (Perry Meranti pass from Jake Layfield), 6:35 2Q S – David Stewart 54 pass from Kenny Bartee (Hunter Dragotta kick), 7:20 3Q S – David Stewart fumble recovery in end zone (Hunter Dragotta kick) 0:27 3Q
GROUP I PLAYOFFS NORTH I Butler 42, Hawthorne 7 New Milford 35, Bogota 21 Kittatinny at Wallkill Valley, Saturday Kinnelon 26, Park Ridge 7 NORTH II Mountain Lakes 42, Brearley 0 Cedar Grove 35, Glen Ridge 20 Secaucus at New Providence, Saturday Hasbrouck Heights 45, Wood-Ridge 14 SOUTH Glassboro 41, Audubon 0 Salem at KIPP, Saturday Schalick 21, Pennsville 16 Woodbury at Paulsboro, Saturday CENTRAL Burlington City 49, Bound Brook 0 Manville 35, Asbury Park 0 Pt. Pleasant Beach at Riverside, Saturday Shore 34, New Egypt 0
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