Salem makes trip to Ohio more than a football game; Carr: ‘it’s way bigger than football, things they’ll never forget for the rest of their life’


By Paul Boggs
Ironton Tribune
 
IRONTON, Ohio — The Salem Rams made an eight-hour football business trip to the Tri-State, but as the Ironton Fighting Tigers often do, they simply took care of business.

That’s because Ironton opened by scoring the game’s first 28 points, quickly reached the threshold for the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s running-clock rule, made freshman Owen McDonald’s debut to high school football a difficult one, and simply smoked the Rams 55-14 on a sun-soaked Saturday afternoon inside Ironton’s historic Tanks Memorial Stadium.

In fact, this season is the 100th year of football for “The Tank” — as Ironton is, after all, even known nationwide for its gridiron success, history and tradition. The original tenants of the stadium went on to become the NFL Chicago Bears.

The Fighting Tigers (2-0) put on a display of what Ironton football is all about. They took care of what needed to be — starting with defense, then eventually offense, and also some special teams to reach the running clock for almost all of the second half.

“Any time you bring a team in from out-of-state, you see on them on film and film normally tells a lot, but it doesn’t tell the whole story,” said Ironton acting head coach Todd Knipp. “You’re gauging speed, gauging some of these kids’ athletic ability. They have a bunch of guys that are aggressive to the ball and can run and can move. We were able to weather the storm, then we got rolling offensively.”

Five of those guys – Tony Merendino, Kamal Chatum, KyVion Parsons, Quimere Bergen and Ahmad Tucker — were all extended offers by nearby Shawnee University, which is starting a football program in 2028 (top photo). The college exposure was a big part of the Rams’ trip. They had hoped to show the players West Virginia University and Marshall University during the trip, but the NCAA recruiting calendar prevented those visits from happening.

“This trip is huge for us; it’s a lot bigger than wins and losses,” Rams coach Kemp Carr said. “These kids got an opportunity to travel. You’re doing almost what colleges do. We came down the day before (Friday), stayed in a hotel, get ready and go play a game, the bonding that happens and the brotherhood that occurs.

“This ride made us closer. This is what we want to be. So you go find that. We don’t run from anything. We accept all challenges and experiences that come our way. These guys are bonding from this. We want to bring three teams back here from New Jersey. Football is the greatest sport in the world, but it’s also one of the greatest networks outside of golf. This was a beautiful thing and it’s bigger than wins and losses for us.”

As Ironton opens yet another season 2-0, as it has done so every year now since 2019, the Fighting Tiger defense held another opponent to minus yards in rushing — minus-20 on 22 attempts for the young Rams to be exact.

From the get-go, the Orange and Black attack overwhelmed McDonald — a freshman quarterback in his very first varsity game. Ironton’s blitzkrieg defense sweltered McDonald and the Rams’ rushing game, stymying Salem to minus-42 first-half yards on 16 carries. McDonald only completed three first-half passes on six attempts, resulting in minus-two yards for a minus-44 first-half total.

“We never got moving until late and we gave up short fields all day,” Carr said. “Early on, we made some stops, but you can’t keep stopping a good team and giving them the ball inside the 40-yard-line. You just can’t start the game that slow against a very good team. Getting out of the mud against that type of team is very hard.”

The Rams picked up the game’s first first down on an Ironton pass interference penalty, but they punted four first-half times in the first half. They never got beyond their own 42 until their final possession, which featured four first downs, seven plays and 75 yards — mainly against the Fighting Tigers reserves, as McDonald completed a 34-yard pass prior to the 14-yard touchdown toss to Bergen.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Carr said. “He got tested and took a hell of a shot and got back up. Checked back in and kept fighting. That showed me more than anything as a freshman. He’s learning what this level is all about. Tough lessons against a really good football team but he never quit.

“I know days like this are what makes and builds good football players and he will be one.”

Ironton opened the scoring late in the first quarter on Tyson Harvey’s 6-yard touchdown run, then scored 21 second-stanza points as Salem punted twice and turned the ball over on downs at its own 34.

Wyatt Wolfe capped scoring drives of eight plays and 25 yards and three minutes and 46 seconds, and seven plays and 58 yards and a minute and 32 seconds, with scoring sneaks of two and three yards. The sophomore quarterback was 10-of-13 for 115 yards, throwing two incomplete passes in the second-half after 11 total attempts in the first.

The goal of the second half was to reach the running clock, and Easton Caudill’s carries to open the third quarter quickly accomplished that. He took the first snap for a 56-yard scamper, then ran in the touchdown from 10 yards out to get the running clock started.

The Rams averted the shutout following the Fighting Tigers’ sixth score as Adrian Alleyne returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards to the house.

SCORING SUMMARY
I-Tyson Harvey 6 run (Beckham Waginger kick), 0:17 1Q
I-Wyatt Wolfe 2 run (Beckham Waginger kick), 7:20 2Q
I-Kayden Edwards 30 pass from Wyatt Wolfe (pass failed), 4:49 2Q
I-Wyatt Wolfe 3 run (Kayden Edwards run), 0:37 2Q
I-Easton Caudill 10 run (Beckham Waginger), 10:39 3Q
I-Brycen Mullins 32 run (Beckham Waginger kick), 6:12 3Q
S-Adrian Alleyne 84 kickoff return (kick failed), 5:01 3Q
I-Ayden Justice 3 run (Barrett Waginger kick), 6:15 4Q
S-Quimere Bergen 14 pass from Owen McDonald (Sincere Cook-Reese pass from Owen McDonald), 1:10 4Q
I-Easton Caudill 83 kickoff return (no attempt), 0:00 4Q

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING — Salem: Adrian Alleyne 4-22, Izaiah Santiago 6-(-9), Owen McDonald 8-(-14), Cashmir Parsley 1-(-3), Quimere Bergen 1-1, Kevin Parsons 1-(-16), Team 1-(-1); Ironton: Easton Caudill 10-85-1, Tyson Harvey 6-26-1, Brycen Mullins 2-56-1, Kayden Edwards 2-5, Wyatt Wolfe 4-(-1)-2, Ayden Justice 1-3-1, Team 1-(-16).
PASSING — Salem: Owen McDonald 6-12-1-45-1; Ironton: Wyatt Wolfe 10-13-0-115-1.
RECEIVING — Salem: KaiSiere Muhammad 1-34, Quimere Bergen 1-14-1, Izaiah Santiago 2-1, Adrian Alleyne (1-(-1), Kevin Parsons 1-(-3); Tyson Harvey 3-37, Kayden Edwards 3-36-1, Bryson Kerns 2017, Easton Caudill 1-18, Bryce Mullins 1-7.

With a big squad, quality across the board and an open road ahead, Rams looking for big things in Carr’s third season as head coach


By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – Kemp Carr says he hasn’t heard the expectations. He may be the only one. His players sure have and they’re jumping on them like a loose ball in the end zone.

With all the team movement and reshuffling that has taken place in South Jersey Group I and the talent the Rams have assembled, there is strong talk about this team that just two years ago was winless winning a South Jersey Group 1 championship and even a state crown.

The head coach may not have heard all that, but the Rams aren’t backing away from any of it.

“Do I believe in it?” Carr said. “My goal ultimately has always been (that). I’ve been doing this for a very long time. If anybody comes in here thinking you’re going to be 0-10, I give up, then I should be in a different business. If anybody thought we were going to be 6-5, I should be in a different business.

“Every year we come in here with a plan, and that’s at the end of the day to be playing in December. That’s always the plan. It ain’t about this year, it ain’t about next year and it ain’t about last year. It’s about 2026-2027 football season. Being in front of us, we have one common goal, and that’s to be 14-0. I don’t believe in expectations. I believe in results and reality. We’re just trying to win one game at a time and we’re trying to layer it. 

“I don’t deal with expectations. I’m a reality guy, and the only way you can get there is you’ve got to stack the wins and you’ve got to be playing better than everybody else when it comes to the end of the season. That’s always going to my motto. We have a motto here – our standard is our standard, we don’t deviate from our standard. Our standard is were going to outwork everybody and hopefully the ball bounces our way.”

The reality is the Rams were a lot better in Carr’s second season last year than his winless first one and they’re looking for even more this year – a lot more.

“We’re not ducking any of the expectations,” junior defensive end Tony Merendino said. “I think the expectations when we came over here were very high. We have a bunch of guys who are all ready, we’re hungry for that win, hungry for that state championship. The main mission, that’s what were in for.”

“That’s the goal, nothing else; we want to to go to Rutgers,” running back Isiah Santiago said. “We know there’s a lot on the table right now, so we just have to really put all in.”

The Rams’ confidence is rooted in part in the players’ commitment during the off-season, so much so they were sending Carr videos of their workouts on his summertime trip overseas to confirm they were doing the work.

They have the depth and experience to be the dominant team in the revamped WJFL Diamond Division, and when it comes to Group 1 overall, they don’t have Glassboro to contend with this year. Their battles, at least in the division, are expected to be with Schalick and Paulsboro. The key is staying healthy, staying together and reducing senseless penalties that stifled them at times

“We’re excited for this year,” RB-DB Cashmir Parsley said. “Coming off of last season with a second-round loss (to Glassboro), I feel we should go farther into the playoffs and go to the championship and win and do way better than last year. The work ethic is way different from last year. We work harder this year, everybody’s positive, practice is just different than last year.

“We’re gonna go all the way.,” he added confidently.

Carr welcomed 37 returning players among the 48 he has in camp, the largest group in his three seasons at the helm, and depth across the board.

They have 10 down linemen, six linebackers, four safeties and five corners on a “Blue Storm” defense that held three of its last four opponents last season to a touchdown or less. There are eight linemen, 10 receivers (six slot, four outside), three running backs and two quarterbacks in an offense even faster than the one that put up 30 points or more in four of their six wins. There are 18 juniors and 11 seniors.

The coach called it “on paper, the most quality team I’ve had.”

Ev-ver.

“It’s the deepest we’ve been and they’ve matched some of the other teams’ mindset, leadership,” he said. “It ain’t about the (captain’s) C on your chest, It’s about the quality of work you put in for people who are willing to follow it. I’ve had good teams ending great because they outworked people and I had great teams only be good because they thought they were great.”

“We should be amazing, actually,” Santiago said.

To guide them through, Carr has assembled a “great” staff of 11 assistants, including the program’s first paid female assistant, Operations Coordinator Destiny LeFlore.

Desmund Thomas, a strong-armed quarterback who transferred from Georgia last year, brings his cannon back to the offense in 2026. The Michael Vick play-alike threw for 1,226 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, while rushing for 329 yards and four scores. He’s surrounded by a corps of speedy receivers and protected by a line anchored by first-team Diamond Division returnees Wyatt Irvine and Abdur Jenkins and a trimmed-up 330-pounder Jeremiah Robinson.

The defense will be bolstered by the addition of Merendino. He is nearly back to full form after tearing an ACL while playing for Woodstown last season. He should give the Rams the dynamic outside presence Temple signee Antoine Rogers provided last year while setting the single-season school record for sacks.

“I’m feeling great, feel my play style coming back,” Merendino said. “Ever since I tore my ACL on October 14 of my sophomore year (at Woodbury) I felt like I wouldn’t be coming back the same, but now that I was blessed with a new opportunity to come here, I believe ever since I started my recovery I can become this newer, stronger version of myself.”

Salem coach Kemp Carr directs his team during a drill Wednesday; Rams open their season in 16 days in Ohio

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – Kemp Carr gets excited about every season opener, but this year the Salem football coach is “super-duper pumped” for it.

Carr is taking his team on a little adventure to open his third season with the team that’s full of promise. The Rams play in Ironton, Ohio, Aug. 29, an ambitious trip that has more layers than just a game.

“Can’t wait,” Carr said after practice Wednesday night. “Excited. Super excited.

“For one, these kids have an opportunity to travel to play football. They get to open their eyes and see something else.”

Of course, it’s more than a game to lift the curtain on what many expect to be a deep run in the Group 1 playoffs. On the way over, the team will make a stop to experience West Virginia University and on the way back they plan to visit Marshall University. 

“So it’s a business trip, it’s not just a football trip,” Carr said. “It’s a business trip with a vacation tag to it, an educational tag to it, an exposure tag to it, and an opportunity to bond tag to it. There’s a lot going on here with this trip, so I’m super excited … and if it goes well hopefully we’ll be able to do it in the future again.”

Carr isn’t the only one stoked about the trip. Junior RB-DB Isiah Santiago has been excited about it ever since Riverview Sports News reported the school board approving it this past spring. Carr said “a lot of people” from the community also are expected to make the eight-hour trip to the Ohio-Kentucky border.

“That’s going to be a great experience,” said Santiago, who had two rushing touchdowns and a pick-six in the Rams’ opening-round playoff win at KIPP last season. “Go out of state, (play) a new team we’ve never seen, just go out there and do us. It’s new competition, so you don’t know who it is, you just have to give it all. I was just excited to go on the trip to show everybody what we can do.”

“To go down to Ohio, that’s a major blessing,” defensive end Tony Merendino said. “I’ve never been out of state playing football before, so that’s something different for me. It’s definitely exciting.”

It will be the first time the Rams have played an out-of-state opponent since 2023, when they lost to Executive Education Charter in Lafayette’s Fisher Field. Carr’s last game against an out-of-state opponent was 2009 when his Penns Grove team that eventually reached the South Jersey semifinals lost to a Red Lion (Pa.) team loaded with D-I prospects.

The Rams have already started preparing for the Fighting Tigers and their Boston College-committed three-star quarterback Kayden Edwards. They’ll get a feel for what they’ll see in a Monday quad scrimmage against host Absegami, Rahway and Pt. Pleasant Boro. All three teams are said to have a similar look to their faraway foe.

“I’m excited to go put Salem on the map,” running back Cashmir Parsley said. “I’m just ready to go play.”