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 11^th 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