Category: SCHALICK

Slow to start

It isn’t easy being a first-year head football coach and in Salem County it’s been particularly challenging

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

Every football coach who comes into a new situation brings with him enthusiasm and optimism. He usually gets his first win even before the team takes the field, winning the introductory press conference.

Winning on the field, well, that takes a little longer as he tries to make headway against the reality of the underlying circumstances that brought him to the position in the first place.

It isn’t easy being a first-year head football coach and in Salem County it’s been a particularly bumpy ride.

This year has seen the largest turnover of head coaching spots among the county’s five football-playing schools since 2006 – three (Penns Grove, Salem, Woodstown) – and for two of them it’s been a tough go.

Woodstown’s Frank Trautz has had the best of it, going 6-0 with two regular season games remaining after being promoted from within an already winning staff. But it hasn’t been quite so rosy for Penns Grove’s Marc Maccarone or Salem’s Kemp Carr, two outside hires who are 1-6 and 0-7, respectively, going into this weekend’s games.

But the struggles have been the norm for new Salem County coaches. Of the 18 first-year head coaches over the last 21 years, only four have had winning first-year campaigns – Seth Brown (Schalick), Ryan Wood (Pennsville), Montrey Wright (Salem) and Trautz – but they’re the unicorns. Eleven have had losing seasons and three have broken even.

Only eight have gotten to the playoffs in their first year, with Trautz expected to join that list this year. The Wolverines are currently the No. 1 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings.

“Where a school is hiring a football coach it’s rarely a good situation,” said Schalick head coach Mike Wilson, who went 0-7 his first year with the Cougars to 11-1 last season. “Most of the time the program has struggled and there’s a reason why they’re looking for a coach. There’s not too many programs where you just hand it off and they keep it rolling. It does happen, but usually it’s not a great job when you get that first job; there’s a lot of work to do.”

The chart below documents the struggles of Salem County’s most recent first-year coaches. It’s not an indictment on their coaching ability. Almost all of them have gone on to produce multiple winning/championship seasons once they got their program in place; Carr and Maccarone won championships at other postings. It’s just an illustration of how hard it is to get it started.

“The coach can only control so much,” Wilson said. “They need the support of the school, the administration, the community, the parents; it’s a total group effort. And you need patience because a year turnaround doesn’t happen. You need patience, your school needs patience and if you don’t have support of those other things there’s only so much you can do.

”It really comes down to how much does the school, the administration and the community want football to be successful, because if you’re trying to build a program you need all those things. It takes time and patience. Just show up and play football from August to November, you can’t do that anymore.”

Once that first-year coach gets his program blueprint established and starts to taste a little success, a whole new set of challenges present themselves. The next goal becomes finding a way to maintain that success. That, friends, is a whole different conversation.

Cover photo: Salem County’s three new head football coaches (from left) Woodstown’s Frank Trautz, Salem’s Kemp Carr and Penns Grove’s Marc Maccarone.


First Year Salem County Football Coaches (Since 2003)

COACHYEARSCHOOLRECORDPLAYOFFS
(x-in progress)
Dennis Orando2003Penns Grove2-8No
Kemp Carr2004Penns Grove2-8No
Rob Hinson2005Salem5-5Yes, 0-1
Seth Brown2006Schalick8-3Yes, 1-1
Frank Larubio2006Woodstown5-5No
Steve Sheffield2006Salem3-7No
Randy Johnson2009Salem2-8No
Ryan Wood2009Pennsville7-3Yes, 0-1
John Adams2010Woodstown3-7No
Dennis Thomas2013Salem5-6Yes, 1-1
John Emel2014Penns Grove5-5Yes, 0-1
Montrey Wright2015Salem8-2Yes, 0-1
Mike Healy2017Pennsville4-6Yes, 0-1
Mike Wilson2020Schalick0-7No
Danny Mendoza2023Salem2-8Yes, 0-1
Marc Maccarone2024Penns Grovex-1-6
Kemp Carr2024Salemx-0-7
Frank Trautz2024Woodstownx-6-0

Quick strike

Penns Grove scores in first 20 seconds of the match, goes on to beat Pennsville in boys soccer, includes Wednesday’s Salem County results

WEDNESDAY BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove 2, Pennsville 0
Pitman 6, Salem 0
Woodstown 4, Salem Tech 0

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – If you missed the start of Wednesday’s Penns Grove-Pennsville soccer game, even by a minute, you missed half of the goals in the game.

SCHULTZ

Junior midfielder Joey Schultz packed a pass from Sebastian Hernandez into the upper right corner 21 seconds into the match to send Penns Grove on its way to a 2-0 victory that garnered the Red Devils some valuable power points.

“I can’t remember one happening that fast, to be honest with you,” Penns Grove coach Mano Massari said. “I’ve been here about nine years coaching, started four years here as a player, I’ve never seen one that fast.” 

The goal wasn’t a case of the Red Devils simply kicking the ball into the Pennsville end, chasing it down and putting it away before anyone knew what hit them.

Pennsville went long with the opening kick as it’s been known to do when it gets the first ball. The Red Devils gained possession and Hernandez made a long run up the right wing with Schultz trailing right behind.

Hernandez drew in a couple defenders, saw an open space and pushed a Bangu ball to Schultz who had peeled off towards the six in the box and beat Eagles keeper Coen Rinnier.

“We’ve been working on that a lot, transitioning from defense to offense,” Massari said. “We feel like we’ve lacked doing that early in the season. We’ve been practicing transitioning up together as one and what we’ve been practicing’s been working, and it showed there in the first 20 seconds of the game. That’s why we practice these things.”

Schultz remembers getting an assist that early in a game with his club team before, but he’s never scored that quickly before. He was looking forward to seeing the replay on the game film.

“That spark came through,” he said. “It really made me feel good. It brought a lot out of me. It makes me want to take this a little more serious, I guess.”

It certainly got the Eagles’ attention. No one ever expects to be in catch-up mode that quickly into a match.

“I had barely turned around and the ball was in the back of our net,” Pennsville coach Derek Foglein said. “We talked about the fact that this season when we’ve been on the front foot and we’ve jumped on teams it made the difference and when good teams come out and jump on us it makes a difference. Ultimately, that was a huge difference there.

“That first goal, when you blink and now you’re chasing the game … We knew they were a really strong defensive team so trying to find one goal was going to be hard enough and now we need to find at least one to send it to overtime.”

The early goal gave the Red Devils confidence and calmed them. They made it 2-0 with 17:42 left in the half on an own goal credited to Edward Swank. The Eagles settled into the second half, but had a two-goal deficit to overcome. 

Schultz wasn’t in at the finish. He hurt his right ankle playing a 50-50 ball early in the game and eventually was lifted for precautionary reasons. The Red Devils have another big game Thursday night at Pitman, a match that could keep their dream of landing a first-round home playoff game alive.

The Red Devils started the season 1-3 and lost their leading scorer to a broken leg, but they’ve won three of their last five and are now tenth in the South Jersey Group I power points standings. They’re about a half-point out of the final first-round home game in the bracket. 

“We want to make it to the dance, we want to make it to the playoffs,” Massari said. “Ideally I’d like a home playoff game. I want these guys to experience that; they deserve it. We put ourselves in a hole in the beginning of the year, starting to get hot at the right time.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead. I’d like us to just focus on tomorrow. I feel good about where we’re at, I feel good about the way we’re playing, but I’m trying to get them to understand we’re not looking past our next opponent.”

WOODSTOWN 4, SALEM TECH 0: Adrian Ibarra scored twice, Bryce Ayars scored for the second game in a row and Blake Bialecki netted a goal. The win takes Wolverines coach Darren Huck to within three of 300 career coaching wins.

PITMAN 6, SALEM 0: Brayden Carr scored two goals and assisted on both of Lucas Razze’s goals to lead the Panthers (7-5-1).

Cover photo: Penns Grove’s Sebastian Hernandez pushes the ball upfield against Pennsville Wednesday.

GIRLS SOCCER
Gloucester at Schalick
Penns Grove at Paulsboro
Pennsville 6, Salem 0
Woodstown 7, Salem Tech 0: The Wolverines (9-4-1) got goals from seven players, including Talia Battavio’s 57th career goal. Their last six wins have all been by shutout.

GIRLS TENNIS
Schalick 4, Haddon Heights 1
Pennsville 5, Millville 0: Eagles coach Dan LaMont gets his 300th career win with the Pennsville girls program. (Related story posting soon)

Tuesday sports report

Here are the results of Tuesday’s high school action involving Salem County teams

GIRLS TENNIS
Group I Sectional Finals
Pitman 4, Pennsville 1 (see related story)
Regular Season
Schalick 3, Wildwood 2
SALEM 5, PENNS GROVE 1
Cassidy Werkheiser (S) def. Amaris Butler, 6-3, 6-3
Tytiana Miller (S) won by forfeit
Tahirah Davenport-White (S) def. Janiyah Cummings, 6-3, 6-4
Destiny Carr-Heaven Jones-McCullough (S) def. Emma Griffin-Makala Washington, 6-1, 6-0
JaNye Hubbard-Bianca Gibson (S) def. Elif Sagir-Gabriela Roman, 6-0, 6-1
Records: Salem 1-8, Penns Grove 0-10.

FIELD HOCKEY
Pennsville 2, Deptford 0: Kylie Harris and Makenzie Widener scored first-half goals for the Eagles (5-7-1)
Glassboro 2, Salem 1: Jocelyn O’Brien scored her second goal of the game with 6:03 left in the third quarter to snap a 1-1 tie. Kashira Patterson gave Salem (5-4-1) a 1-0 lead with a first-quarter goal.
Schalick 2, St. Joe (Hamm.) 2: Ava Scurry (28th) and Phoebe Alward (15th) scored goals as the Cougars remained unbeaten (13-0-1).

CROSS COUNTRY
Calhoun County boys champion Karson Chew of Woodstown finished second in the boys race at the TCC Batch Meet at Kingsway. He ran 18:16.07. Teammate Jacob Marino was sixth (18:31.61).

Woodstown’s Abby Marino, the county runner-up, was the fastest Salem County finisher in the girls race, coming in fourth at 21:04.09. Salem Tech’s Sarah Seiden was eighth (22:45.31).

Good as gold

Weber’s golden goal PK lifts Schalick over Palmyra in battle of South Jersey Group I’s top two power teams

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — Joe Mannella has been part of a lot of big wins in his 20-plus years as Schalick’s soccer coach, but he might not have had one with as much grit as the one his Cougars pulled off Monday.

Playing a man down for nearly 55 minutes because of a first-half red card to their captain, the Cougars scored two goals short-handed and kept their opponent at bay to beat Palmyra 2-1 in overtime and take a big step towards claiming the No. 1 seed in the South Jersey Group I tournament.

Schalick came into the game ranked No. 1 in the SJ-I power points standings. Palmyra was No. 2. Both teams have beaten current No. 3 Audubon. The Cougars (12-1) now hold a nearly a seven-point lead over Palmyra (9-3) and Audubon.

To make the win even sweeter, Palmyra beat the Cougars twice last year, including the South Jersey Group I final – in overtime.

This time, it was the Cougars prevailing in overtime, with junior midfielder Jaxon Weber getting the game-winner on a penalty kick 7:19 into the first extra period.

“Result wise, the way they responded to losing their captain is phenomenal,” Mannella aid. “If it were just that, then I would be completely pumped. But we keep having these episodes where we lose a little bit of our discipline and if you want to do the things we want to do, I don’t think you get away with that long term. You’re dodging bullets at that point.

“But soccer wise, today, they answered the called and showed a lot of guts. If you said Palmyra had a 1-0 lead at halftime and you’re down to 10 men what are your odds, but I felt from the way they responded you just felt that wasn’t going to make that much of a difference.”

The Cougars were thrown into the short-handed situation when senior captain Eli Cummings was red-carded for a handball trying to protect the left side of Schalick’s net with 7:35 left in the first half.

Cummings looked like he was instinctively trying to protect his face when Connor Jones’ header bounded his way, but he was carded for intentionally trying to stop a goal-scoring opportunity. The play put Cole McCamy on the spot and he put the PK past Evan Sepers to give Palmyra a 1-0 lead.

After the play the Cougars seemed more determined than ever to get after it.

“After going down 10 men in the first half I felt like it lit a fire in us,” senior midfielder Louis Sepers said. “We came out way harder in the second half, put our heads to it and worked really hard.”

“I feel like I played harder,” Weber admitted, “because he’s our captain and he backs us up on everything and I know I had to go even harder just for him.”

About the only tactical difference was the Cougars moved two strikers up and pinched in their wings.

“It’s rough, but you have to bounce back; you have to pick up your heads and you just play like a team,” sophomore Luke Price said. “You play your normal way of soccer and keep going on from that. You can’t let your head drop.”

They got the tying goal with 25:41 left in the second half when Sepers redirected a shot off his shoulder just inside the left post off a corner kick. He has scored in each of the Cougars’ last four games and three of them have been similar to the one he got Monday.

The goal got the Cougars to overtime, but they were still a man down. Weber won it on a golden goal penalty kick with 2:41 left in the first overtime. It was his third successful PK this year. He was going to shoot to his right, then tucked it into the left side of the cage.

He got the opportunity when Price was shoved by the Palmyra keeper after a scoring chance moments earlier.

“It was really nerve wracking when I saw him go and almost save it, but it went in,” Weber said. “I was going to go right. It’s that little over thinking, but you’ve got to stay confident in what you’ve already done.” 

Palmyra’s defense moves in to deny Schalick’s Louis Sepers a scoring chance Monday. Sepers eventually scored the game-tying goal. On the cover, Jaxon Weber fires his game-winning PK in overtime.



SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
POWER POINTS STANDINGS
(Top 16 through Oct. 14)

SCHOOLW-L-TPOINTS
Schalick12-125.264
Palmyra9-418.422
Audubon9-318.316
Haddon Twp.8-2-216.669
Woodstown10-416.269
Riverside8-5-114.502
Pitman6-5-113.697
Wildwood8-3-113.398
Maple Shade7-4-112.777
Glassboro5-5-112.317
Penns Grove5-612.159
Gateway5-710.198
Pennsville8-69.214
Clayton6-77.020
Woodbury3-86.764
Buena0-9-15.178


This week’s schedule

Here is the high school sports schedule for Salem County teams for the week of Oct. 14-19

MONDAY, OCT. 14
BOYS SOCCER
Palmyra at Schalick
Woodstown at Clayton, 11 a.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Woodstown at Clayton, 1 p.m.

TUESDAY, OCT. 15
GIRLS TENNIS
Salem at Penns Grove
Wildwood at Schalick, 4:15 p.m.

Group I Sectional Finals
Pennsville at Pitman, Shertel Park, 3 p.m.
Glen Ridge at Hanover Park
New Providence at Highland Park
Pascack Hills at Glen Rock
CROSS COUNTRY
TCC Batch Meet at Kingsway, 3:30 p.m.
FIELD HOCKEY
Deptford at Pennsville
Glassboro at Salem
St. Joe’s at Schalick
BOYS SOCCER
Salem at Highland
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Cape May Tech

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16
BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Pennsville, 3:30 p.m.
Pitman at Salem
Woodstown at Salem Tech
GIRLS SOCCER
Gloucester at Schalick
Penns Grove at Paulsboro
Salem at Pennsville, 6 p.m.
Salem Tech at Woodstown
GIRLS TENNIS
Haddon Heights at Schalick
Pennsville at Millville, 3:45 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCT. 17
FIELD HOCKEY
Overbrook at Schalick
Pennsville at Bridgeton
Salem at Clayton
Woodstown at Clearview
GIRLS TENNIS
Overbrook at Woodstown
Penns Grove at Schalick
Salem at Glassboro

Group I Final Four
Mercer County Park
Semifinals, 11 a.m.
Championship Match, 1 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Pitman, 6:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCT. 18
FOOTBALL
Pennsville at Lawrence, 6:30 p.m.
Collingswood at Camden Catholic
Glassboro at Schalick
Paulsboro at West Deptford
FIELD HOCKEY
Egg Harbor Twp. at Woodstown
BOYS SOCCER
Clayton at Salem Tech
Salem at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick at Glassboro
Woodstown at Overbrook
GIRLS SOCCER
Clayton at Salem Tech
Gloucester Catholic at Salem
Pennsville at Penns Grove
Overbrook at Woodstown
GIRLS TENNIS
Pennsville at Salem, 3:45 p.m.
Penns Grove at Pitman
Schalick at Glassboro
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Triton

SATURDAY, OCT. 19
FOOTBALL
Penns Grove at Woodbury, 10:30 a.m.
Audubon at Overbrook, 11 a.m.
Woodstown at Salem, noon
GIRLS SOCCER
Cherry Hill West at Schalick

Eagles soar against Salem

West Deptford puts up season-high 58 points, collects nearly 400 yards of offense as Emel gets big win against his alma mater

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WEST DEPTFORD — Coaches try to tell their players that every game carries the same weight, whether it’s a long-time rivalry or some random team in the middle of the schedule, but you know there are some games that are just bigger than others.

On the emotional scale, the games that get West Deptford coach John Emel’s heart racing a little more are, no matter where he’s coaching, the ones he gets to face Salem.

WEST. DEPTFORD
NEXT: Paulsboro, Oct. 18, 7 p.m.

He played there as a high schooler and cut his coaching teeth there before getting his first head coaching job at Penns Grove. On Friday night, for the 13th time as a head coach, he got on that emotional rollercoaster again and this time it was happy reunion as his team rolled over the Rams 58-19.

“I’m a graduate of Salem, my brother’s a graduate of Salem; we bled Salem Blue while we were players and all through college,” Emel said. “Once I went to Penns Grove that was always the most emotional game.

“To tell you the truth, I was a lot more nervous, not necessarily to play Salem, but to play (Rams) coach (Kemp) Carr. Have tremendous respect for him. Coached with him for eight years. Battled against him when he was an assistant coach, but this is the first time we went against each other as head coaches. He’s got passion. He was an assistant coach when I was a player at Salem. We were in the same huddle for eight years trying to get guys ready at Penns Grove.

“Playing him and playing Salem, all those things mean something, so you want to perform well. I know I was ready to go and I feel like I coached a pretty good game on offense.”

Indeed. The Eagles (4-3) scored their most points in a game this season – the most since putting 70 on Sterling in 2022 – and amassed nearly 400 yards of offense. They scored all seven times they possessed the ball and answered the Rams’ first touchdown by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.

But Emel wasn’t the only person on the West Deptford sideline to whom the game meant something special.

Senior running back Bryce Wright went 1-2 against the Rams when he played for Emel at Penns Grove and Friday was his last chance to even the score. He responded by rushing for 122 yards and three touchdowns. Last year, in a different uniform, he went for 118 yards and a touchdown against the Rams.

“Me being down in the rivalry 2-1 just made me go out there and give it my all,” Wright said. “It’s my last year I get to play my rival so I had to go 100 percent. I definitely think I ran harder this game. A lot of the kids on the other side of the ball I know them personally, so roughing up on them is like childhood days.

“Last night (Emel) was like yeah, bud, you know it’s personal for us. Man, we’ve got to go out here and get a big one, four hard quarters of football, and that’s what we gave him.”

SALEM
NEXT: Woodstown, Oct. 19, noon

The game was entertaining for a while. The Eagles jumped out to a 15-0 first-quarter lead, but the Rams didn’t fold.

One of the biggest faults of the Rams all season had been their ability to move the ball between the 30s but not being able to finish. They went about their business Friday alternating quarterbacks Troy Carey and Quimere Bergen on virtually every snap with an occasional direct snap to Pop Jackson as a change of pace.

“It’s a rhythm thing,” Carr said. “Both of the guys have their talents and their skills so we wanted to try to use them.”

The Rams got into the red zone three times in the first half and Carey got them in the end zone twice. Jackson pushed in from the 2 and Carey threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Kaden Robinson.

“It felt good (getting into the end zone),” Carey said. “Guys were working together, we played together as a team. Everything was working well.”

But the Eagles answered both times – once on an 88-yard kickoff return by Zamir Davis and once on Brady Cobb’s TD pass to Michael Joseph with 29 seconds left in the half.

It was the time the Rams didn’t get in from the red zone, however, that had Carr upset. Jamaal Shockley raced 72 yards with the kickoff after Joseph’s score to set the Rams up at the West Deptford 5. On what amounted to the final play of the half, freshman Isiah Santiago dropped Carey’s pass in the front left corner of the end zone.

The halftime horn sounded shortly after the ball hit the ground, but Carr contended – and his sideline replays confirmed — there should have been time on the clock. That would have been enough to take another shot at the end zone or give Andrew May a shot at a field goal. Instead, they went into the break down 30-13.

“We didn’t get in when we should have gotten in,” Carr said. “You’ve got to score there and that’s the point. I don’t want to talk about us getting it in. I want to talk about we didn’t get it in and we should’ve gotten it in and we had the ball with 1.9 seconds on the clock and they said the time expired. That’s what makes me mad.”

The Rams had high expectations for the second half, but those were quickly dashed when Kaden Robinson mishandled the second half kickoff and Bergen fumbled in the next series while absorbing a 13-yard loss. The Eagles recovered both miscues and converted both times for a 44-13 lead.

“We’ve got to do those things better,” Carr said. “We do those things better and we’re in a different situation. Everybody can see we can play football … It’s like I’ve said: You can’t build a house from the ceiling down. You’ve got to build from the foundation. We saw some good things and we’ll take the good things that we did.”

West Deptford 58, Salem 19

SALWD
91st Downs19
24-72Rushing43-312
4-9-0Passes4-7-0
49Passing67
1-1Fum-Lost0-0
0Punts0
4-24Penalties3-25
Salem (0-7)1515208-58
West Deptford (4-3)01360-19

SCORING SUMMARY
WD-Cole Paszkiewicz 41 run (Brady Cobb kick), 9:15 1Q
WD-Bryce Wright 13 run (Zamir Davis run), 2:31 1Q
S-Pop Jackson 2 run (Andrew May kick), 10:17 2Q
WD-Zamir Davis 88 kickoff return (Brady Cobb kick), 10:03 2Q
S-Kaden Robinson 17 pass from Troy Carey (kick blocked), 5:20 2Q
WD-Michael Joseph 10 pass from Brady Cobb (Bryce Wright run), 28.9 2Q
WD-Bryce Wright 6 run (pass failed), 9:10 3Q
WD-Zamir Davis 4 run (Michael Joseph pass from Brady Cobb), 6:05 3Q
WD-Bryce Wright 26 run (kick failed), 8.8 3Q
S-Pop Jackson 84 kickoff return (kick failed), 0:00 3Q
WD-Logan Rivell 2 run (Bryce Wynn run), 1:11 4Q

WJFL DIAMOND DIVISIONDIVALL
Woodstown (1)3-05-0
Glassboro (5)3-06-0
Schalick (2)2-15-2
Woodbury (14)1-22-3
Penns Grove (20)0-31-6
Salem (22)0-30-7

NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Oct. 7

THURSDAY’S GAME
Glassboro 40, Cinnaminson 10
Delran 38, Penns Grove 8
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Schalick 28, Gloucester City 21
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Willingboro at Woodbury, 11 a.m.
Woodstown at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.

WJFL PATRIOT DIVISIONDIVALL
Camden Catholic (NPB-3)3-05-0
Paulsboro (6)3-14-2
West Deptford (G2-15)3-14-3
Pennsville (10)2-23-3
Audubon (17)1-32-3
Collingswood (G2-13)1-33-4
Overbrook (G2-23)0-32-3-1

NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power rankings through Oct. 7 (G2-Group 2, NPB-Non Public B)

FRIDAY’S GAMES
Audubon 7, Collingswood 0
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Camden Catholic at Overbrook, 11 a.m.
Pennsville at Paulsboro, noon

Schalick wins thriller

Senior transfer receiver Mills grabs game-winning touchdown pass with less than 30 seconds left to lift the Cougars past Gloucester

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

GLOUCESTER — Schalick coach Mike Wilson opened up the playbook a little Friday night and found Zaeshawn Mills inside.

Mills, a senior transfer from Cumberland in only his second year playing high school football, made three big catches for the Cougars, two for touchdowns, including the game-winner with 26 seconds left to beat Gloucester, 28-21.

“The bottom line, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple weeks, for the offense to take it to the next level we’ve got to be able to throw the ball,” Wilson said. “It just makes us much more difficult to defend. Zaeshawn had a great game.”

Mills scored the first touchdown of the game on a 30-yard pass from Kenai Simmons and the final touchdown of the game on a 9-yarder from Simmons. He also made a leaping 37-yard catch to get the Cougars in the red zone on the winning drive.

“I’d say that’s my biggest catch,” Mills said of his game-winner. “I knew the ball was coming to me because my quarterback looked me in the eye and he was like, be ready, make it count. He told me to make it count. I came off the line, got in position, the ball was right in my hands.”

Simmons was 8-for-12 for 133 yards passing. Mills caught three balls for 78 yards.

Mills played lot of football in his youth, but he took time off after the COVID pandemic. He returned to the game last year as a junior at Cumberland — he even caught one of his eight passes in the game against Schalick — and then transferred to the Cougars for his senior year. 

As a senior transfer he was required to sit the first three games of the season, but he’s assimilated well into the team’s culture.

“He’s a good addition to our locker room,” Wilson said.

Mills caught eight passes for 127 yards last year for Cumberland. He had caught only one pass for the Cougars prior to Friday night’s breakout. 

“I want to thank my coaches for putting me in that position and my quarterback for trusting me,” Mills said. “That felt good.”

The game was a back-and-forth affair with each team answering the other’s touchdown. The lead changed hands four times before the Lions tied it at 21 with less than three minutes to play.

The Cougars started the winning drive from their own 37 with 2:50 to play with two time outs. They ran three straight running plays to get near midfield, then Simmons threw his big ball to a leaping Mills with a minute left. Reggie Allen picked up 6 on the next play to get it inside the 10 and then Simmons found Mills over the middle for the game-winner.

“We knew that at the very least we could get a field goal to win the game,” Wilson said. “We started moving the ball, we get the big chunk play to Mills and then we’re like, all right, we’ll take a shot in the end zone and if we don’t get it we’ll kick the field goal. We’ve got a kid with a great foot (Hunter Dragotta). Then we threw the slant to Mills and won the game that way.

“The real neat thing with this team is every week we have enough depth, enough kids, where this week it’s Mills, next week it could be somebody else. We’re more than just one person, which is really nice to coach and could be really nice down the stretch. Who knows who it’s going to be next week. I think it’s going to be one of those years, which I’m OK with.”

The Cougars (5-2), the No. 2 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings, have won four in a row.

Cover photo: A screen grab from DW Broadcasting’s live stream shows Schalick receiver Zaeshawn Mills’ making the game-winning catch against Gloucester.

Schalick coach Mike Wilson presents senior receiver Zaeshawn Mills (R) with the offensive game ball. Mills caught two touchdown passes from Kenai Simmons (1), including the game winner in the final 30 seconds. (Photo by Heather Papiano)

Schalick 28, Gloucester 21

SCHAL (28)GLOU (21)
161st Downs11
36-147Rushing31-24
7-13-1C-A-I6-9-0
130Passing161
0-0Fum-lost2-2
4-38Penalties4-39
Schalick (5-2)67015-28
Gloucester (2-4)7077-21

SCORING SUMMARY
S-Zaeshawn Mills 30 pass from Kenai Simmons (kick failed)
G-Mason Widman 6 run (Ashton Wall kick)
S-Kenai Simmons 5 run (Hunter Dragotta kick)
G-Kevin Boulden 1 run (Ashton Wall kick)
S-Kenai Simmons 7 run (Nyzier Wonder pass from Levi Feeney-Childers)
G-Trevin Buchardt 2 run (Ashton Wall kick)
S-Zaeshawn Mills 9 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick)

WJFL DIAMOND DIVISIONDIVALL
Woodstown (1)3-05-0
Glassboro (5)3-06-0
Schalick (2)2-15-2
Woodbury (14)1-22-3
Penns Grove (20)0-31-6
Salem (22)0-30-7

NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Oct. 7

THURSDAY’S GAME
Glassboro 40, Cinnaminson 10
Delran 38, Penns Grove 8
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Schalick 28, Gloucester City 21
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Willingboro at Woodbury, 11 a.m.
Woodstown at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.

Thursday sports report

Here are scores and highlights from Thursday’s high school action involving teams from Salem County

BOYS SOCCER
Schalick 2, Woodstown 0: Louis Sepers and Brad Foster scored the goals and keeper Ben Stengel made seven saves for the Cougars’ first shutout in the series since 2021. “This was the first time this group has shut them out, which is something we wanted to do,” Schalick coach Joe Mannella said.

Pennsville 3, Salem 0: Griffin Hern and Shane Puckett scored goals three minutes apart in the first half for the Eagles (8-6) and Evan Pessoa extended the lead seven minutes into the second. The victory matches the Eagles’ single-season high in coach Derek Foglein’s tenure; they were 8-10 in 2022.

Penns Grove 2, Glassboro 1: Edward Swank scored with nine minutes left in the second half to break a 1-1 tie. It was his second game-winner of the season. The Red Devils lost a 2-1 game to the Bulldogs earlier this year and lost a pair of 1-0 games to them last season. Goalie Dwayne Guzman made three big saves in the final 15 minutes to keep the game tied or preserve the lead.

Wildwood 6, Salem Tech 1: NuNu Bedderi scored three goals for the Warriors, playing their first game since losing to Schalick 3-2 in Cougars coach Joe Mannella’s 300th career win Oct. 2. Sophomore Christian VanTonder scored his first career goal for the Chargers in the first half.

SJ GROUP I POWER POINTS STANDINGS (Top 16 thru Oct. 10): Schalick (10-1), Audubon (9-2), Palmyra (9-3), Haddon Twp. (7-2-2), Woodstown (9-4), Riverside (7-4-1), Pitman (6-5-1), Wildwood (8-3), Maple Shade (7-4-1), Glassboro (5-5-1), Penns Grove (5-6), Gateway (5-7), Pennsville (8-6), Clayton (6-6), Woodbury (3-7), Buena (0-9-1).

GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick 3, Woodstown 1: Quinn Berger scored twice and Olivia Vanacker scored once as the Cougars (9-2) won their fourth in a row and completed a season sweep of the Wolverines.

Pennsville 3, Overbrook 2: Riley Bowman had a goal and two assists as the Eagles opened a 3-0 lead and held on to avenge a loss to the Rams earlier in the season. Bowman assisted on goals by Kallie Morrison and Taylor Bass in the first half.

Pitman 6, Salem 0: Teagan Canna scored the first two goals of the match and the Panthers pulled away. Emery Sharpnack had a goal and two assists.

Glassboro 3, Penns Grove 0: Alana Figueroa, Marianna Dempster and Tamia Smith scored for the Bulldogs in the first half.

Wildwood 3, Salem Tech 2: The Warriors scored two goals in the second half to win. Goals by Ava Robinson and Julia Hewitt Friebel staked the Chargers to a 2-1 halftime lead.

SJ GROUP I POWER POINTS STANDINGS (Top 16 thru Oct. 10): Audubon (11-1), Schalick (9-2), Haddon Twp. (7-4-1), Riverside (9-4), Palmyra (10-2), Gateway (9-2), Woodstown (7-4-1), Clayton (7-3-1), Glassboro (6-3-2), Pitman (8-5), Maple Shade (3-7), Buena (6-6), Pennsville (4-9), Penns Grove (1-9-1), Wildwood (3-9), Cape May Tech (1-11).

FIELD HOCKEY
Schalick 4, Mainland 3: The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 halftime lead and held on to remain undefeated (13-0). Luci Virga, Ava Marynowicz and Ava Scurry all scored in the first half. Caylen Taylor scored with 1:58 left in the third quarter after Mainland cut it to 3-2. It was the Cougars’ third one-goal win of the streak and sixth decided by two goals or less.

Gateway 5, Pennsville 0: Bella Fini scored a hat trick for the Gators (10-2).

Maple Shade 4, Salem 0: Sophia Weisler and Rachel Loomis each scored twice for the Wildcats. The Rams are winless in their last four with only one goal after starting the season 4-0.

SJ GROUP I POWER POINTS STANDINGS (Top 16 thru Oct. 10): Shore (14-1), Schalick (13-0), West Deptford (9-3), Haddon Heights (6-5-1), Gateway (10-2), Gloucester (8-5), Woodstown (8-3), Collingswood (5-5), Bordentown (5-6), Florence (5-7-1), Haddon Twp. (4-8), Salem (4-3-1), South Hunterdon (8-5), Lower Cape May (5-6-2), Audubon (6-4), Pennsville (4-7-1).

VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech 2, Gloucester Catholic 1: The Chargers won a tight third set to follow their first win of the season with their second in a row, 25-16, 23-25, 25-23. It’s the first time since 2021 they have won back-to-back matches.

Cori Farnkoph had 13 kills and eight aces. Tiara Bazemore had four kills, 13 assists and eight aces. Alan’s James had five kills and eight assists.

Staying unbeaten

Wednesday’s sports report: Schalick field hockey (12-0) blanks Woodstown; Pennsville tennis (14-0) tunes up for semifinals with sweep

By Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — Caylan Taylor capped a strong field goal with a third-quarter goal, Ava Scurry had a goal and an assist and Lydia Gilligan came up with another shutout as Schalick’s best-ever start hit 12 in a row Wednesday in a 2-0 victory over Woodstown.

The Cougars are now 12-0, besting their previous best start of 11-0 in 2020. They are one of only two remaining undefeated teams in Group I, one of four in the state and the only one in South Jersey.

The other remaining undefeateds are Madison (NJ G1), Northern Highlands (NJ G3) and East Brunswick (NJ G4).

“I’m not surprised, but I am surprised,” Schalick coach Heather Cheesman said. “I don’t want the girls to get too comfortable. They know they have to work hard every single game. We try not to focus on records. We just want them to work hard every game because when you relax, that’s when the other team swoops in and takes a win.”

Woodstown actually had the best of it early in the game, but Scurry broke the scoreless tie with her 26th goal of the season in the second quarter. Taylor gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead in the third quarter off an assist from Scurry.

“Caylan killed it,” Cheesman said. “She was getting back, everywhere the ball was when it was around here she seemed to pick it up. The field was tough to adjust to. She did such an amazing job.”

Gilligan again was steady in the cage. She made 10 saves in recording her third straight shutout and fifth of the year. She has allowed only three goals in her last seven games.

PENNSVILLE 2, GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 1: Laura Tamberella and Sophia Marandola scored goals for the Eagles (4-6-1).

Girls tennis

Pennsville coach Dan LaMont was really glad his team had a match between its two South Jersey Group I playoff matches Wednesday to give his new doubles teams some work and they both came through with straight set victories in the Eagles’ 5-0 win over Haddon Heights. They host Haddon Twp. in the semifinals Thursday, 3 p.m.

PENNSVILLE 5, HADDON HEIGHTS 0
Megan Morris (P) def. Mariah Stacker, 6-1, 6-1
Regan Witt (P) def. Ellie Mazzuco, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7
Lily Edwards (P) def. Sophia Aceto, 6-1, 6-0
Emma Cornette-Izzy Schrenker (P) def. Ellie Clapper-Molly Walker, 6-1, 6-3
Morgan Holt-Naomi Hess (P) Nora Miller-Lucy Durand, 6-3, 6-4
Records: Pennsville 14-0, Haddon Heights 8-11

WOODSTOWN 4, MILLVILLE 1
Julissa Mateo (M) def. Gabby Kurpis, 6-2, 6-2
Camille Osborn (Wo) def. Rebecca Lore, 6-1, 6-2
Aubrie Rennie (Wo) def. Jasmine Negron, 6-1, 6-4
Julianna Lindenmuth-Alyssa Berry (Wo) def. Sydney Ambrose-Ryleigh Sharretts, 6-3, 6-1
Nathalie Neron-Noelle Neron )Wo) def. Bridig Humphreys-Isabel Keer, 7-5, 6-1
Records: Woodstown 10-4, Millville 7-11

OLMA 5, SALEM 0
Sara Wojtkowiak (O) def. Cassidy Werkheiser, 7-5, 6-4
Evangeline Catanese (O) def. Tytiana Miller, 6-1, 6-0
Summer Baylock (O) def. Angelina Fothergill, 6-4, 6-1
Sara Weiss-Reese Hetzer (O) def. Heaven Jones McCullough-Tahirah Davenport White, 6-3, 6-2
Sarina Tortella-Leah Calderon (O) def. Bianca Gibson-Destiny Carr, 6-1, 6-2
Records: OLMA 4-9, Salem 0-8.

All about perspective

Woodstown’s Chew wins Salem County Cross County boys race, Schalick’s Hadfield wins girls race, their squads win team titles

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — Two races. Two winners. Two vastly different reactions.

Schalick’s Jordan Hadfield repeated as the Salem County girls cross country champion and Woodstown’s Karson Chew made his first varsity win a big one in the boys race, but the reactions to their victories couldn’t have been more different.

CHEW

Chew was over the moon after he won the boys race at Salem Tech in 17:00.79, while Hadfield was visibly upset walking away from the finish after winning the girls race in 19:15.79. 

Woodstown won the boys team title for the first time since 2021 with 17 points. Schalick edged Woodstown by nine points in what amounted to a dual meet for the girls crown.

Chew admitted he wasn’t a very good classmate or student for much of the school day because he was so locked in to winning the race. He’d come up short each of the last two years, finishing fifth as a freshman and second last year, and wasn’t sure how he’d finish this year because his teammates were equally strong, but he was determined to go for it.

He was the fastest Salem County boys runner in a Tri-County Conference batch meet on the Salem Tech course Oct. 1 (seventh overall).

“I came into it today thinking I need a win, so I went for it and here we are,” Chew said. “Honestly, this year has been rocky for me. I’ve had a couple meets where I didn’t do my best; I had one DNF, which has never happened to me before. A couple meets before this I ran my PR for the season and I was like I know I can do this.

“I knew in my heart, in my head and my legs that I could do it and I did it and I’m super proud of myself for that. I love the energy that all gave me. I’ve been in the top 25 since my freshman year, this year I’m top seven, and I was like, county, this is it, I’m going to win it.”

He’s the first Woodstown boy to win the county crown since John Turner ran a 17:58 to lead a 1-2-4 Wolverines finish in 2021 at Schalick.

He went out in a pack with several teammates, but quickly separated himself with teammate Jacob Marino. They came through the midpoint of the race stride for stride, but then halfway through the second loop he went for it and eventually beat his teammate to the line by 15 seconds. Wolverines senior track captain Cole Lucas, running cross country for the first time, was third.

“I was in my own world the whole day; I was thinking to myself about this meet the whole day,” Chew said. “This is a big thing for me. I needed this so much.

“This was the meet that my coach was hyping me up about. He was like, ‘Who’s it going to be, you or Jacob, who’s it going to be? I kept thinking to myself I need this to be me. For the rest of my season to go well, I need this to be me.”

HADFIELD

Winning races might be a new experience for Chew, it’s a regular occurrence for Hadfield. So much so that the quality of the run is as important as the finish.

And that’s what had her coming out of the finishing chute with her face in her hands on the verge of tears and then walking across the field to be consoled by coach Missy Pine. She led wire-to-wire without much push and won by more than a minute, but the 19-minute run over the flat course just wasn’t up to her standard.

She was hoping for something closer to the 18:22 she ran while winning her race Six Flags on Sept. 28 as she prepares for a run at states.

“It should not have been that,” the Cougars senior said. “I’m trying to be better each time and today I guess wasn’t me. I just wasn’t feeling good or something, I don’t know. We need to look forward to Saturday (at Dream Park) and forget about this and just focus on that.”

In her defense she was running her second race in five days and ran into a strong headwind several times along Wednesday’s route. She finished third in her race at Holmdel Park last Saturday. 

“It’s definitely a lot racing multiple times a week, it definitely gets you for sure this part of the season,” she said. “You definitely felt the wind. I don’t know if that was a part of it. My first mile was fine and then after that, that’s when I fell off.”

In the team standings, Woodstown put five of the first six runners across the line in the boys race. Salvatore Longo of Schalick finished fourth to prevent them from scoring a cross country shutout. Schalick’s girls placed seven runners in the top 12 overall and had five of the first eight counters.

“It’s a small county but these small programs have always had quality teams,” Woodstown coach Steve New said. “You might think that winning Salem County is small and not that big of a deal, but I think beating some of these teams that are around here is impressive. I don’t think it’s a small feat to win this county title. It takes a lot of work to do it.”

Schalick’s Jordan Hadfield comes across the finish line to win the Salem County Cross Country girls race. On the cover, Woodstown’s Karson Chew made the boys race his first varsity win.

Salem County XC Championship

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Woodstown 17, Schalick 41, Salem Tech 77, Salem 101, Penns Grove 141.
GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Schalick 25, Woodstown 34.

BOYS TOP 15 (56 runners)TIMEGIRLS TOP 10 (20 runners)TIME
Karson Chew, Woodstown17:00.79Jordan Hadfield, Schalick 19:15.79
Jacob Marino, Woodstown17:15.21Abby Marino, Woodstown20:34.29
Cole Lucas, Woodstown17:27.94Sarah Seiden, Salem Tech 22:08.78
Salvatore Longo, Schalick17:50.39Anabel Schaal, Woodstown23:08.61
David Farrell, Woodstown18:02.19Jordan Goode, Schalick23:40.48
Jon Farrell, Woodstown18:42.64Emma Cain, Schalick24:35.15
Chase Walker, Schalick18:49.31Arianna Mott, Woodstown25:00.72
Collin Bittle, Schalick18:58.64Ava Melnick, Schalick25:06.85
Sam Cooke, Salem19:01.62Gabriella Bartlett, Salem25:20.72
Chase Riley, Schalick19:05.91Olivia Hill, Schalick25:31.60
Larry Pompper, Salem Tech19:10.72
Joshua Weiner, Schalick19:10.94
Dominic Militia, Salem Tech19:38.22
Chase Pompper, Salem Tech19:46.36
Michael Turner, Woodstown19:50.84