Category: SCHALICK

Hockey Cougars ‘killing it’

Milestones keep falling for Schalick field hockey; Alward sets single-season assists record, establishes 20-20 Club; team scoring record hits 100 goals with three 20-goal scorers

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — The Schalick field hockey team is such an offensive juggernaut it has reached a point in the season where they seem to hit some kind of milestone every time they take the field.

The unbeaten Cougars reached three individual milestones and hit 100 goals on the season Wednesday in a 7-0 rout of Salem in their final regular-season game before the playoff cutoff date.

The seven goals extended their single-season school record for goals to 100 on the nose. They’ve outscored their last three opponents 26-1.

“We always struggled scoring,” Cougars coach Heather Cheesman said. “We always struggled in past years just getting the ball in the cage and this year they’re killing it scoring-wise. We’re very strong in offense, we’re very strong on defense and I just think collectively they just play very well together.”

Individually, Phoebe Alward set the single-season school record for assists during the game and became the first member of the 20-20 Club, at least under Cheesman’s watch. Luci Virga scored twice to get her 20th goal of the season and give the Cougars three 20-goal scorers in the same season for the first time.

And, of course, Ava Scurry extended her single-season goals record with two more and had an assist. She has 36 goals this year and 56 in her career, which is six shy of the school record.

“I’m happy for all of them,” Cheesman said. “They work so hard and they work so well together. They’ve been playing together for years, like since they were like 10. Maybe even younger. They’ve been playing together for a while.”

Alward scored her 20th goal of the season (and 40th of her career) in the second quarter to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead and her four assists gave her 22 for the season, breaking the previous record of 20 set by Marisa Rizzo in 2010. The junior is two assists shy of joining the 40-40 Club for her career.

“To be honest, I just do what I need to do to get our team going and just to win,” Alward said. “I love doing both (scoring and assisting).”

“Phoebe is just an all-around good player, so she does set up a lot of stuff on the field,” Cheesman said. “She is very generous because she is capable of taking the ball down, doing her stickwork and scoring on her own, but she does set up a lot of stuff on the field, so she’s a team player. I think it’s great she’s hitting these milestones. She deserves it. She’s work hard for it.”

In the best set of statistics publicly available, the Cougars have had only six 20-goal scorers before this year since 2010. The 2011 team had two of them.

Virga became the third Cougar player to notch 20 goals this season when her second goal of the game gave her team a 5-0 halftime lead. The sophomore has 29 goals in her career.

“I kind of knew it was coming up, but I don’t really pay attention to those kind of things,” she said. “I just want our team to win. I want everybody to have an opportunity to do everything. Goals are really important, but it’s also everything that comes into the goal, like all of our great passing and coming down the field as a team.”

At 16-0-1 the Cougars are one of only four remaining teams in the state without a loss and the only one in South Jersey. They are currently No. 2 in the South Jersey Group I power points standings, behind No. 1 Shore and a half-point ahead of No. 3 West Deptford. The cutoff is Saturday.

Schalick 7, Salem 0

Salem (7-5-1)0000-0
Schalick (16-0-1)3220-7

SCORING
SCH-Ava Scurry (Phoebe Alward), 11:17 1Q
SCH-Luci Virga (Phoebe Alward), 7:29 1Q
SCH-Addi Shimp (Luci Virga), 4:26 1Q
SCH-Phoebe Alward (Ava Scurry), 14:20 2Q
SCH-Luci Virga (Phoebe Alward), 4:07 2Q
SCH-Caylen Taylor (unassisted), 12:11 3Q
SCH-Ava Scurry (Phoebe Alward), 6:51 3Q

Schalick sophomore Luci Virga became the Cougars’ third 20-goal scorer this season when she scored in the second quarter Wednesday. On the cover, Phoebe Alward joined the 20-20 Club with a goal and four assists.


Keeping it together

Schalick girls soccer overcoming a rash of injuries that would have decimated a lesser team, projecting a No. 2 seed in South Jersey Group I tournament

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Way back in 1987, the University of Georgia had a basketball team that lost three of its top six players to a multitude of misfortune and played the second half of the season with only eight players.

A friendly wager with another SEC coach in the preseason that the Bulldogs wouldn’t go .500 was all of a sudden looking pretty good. But somehow they managed to not only survive but thrive, making a run in the SEC Tournament and eventually earning a spot in the NCAAs where they lost in the first round in overtime.

That special team has since been known as “The Miracle Workers.”

If the Schalick girls soccer team goes on to have the kind of success coach Will Kemp says it’s capable of if it keeps its head down and focuses on the task of the day, they might be calling the Cougars the same thing.

The Cougars’ season has been beset with a cascade of injuries that would have crushed a less committed team. Instead, they have made due with what they have, got some inspired play from players way ahead of their developmental schedule and maintained a standard that has them looking at a solid No. 2 seed in the upcoming South Jersey Group I girls soccer tournament.

“We’ve had major injuries,” Kemp said Tuesday after the Cougars handled Pennsville 4-0. “We’re missing several starters throughout this entire season. We went almost three weeks without an experienced goalkeeper. But the girls continue to push forward and do their jobs.

“We’re not winning matches the way we have the past few years, but at the same time we’re still getting the job done and that’s all that matters the most right now to me.”

The Cougars’ 11-4 record that is minor miracle in itself considering they currently have seven players out with injuries (for 72 total matches missed), many of them starters or players projected to play major minutes. They had 14 players available for the game with the Eagles, leaving them only three reserves for substitutions.

They haven’t had their full complement one day this season. They hope the walking wounded with the “best chance” of returning can make it back before the playoffs start.

“It’s a big number,” Kemp agreed. “We’re pretty much playing with 13 players, some matches only 12. We play against the big schools – Cherry Hill (West), Cinnaminson, Cherokee – we see their bench and they have 30 players. We’re trying to stick up with those girls when they’re making subs every 10 minutes.

“Our players have actually done a really good job overcoming a lot of adversity. But at the same time, you wonder what we could have been if we were actually at 100 percent.”

When the wave of injuries first hit, the players’ confidence started to shake, but they rallied around each other and fought through any shortcomings. The older players took the ones now given expanded roles under their wing. Kemp continued to put his faith in the players he did have available and made sure every one understood her role and responsibility.

The only games the Cougars have lost were to the biggest schools they played and Audubon, the projected No. 1 seed in South Jersey Group I.

“It was definitely hard,” junior midfielder Quinn Berger said. “When you lose people you think you’re going to lose more games because they’re starters and important players, but you keep fighting through it because we know deep down it doesn’t matter because you still have to play. It was very important to keep that mentality and not break.”

“I think we stepped up very well,” junior captain Cali Fisler said. “We were able to push through and play together as a team and keep our standard of play.”

The Cougars haven’t lost back-to-back games this season. They’ve had winning streaks of four and five games. They’re looking to maintain their position in the upcoming bracket with their final two regular season games against Penns Grove Thursday and at Williamstown Saturday.

“These girls have already worked miracles,” Kemp said, “pulling out wins when we were completely down, getting back into matches after letting up the first goal, continuing to be competitive, especially inside of our division with some of the rivals we currently have the way certain teams play against us, getting wins when it really mattes the most.

“This squad is special; this squad is very special. I think we can do something big if they continue to keep their head down and work for each other. The more they become a collective the more consistent they’re going to be on the field.”

Schalick 4, Pennsville 0

Schalick (11-4)22-4
Pennsville (6-10)00-0

GOALS — S: Quinn Berger, 6:48; S; Abby Willoughby (Olivia Bergholz), 17:50; S: Cali Fisler (Liv Vanaker), 46:25; S: Jael Winnberg, 58:35.

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Girls Soccer Power Points
(Top 16)
1. Audubon (14-2) 23.944, 2. Schalick (11-4) 19.124, 3. Woodstown (11-4-1) 16.556, 4. Haddon Twp. (9-6-1) 16.345, 5. Riverside (9-6) 15.200, 6. Palmyra (11-4) 14.609, 7. Gateway (11-3) 14.297, 8. Glassboro (7-4-2) 12.924, 9. Clayton (9-5-1) 12.872, 10. Pitman (8-8) 9.558, 11. Maple Shade (5-9-1) 8.578, 12. Pennsville (6-10) 8.413, 13. Buena (7-8) 7.026, 14, Wildwood (4-10) 6.590, 15. Penns Grove (2-11-1) 6.190, 16. Woodbury (2-11-1) 5.862.
Others: Cape May Tech (1-14), Salem (0-14), Paulsboro (0-13).

Cover photo: Schalick girls soccer coach Will Kemp talks to his team prior to sending it out to face Pennsville Tuesday.

Closing on a milestone

Woodstown gives coach Darren Huck his 299th career coaching victory in 4-0 shutout of Glassboro; also includes Tuesday’s Salem County sports results

BOYS SOCCER
Overbrook 2, Penns Grove 1 (OT)
Pennsville 5, Clayton 1
Salem Tech 4, Gloucester Catholic 3
Schalick 2, Pitman 0
Wildwood 9, Salem 0
Woodstown 4, Glassboro 0

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The milestone has been on the horizon since the start of the season, but now it’s right there on the doorstep.

Adrian Ibarra scored twice and Ben Stengel came up with another shutout as Woodstown blanked Glassboro Tuesday 4-0 to give coach Darren Huck his 299th career coaching victory.

Huck, in his 26th season at the Wolverines’ helm, can become the second Salem County soccer coach to reach 300 wins as early as Thursday in the regular-season finale against Pitman at Alcyon Park.

Schalick’s boys coach Joe Mannella, Huck’s good friend and neighbor, became the first Salem County soccer coach to reach the milestone on Oct. 2.

“People would bring it up and I kept saying I’ve got a ways to go, I’ve got a ways to go, and here we are at 13-4,” Huck said. “It’s definitely a weird feeling because I’m a numbers guy, I love numbers in sports, I’m always looking at different statistics and stuff like that.

“You know how I am about the history of our soccer program, but when it came to me I never really thought about ever being in this situation. Whether I played it off as I don’t know if I’ll be coaching that long or maybe I won’t win as much as I did. As a coach I always downplayed that a little bit, but in all honesty for a while it was like that will be a while before I get to that.”

Ibarra gave the Wolverines (13-4) a 1-0 halftime lead, then scored the first goal of the second half and 46th of his career. Bryce Ayars made it 3-0 and Dante Holmes scored the final goal of the game. Stengel was credited with five saves in the shutout.

“My defense definitely stepped up; they’ve been stepping up all season,” Huck said. “We had a little talk at halftime – we were up 1-0  and were pretty much controlling the game – I looked right at Dante Holmes, my center back, and my two other backs and Ben and I said over the next 40 minutes you guys need to win this game for us. You keep them off the board we win the game.

“Allow the offense to keep working at it and working at it, but you know what you’ve got ahead of yourselves. It’s a 1-0 game and if you can lock ‘em down for 40 minutes than we’ve got ourselves win No. 13. And they did that.”

And it gave their coach win No. 299.

The victory also elevated the Wolverines to No. 2 in the current South Jersey Group I power points standings.

When Mannella joined the 300 Club at Wildwood, the feat was met with a commemorative game ball, balloons spelling out “300” and a healthy dousing from the water bucket. Not that Huck is expecting any of that when his entry into the 300 Club becomes official, but he has never had the water bucket treatment before. 

“I always said I’d love to be able to share that (milestone) within the same year of him,” Huck told Riverview Sports News last month. “It also means we’ve been around a long time, too. We’ve had some very good players and, if anything, 300 is just a true testament to staying consistent and doing the right things.”

SALEM TECH 4, GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 3: Clinton Bobo scored the tying and winning goals in the Chargers’ three-goal second-half rally that erased a 3-1 deficit. Aiden Bobo scored in the first half and Bobby Jones got the Chargers’ first goal in the second half.

“We were dragging in the first half,” Chargers coach Rob Polk said. “They were beating us to every ball over the field.

“We talked mainly at halftime about effort and coming out fast in the second half. We’ve been playing pretty well the last couple weeks and I was pretty confident if we came out and found a way to pop a goal in early the momentum would shift and more would follow. We were fortunate enough to finish an early chance and the game kind of opened up for us after that.”

The Chargers (5-10) have their eye on a school-record third straight win Thursday at Salem.

PENNSVILLE 5, CLAYTON 1: Shane Puckett scored the Eagles’ first three goals — his first career hat trick — and Ugur Elmali and J.P. Laughrey extended the lead with goals in the final three minutes.

SCHALICK 2, PITMAN 0: Oscar Hernandez and Luke Price scored first-half goals in the Cougars’ ninth straight victory. The Cougars (14-1) remain the No. 1 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings.

WILDWOOD 9, SALEM 0: NuNu Bedderi and Gavin Burns both scored hat tricks for the Warriors. For Bedderi it was his second straight three-goal game. He now has 30 goals in his first season playing high school soccer in the United States.

OVERBROOK 2, PENNS GROVE 1 (OT)

GIRLS SOCCER
Wildwood at Salem

SCHALICK 4, PENNSVILLE 0: The Cougars outshot their hosts 24-6, scored two goals in each half and had four players light the lamp. Quinn Berger and Abby Willoughby scored in the first half, while Cali Fisler and Jael Winnberg scored in the second. (Related story posting soon)

WOODSTOWN 1, GLASSBORO 0: Sophie Wells scored the game’s only goal in the first half and goalie Ellie Wygand kept the Bulldogs out of the net to make it stand.

GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 6, SALEM TECH 0: Six players scored goals for the Rams.

OVERBROOK 7, PENNS GROVE 0: Gianna Simon scored four goals and Victoria Bupp had three.

GIRLS TENNIS
OVERBROOK 5, PENNS GROVE 0
Keira Riess (O) def. Alease Stewart, 6-0, 6-0
Nesrine Fosso (O) def. Andrea Restrepo, 6-0, 6-1
Sophia Burgos (O) def. Zeven Akkaya, 6-0, 6-1
Hillary Cho-Jennifer Giovanni (O) def. Janiyah Cummings-Makala Washington, 6-1, 6-2
Madison Rikard-Gianna Hardy (O) def. Elif Sagir-Gabriela Roman, 6-0, 6-0.
Records: Overbrook 6-14, Penns Grove 0-12

WOODSTOWN 4, WILDWOOD 1
Gabby Kurpis (Wo) def. Charlie Cunningham-Hackney, 6-0, 6-0
Camille Osborn (Wo) def. Cydnee Kilian, 6-1, 6-0
Angela Wilber (Wi) def. Aubrie Rennie, 6-2, 6-2
Alyssa Berry-Julianna Lindenmuth (Wo) def. Kiana D’Antuano-Estella Robinson, 6-1, 6-0
Leah Waterman-Nathalie Neron (Wo) def. Selin Ogden-Emma Contreras, 6-0, 6-1
Records: Woodstown 14-5, Wildwood 7-8

FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at St. Joe (Hamm.)

PENNSVILLE 1, OVERBROOK 1: Izzy Saulin scored in the fourth quarter to earn the Eagles (5-8-2) a tie.

VOLLEYBALL
Washington Twp. 2, Salem Tech 0 (25-11, 25-18)

So you say there’s a chance

Unofficial (but generally pretty accurate) UPR rankings has Penns Grove holding the final spot in the South Jersey Group I playoffs heading into final regular-season game; official list has Red Devils 20th

By Riverview Sports News

Penns Grove’s hopes for a spot in the Group I football playoffs may not be as far off as the final nine minutes of its game Saturday at Woodbury might have led one to believe.

In the South Jersey Group I power ratings updated Sunday by Gridiron New Jersey, the official supplier of the state’s UPR rankings that determine the 16-team playoff brackets, the Red Devils were No. 20, one full UPR point behind current No. 16 Audubon. The outlet noted its rankings would change “slightly” when it finalizes Strength Index Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Central Jersey Sports Radio index, which has been one of the most accurate unofficial UPR sources, has the Red Devils in a more favorable position. It lists them at No. 16, four-tenths of a point ahead of No. 17 Highland Park.

The Red Devils (1-7) wrap up their regular season Saturday at winless Salem (0-8) and will have to win the game to at least meet the minimum wins qualification for playoff consideration.

Their position looked strong early in the second half Saturday. They grabbed a nine-point lead early in the third quarter and carried it into the fourth. They held a two-point lead with less than six minutes to play, then misplayed a punt and fumbled a pitch that led to Woodbury touchdowns.

Woodstown, Schalick and Pennsville all seem safely in the field. If Pennsville gets in, it will be the Eagles’ first playoff appearance since 2019.

Here are the rankings according to the two groups:

SJ Group I power ratings

TOP 16(as of Oct. 20)
SCHOOLRECORDPOWER PTSOSIUPR
Glassboro7-012.0057.082.4
Woodstown7-011.5761.833.0
Shore7-013.7145.613.4
Paulsboro6-211.8148.654.0
Schalick5-310.1349.75.4
Haddon Twp.5-111.5841.196.2
Riverside6-212.1338.328.0
Middlesex6-211.3840.138.2
Burlington City5-310.5039.679-2
Pennsville4-48.4440.9410.4
Woodbury3-47.7142.8810.8
New Egypt5-28.8638.6711.0
Manville6-29.2537.3511.8
Clayton4-2-18.0034.0016.8
Pt. Pleasant Beach4-37.7135.6816.8
Audubon2-47.8334.7817.0

20. Penns Grove (1-7) 18.0, 21. Salem (0-8) 19.4. Source: Gridiron New Jersey

PROJECTED PLAYOFF MATCHUPS
(Based on current standings)
SOUTH JERSEY
Glassboro vs. Audubon
Middlesex vs. Burlington City
x-Paulsboro vs. New Egypt
x-Schalick vs. Manville
CENTRAL JERSEY
Shore vs. Clayton
Haddon Twp. vs. Woodbury
Riverside vs. Pennsville
Woodstown vs. Point Pleasant Beach
x-Schalick jumps Paulsboro based on head-to-head

CENTRAL JERSEY RADIO RANKINGS
South Jersey Group I Top 16
1. Glassboro, 2. Woodstown, 3. Shore, 4. Paulsboro, 5. Schalick, 6. Middlesex, 7. Haddon Twp., 8. Riverside, 9. Burlington City, 10. Woodbury, 11. Pennsville, 12. New Egypt, 13. Manville, 14. Clayton, 15. Audubon, 16. Penns Grove.

If this scenario remains, Penns Grove would play Glassboro or Woodstown in the first round of the playoffs, depending on who wins that game Friday night.

This week’s schedule

Here is this week’s Salem County sports schedule for the week of Oct. 21-26

OCT. 21
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick at Deptford
Woodstown at Overbrook
GIRLS TENNIS
Pennsville at Overbrook, 3:45 p.m.
Pitman at Salem
Woodstown at Schalick
BOYS SOCCER
Bridgeton at Penns Grove
Salem at Camden County Tech
CROSS COUNTRY
State Tech Championship at Salem Tech
VOLLEYBALL
Cape May County Tech at Salem Tech

OCT. 22
BOYS SOCCER
Glassboro at Woodstown
Gloucester Catholic at Salem Tech
Overbrook at Penns Grove
Pennsville at Clayton
Pitman at Schalick, 6 p.m.
Salem at Wildwood
GIRLS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Overbrook
Salem Tech at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick at Pennsville
Wildwood at Salem
Woodstown at Glassboro
GIRLS TENNIS
Overbrook at Penns Grove
Woodstown at Wildwood
FIELD HOCKEY
Pennsville at Overbrook
Woodstown at St. Joe (Hamm.)
VOLLEYBALL
Washington Twp. at Salem Tech
WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Cecil College at Salem CC, 6 p.m.

OCT. 23
FIELD HOCKEY
Salem at Schalick
GIRLS TENNIS
Glassboro at Woodstown
Salem at Overbrook
Wildwood at Penns Grove
CROSS COUNTRY
Tri-County Showcase at Cumberland

OCT. 24
FIELD HOCKEY
Woodstown at Hammonton
BOYS SOCCER
Gloucester Catholic at Pennsville
Woodstown at Pitman
Salem Tech at Salem
Schalick at Penns Grove
GIRLS SOCCER
Penns Grove at Schalick
Salem at Salem Tech
Pennsville at Woodstown
GIRLS TENNIS
Schalick at Pennsville (conclusion of susp. match), 3:45 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL
Timber Creek at Salem Tech

OCT. 25
FOOTBALL
Woodstown at Glassboro, 6 p.m.
Audubon at Camden Catholic
Paulsboro at Clayton, TBA
Collingswood at Pennsville
Overbrook at West Deptford
Woodbury at Schalick, 6 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Pennsville at Overbrook
Salem Tech at Wildwood Catholic
GIRLS SOCCER
Salem at Paulsboro
GIRLS TENNIS
Woodstown at Pennsville
FIELD HOCKEY
Gloucester Catholic at Salem
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Gloucester Catholic

OCT. 26
FOOTBALL
Salem at Penns Grove, noon
GIRLS SOCCER
Schalick at Williamstown, 10 a.m.
MENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Baltimore JUCO Jamboree
Salem CC vs. Anne Arundel, noon
Salem CC vs. Southern Maryland, 6 p.m.

Friday sports report

Here are the scores from Friday’s high school sports action involving teams from Salem County

FRIDAY, OCT. 18
FIELD HOCKEY
Egg Harbor Twp. 0, Woodstown 0

BOYS SOCCER
Salem Tech 2, Clayton 1
Salem at Gloucester Catholic
Schalick 4, Glassboro 1
Woodstown 3, Overbrook 1

GIRLS SOCCER
Clayton 5, Salem Tech 0
Gloucester Catholic at Salem
Pennsville 3, Penns Grove 0
Woodstown 3, Overbrook 1

GIRLS TENNIS
Pennsville 5, Salem 0
Pitman 5, Penns Grove 0
Schalick at Glassboro

VOLLEYBALL
Triton 2, Salem Tech 0 (25-4, 25-5)

Big plays bite Cougars

Glassboro uses three big pass plays early to seize control, then shuts down Schalick in second half to remain undefeated; Pennsville crushes Lawrence to enhance playoff hopes

FRIDAY SALEM COUNTY FOOTBALL
Pennsville 35, Lawrence 7
Glassboro 20, Schalick 10

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Every season when the West Jersey Football League schedule comes out the history buffs on the Schalick coaching staff, of which head coach Mike Wilson is a big one, start looking for that one game the Cougars call their “Stalingrad game.”

It’s the kind of game the Cougars look to play in close quarters and wait for their opponent who likes to play in the open field to become impatient.

Sometimes, though, the best laid plans just aren’t enough against superior forces. Instead of getting caught up in the Cougars’ “Rattenkrieg,” Glassboro played “Bombs Away” Friday night.

The Bulldogs hit their hosts with three big pass plays in the first half to either set up or score touchdowns to seize control of the scoreboard in an eventual 20-10 victory that kept them undefeated and sets up a presumptive WJFL Diamond Division title game next week with Woodstown.

“That was 100 percent the game plan, to shorten the game, the only thing we didn’t do, we gave up three big plays – again,” Wilson said. “We didn’t change anything. We stayed patient the entire game. No unnecessary risks. It came down to three big plays, which we coached all week. We just didn’t execute.”

In hopes of frustrating the Bulldogs (7-0) into making a mistake, the Cougars (5-3) wanted to play a ball-control style of offense, picking up three and four yards at a time, to chew up a lot of game clock and play field position. It’s the same approach they took when they played in Bulldogs in last year’s 20-0 Central Jersey Group I title game.

Glassboro beat the strategy Friday by holding the Cougars to a three-and-out on the opening possession and then connecting on a 52-yard pass from Kristopher Foster to Mekhi Parker on its first offensive play of the game. The bomb set up Kenny Smith’s 4-yard touchdown run seven plays later to open the scoring. 

Later in the half, Foster connected on a 70-yard touchdown pass to Amari Sabb on the first play of the second quarter and a 63-yard scoring strike to Xavier Sabb 3:41 before halftime to make 20-3. Foster was 4-of-7 for 187 yards passing in the first half and threw for 206 yards in the game.

“We trust the players we’ve got,” Glassboro coach Timmy Breaker said. “We knew they were going to load the box. On film they blitz, blitz, blitz, blitz, blitz, so we came out to take a shot first play of the game.”

Xavier Sabb’s touchdown catch was a thing of beauty. He turned in one direction on the pattern to counter the cornerback, Foster put the ball on his other shoulder and Sabb twisted back in midair to catch it and go.

“I really closed my eyes, honestly,” he said. “I just trusted my hands. I knew he was going to dive at me so I picked my legs up and it was over after that.”

“Special kid, special talent and you’ll see a lot of that from him,” Breaker said. “He’s a gamer. Explosive. At any point in time in the game he can take over the game.”

Schalick scored 10 points in the second quarter on Hunter Dragotta’s 32-yard field goal and Kenai Simmons’ 18-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Sheehan.

The Cougars shut out Glassboro in the second half – even made a goal line stand after the Bulldogs returned the second half kickoff 67 yards to the 19 – but they couldn’t generate any offense as the Bulldogs cranked up the defense.

Glassboro held Schalick to just nine yards of net offense in the second half.

“Take those three plays out it’s 10-0,” Wilson said. “That’s the kind of game we wanted to play. We moved the ball decently here and there. Defensively I thought we played well outside of those plays. In a game like that it just came down to a couple plays and we lost them again.”

Glassboro 20, Schalick 10

GLASS (20)SCHAL (10)
91st Downs10
33-143Rushing27-34
8-13-1C-A-I7-16-1
206Passing121
2-1Fum-lost4-0
0-0Punts4-27.5
15-118Penalties4-20
Glassboro (7-0)61400-20
Schalick (5-3)01000-10

SCORING SUMMARY
G-Kenny Smith 4 run (kick failed), 5:45 1Q
G-Amari Sabb 70 pass from Kristopher Foster (Sal Esgro kick), 11:47 2Q
S-Hunter Dragotta 32 FG, 6:46 2Q
G-Xavier Sabb 63 pass from Kristopher Foster (Sal Esgro kick), 3:41 2Q
S-Dylan Sheehan 18 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2:21 2Q

Cover photo: Glassboro’s Xavier Sabb (0) had a 63-yard touchdown catch against Schalick. (Photo by Heather Papiano)

Pennsville bounces back

LAWRENCE – Moments after his team lost to Paulsboro last Saturday, Pennsville coach Mike Healy told his players there was still plenty in the season to play for, but now there was no room for error.

The Eagles bounced back on a long road trip to Mercer County Friday night. They played as if their playoff lives depended on it, jumped out to a big halftime lead and eventually put away Group IV Lawrence 35-7.

“We were very honest with the kids that we didn’t have any more wiggle room, we had to get the job done,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “The big thing for us is from the opening kickoff we showed up.

“I told them before the game we need to be physical the entire game and we need to be aggressive all game, we need to play with effort the entire game. I thought for the first half today we really showed up and did those things. We’ve had some games where we’re lacking one of those things, but I thought today we played up to our potential.”

Quarterback Robbie McDade ran for one touchdown and threw a pair of touchdown passes to Luke Wood and Rylan Hardy rushed for two scores. Hardy remains on track to become the Eagles’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Nick Bard in 2017 (1,657 yards).

The Eagles were up 22-0 with 2:03 left in the first half. They made it 28-0 with 14 seconds left and after the Cardinals fumbled the first play after the kickoff McDade threw his second TD pass to Wood with five second left in the half to make it 35-0.

“It was a pretty cool end to the half,” Healy said

WJFL Standings

DIAMOND DIVISIONDIVALL
Glassboro (4)4-07-0
Woodstown (1)3-06-0
Schalick (6)2-25-3
Woodbury (11)1-22-4
Penns Grove (20)0-31-6
Salem (23)0-30-7

NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Oct. 12

FRIDAY’S GAMES
Glassboro 20, Schalick 10
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Penns Grove at Woodbury
Woodstown at Salem

PATRIOT DIVISIONDIVALL
Camden Catholic (NPB-3)5-07-0
Paulsboro (5)5-16-2
West Deptford (G2-13)3-24-4
Pennsville (12)2-34-4
Audubon (13)1-32-3
Collingswood (G2-16)1-43-5
Overbrook (G2-25)0-42-4-1

NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power rankings through Oct. 12 (G2-Group 2, NPB-Non Public B)

FRIDAY’S GAMES
Pennsville 35, Lawrence 8
Camden Catholic 55, Collingswood 0
Paulsboro 18, West Deptford 12
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Audubon at Overbrook

Scurry, Alward reach milestones

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

FIELD HOCKEY
Schalick 9, Overbrook 1: Ava Scurry and Luci Virga both had three goals and two assists as the Cougars remained unbeaten (14-0-1). Phoebe Alward had two goals and two assists and Addi Shimp scored once.

Scurry, who plays multiple sports for the Cougars but is a field hockey player at heart, has scored a goal in six straight games with three hat tricks in the stretch. Her second goal Thursday was the 50th of her career.

That wasn’t the only milestone in the game. Alward picked up her 50th point of the season to surpass 100 points in her career.

Clearview 7, Woodstown 0: Alaina Lomonaco had a hat trick and Ella Candy scored twice. It was Lomonaco’s third game of three goals or more this season and gave her a single-season career-high 16 goals on the year.

Pennsville at Bridgeton
Salem at Clayton

GIRLS TENNIS
Penns Grove at Schalick

WOODSTOWN 4, OVERBROOK 1
Keira Riess (O) def. Gabby Kurpis, 7-5, 6-3, 10-7
Camille Osborn (Wo) def. Nesrine Fosso, 6-0, 6-0
Aubrie Rennie (Wo) def. Sophia Burgos, 6-1, 6-1
Julianna Lindenmuth-Leah Waterman (Wo) def. Hillary Cao-Jennifer Giovanni, 6-0, 6-3
EvaLouise Thomsen-Melissa Hassler (Wo) def. Madison Rikard-Gianna Hardy, 6-0, 6-0
Records: Woodstown 12-5, Overbrook 4-13.

GLASSBORO 5, SALEM 0
Ella Killelea (G) def. Cassidy Werkheiser, 6-1, 6-0
Kaylee Johnson (G) def. Tytiana Miller, 6-1, 6-1
Halle Lazarus (G) def. Angelina Fothergill, 6-1, 6-0
Records: Glassboro 5-8, Salem 1-9.

Group I Final Four
New Providence 4, Pitman 1
Glen Rock 3, Hanover Park 2
Championship: New Providence 5, Glen Rock 0

BOYS SOCCER
Pitman 5, Penns Grove 0

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)