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.
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)
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)
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).
CLAYTON — Erich Lipovsky stepped off Woodstown’s team bus at Haupt Field and immediately got smacked in the face by a big gust of wind. He instinctively knew what that meant.
If the Wolverines were lucky enough to have the coin toss go their way they were going to take the wind to start their morning matchup with Clayton.
The toss went their way, they went with the wind in the first half and scored two goals to fuel a 2-1 win that nudged coach Darren Huck a little closer to 300 wins.
“With the wind you don’t have to put too much pace on the ball, you just let the ball work,” junior back Bryce Ayars said. “When you’re playing without the wind it’s harder to push it down because the wind slows down the ball.
“It felt different today because I felt like our mood shifted from having the wind the first half (where) we generated some things. The second half it didn’t really go our way. I’m not saying it’s all the wind’s fault, but I think the wind was a big factor today.”
The Wolverines (10-4) like to play the game along the ground so getting an extra boost from the breeze at the start wasn’t behind the windy wisdom. It was more about what the breeze was going to do to the Clippers’ goalie punts and clearing the ball out of their defensive end, and then what they would do when they had it in the second half.
Woodstown scored both its goal with the wind at its back, but the wind didn’t influence either of the scores. Ayars and Lipovsky both scored on low bullets from in front of the net five apart in the first 15 minutes of the match.
For Ayars, it was his career-tying seventh goal of the year. For Lipovsky, it was his second and proved to be the game-winner.
“I don’t score a lot,” Lipovsky said. “I tend to move the ball forward more and then I don’t end up being in front of the net when the ball comes in, but I saw my opportunity, saw a gap in the defense, and just happened to put it in the right spot.”
“He got us what we needed today – he got us a goal,” Huck said. “He is not our top goal-scorer by any means, but he got what we needed today.”
What concerned Huck more than the wind was the Wolverines inability to finish when they had the chance – and they had plenty of chances. They took 36 shots in the match, but had only the two goals to show for it. Shots that by all accounts needed to find the back the net went wide, right into the keeper or off the cross bar. Ayars, Lipovsky and Nick DiTeodoro all had good chances in the second half.
The missed chances became even more glaring after Jonathan Rehm got the Clippers within 2-1 with a goal five minutes into the second half.
“I thought we had a couple really good opportunities where we could’ve put the third goal in and built on getting the fourth goal and we didn’t do that today and that was discouraging,” Huck said. “I thought the defense played strong like they usually do … it was just a matter offensively we’ve got to finish.
“We should have put a third goal in and built on getting a fourth goal. We need to be different on Friday. If we don’t do that, Overbrook will sneak out of there with a 1-0 win.”
Girls game
WOODSTOWN 1, CLAYTON 0: Ryann Foote broke a scoreless tie in the second half when she converted an Emma Morgan pass for the game’s only goal. It was her third goal of the game. Ellie Wygand made four saves in posting the shutout. Each of the Wolverines’ last five wins have all been by shutout; they are 5-1-1 in that stretch.
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
Saturday football: Pennsville’s loss at Paulsboro turns on three big miscues in second half; Woodstown hits 6-0 for first time since 2013, but facing adversity
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PAULSBORO – Pennsville came out for the second half Saturday brimming with confidence. After a flat first half and long halftime, they were convinced things were going to be different.
And they did start fast, getting two long touchdown bursts from Rylan Hardy to take their first lead of the game. Sure, it was only a two-point lead, but momentum was building on their side. Even their sideline sounded louder after the first score tied the game.
But then things went south. In a hurry. Like a Jenga tower when the wrong block gets pulled.
The Eagles gave up a big play and a touchdown on the next possession to lose the lead and then made three huge mistakes over the next five minutes of game clock they couldn’t recover from and lost to Paulsboro 36-24.
They gave up a 48-yard run to Sawyer Cabanas on the first play after Hardy’s 65-yard touchdown run and Robbie McDade’s conversion pass to Malik Rehmer gave the Eagles a 16-14 lead with 4:39 left in the third quarter. That eventually led to Aundre Hill’s second touchdown of the quarter to put the Red Raiders back on top.
But it got worse. It was still only a six-point game, but the Eagles mishandled a bouncing ball on the ensuing kickoff and Paulsboro recovered. They made the Red Raiders work for it, but Jahsir Johnson tossed a 2-yard TD pass to Jeremiah Carr on fourth-and-goal to stretch the lead.
On the next possession Hardy had a for-sure 47-yard touchdown run, but it was called back by a holding penalty. The Eagles started going backwards after that and then on fourth down they snapped a ball over the punter’s head for a 23-yard loss.
Paulsboro took over in the red zone and Cabanas eventually scored on a 1-yard run.
“You can call it bad luck, but you’ve got to make your own luck also in football, and we just didn’t do some things right today,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “It kind of started compounding and we weren’t able to settle down and get control of the game again. We just kept making mistakes one on top of the other and that’s what happens.
“It’s frustrating but at the same time we put ourselves in that position by not playing well in the first half.”
The first half was kind of a snoozefest with very little action, but that changed in the second half. The teams traded touchdowns on the first four possessions and then it broke on the mishandled kickoff.
The play happened on the far side of the field and Healy didn’t get a clear look at it so he deferred comment except to chalk it up to cascade of mistakes that was to come.
“We’ve got to coach that up better,” Healy said.
The loss spoiled a big game from Hardy. The junior running back came to life in the second half and picked up 127 of his 145 yards rushing in the third quarter with runs of 28, 29 and 65 yards. And he was denied another 47 yards in the fourth.
Paulsboro, meanwhile, spread the wealth. KyAire Harvey rushed for 113 yards in the first half, including a 64-yard touchdown for the only points of the half. He finished with 193 yards rushing. Cabanas had 73 yards and Hill had 70.
The Eagles did salvage a bit of pride when they drove 45 and scored on Robbie McDade’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Malik Rehmer with just under a minute to play.
“I was glad to us playing there til the end,” Healy said. “Defensively we were still trying to get after kids. It’s frustrating all around, but it’s always good to see kids are still trying to move the ball and do what they’re supposed to do. You’re still to coach ‘em the whole time even when it’s in a situation like that.”
Paulsboro 36, Pennsville 24
PENN
PAUL
8
1st Downs
12
22-161
Rushing
40-343
6-11-0
Passes
5-8-0
67
Passing
29
2-1
Fum-Lost
2-1
3-28.7
Punts
1-25.0
7-45
Penalties
7-50
Pennsville (3-4)
0
0
16
8-
24
Paulsboro (5-2)
8
0
14
14-
36
SCORING SUMMARY PB-KyAire Harvey 64 run (Jeremiah Carr pass from Jahsir Johnson), 6:36 1Q PV-Rylan Hardy 29 run (Malik Rehmer pass from Robbie McDade), 7:18 3Q PB-Aundre Hill 30 run (pass failed), 5:36 3Q PV-Rylan Hardy 65 run (Malik Rehmer pass from Robbie McDade), 4:30 3Q PB-Aundre Hill 9 run (Jeremiah Carr pass from Jahsir Johnson), 1:10 3Q PB-Jeremiah Carr 2 pass from Jahsir Johnson), 10:21 4Q PB-Sawyer Cabanas 1 run (kick failed), 4:14 4Q PV-Malik Rehmer 9 pass from Robbie McDade (Robbie McDade run), 58.1 4Q
Woodstown backup quarterback Lucas Fulmer (2) watches starter Jack Holladay throw a pass in the first half against Haddon Heights. Fulmer directed the offense in the second half after Holladay got hurt late in the second quarter. (Photo by Ellen Sickler)
Wolverines win, but face adversity
HADDON HEIGHTS – Throughout his first season as Woodstown’s head coach, Frank Trautz has preferred to focus on the progress of his players and their team above any buzz their season-opening winning streak is creating.
The Wolverines won again Saturday, beating Haddon Heights 17-8 to reach 6-0 for the first time since 2013, but they’re about to face the first real challenge to that all-for-one mindset they’ve embraced.
Senior quarterback Jack Holladay suffered an upper body injury in the collarbone/shoulder area late in the second quarter and didn’t play the second half. The extent of his injury won’t be known until further evaluation Monday.
The Wolverines are currently tied with Glassboro for the WJFL Diamond Division lead and are the No. 1 team in the latest South Jersey Group I power points standings, meaning they would be a No. 1 South or Central Jersey seed for the third year in a row if the playoffs started today.
Holladay was in his first year as the Wolverines’ starter, stepping into the role following the graduation of his four-year starter cousin, Max Webb. In the first five games of the season he completed 17 of 35 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns. He was 3-for-3 for 53 yards, including a 42-yard pass to Garrett Leyman shortly before getting hurt.
“I think you know what I’m going to say about (the winning streak) – we’ll enjoy the win, let’s get ready for next week,” Trautz said. “We’re just a complete team. We can do it in a lot of different ways. The kids just pick each other up and it doesn’t matter really who’s doing it. We find a way to get it done.”
With Holladay on the sidelines, the Wolverines turned to backup quarterback Lucas Fulmer to run the offense in the second half. The junior has been the Wolverines’ JV quarterback and his appearance in the second half was his first varsity action.
“In my opinion in sports that’s one of the toughest spots to go in as a backup quarterback,” Trautz said. “He handled the offense well. He got us in and out of the huddle, controlled everything. I was very proud of the way he handled himself out there today.”
Of course, the playbook shrunk “a lot” with Fulmer in the game and the second half became more about “grind it out and get the win any way necessary,.”
“Football is all about facing adversity,” running back Bryce Belinfanti told Brian Tortella of South Jersey Glory Days after the game. “That’s what we had to do is face adversity. It’s a football game and at the end of the day we still had to go out and win the second half.”
The Wolverines were leading 10-0 at the time Holladay got hurt. Belinfanti capped their first possession with a 2-yard touchdown run and Jake Ware kicked a 25-yard second-quarter field goal. Belinfanti rushed for 98 yards in the game.
It stayed that way until the final minute of the game when Bobby Donahue scored from two yards out. The Garnets returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to avoid the shutout.
“That was huge to get that extra touchdown there at the end,” Trautz said.
If Holladay can’t go next Saturday at Salem Trautz has “complete faith” in Fulmer stepping up and doing the job. The 2013 team whose start this year’s team matched started 11-0.
“These guys play for one another and they pick each other up,” Trautz said. “I have no doubt if Jack can’t go next week then these guys will be ready to go.”
Woodstown 17, Haddon Heights 8
WOOD
HH
8
1st Downs
7
43-138
Rushing
25-35
3-3-0
Passes
5-8-1
53
Passing
11
4-20
Penalties
NA
Woodstown (6-0)
7
3
0
7-
7
Haddon Heights (1-5)
0
0
0
8-
8
SCORING SUMMARY WO-Bryce Belinfanti 2 run (Jake Ware kick) WO-Jake Ware 25 FG WO-Bobby Donahue 2 run (Jake Ware kick) HH-Camaj Matthews 75 kickoff return (Damier Outterbridge-Ali pass from Amare Ridley)
Lucas Fulmer (2) turns to hand the ball to Bryce Belinfanti in the second half against Haddon Heights. Belinfanti rushed for 98 yards in the game. (Photo by Ellen Sickler)
WJFL Standings
DIAMOND DIVISION
DIV
ALL
Woodstown (1)
3-0
6-0
Glassboro (4)
3-0
6-0
Schalick (6)
2-1
5-2
Woodbury (11)
1-2
2-4
Penns Grove (20)
0-3
1-6
Salem (23)
0-3
0-7
NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Oct. 12
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 43, Woodbury 30 Woodstown 17, Haddon Heights 8
PATRIOT DIVISION
DIV
ALL
Camden Catholic (NPB-3)
4-0
6-0
Paulsboro (5)
4-1
5-2
West Deptford (G2-13)
3-1
4-3
Pennsville (12)
2-3
3-4
Audubon (13)
1-3
2-3
Collingswood (G2-16)
1-3
3-4
Overbrook (G2-25)
0-4
2-4-1
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 41, Overbrook 6 Paulsboro 36, Pennsville 24
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.
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.
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.
Riverview Sports News 