Woodstown falls to Glassboro in Group I semifinals on trick play with 50 seconds to go

GROUP I PLAYOFFS
Friday’s semifinals
Glassboro 14, Woodstown 10
Mountain Lakes 49, Shabazz 12
Championship game
At Rutgers
Nov. 26
Glassboro (9-3) vs. Mountain Lakes (10-2)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — Some time later tonight Woodstown football coach John Adams is going to pop the film of Friday night’s game into the player, get to the final three minutes and wonder what do the Wolverines have to do to catch a break in the playoffs.

The Wolverines have gone deep in the playoffs each of the last three years and all three have ended short of the goal and in gut-wrenching fashion.

None were as painful as the fate that befell them Friday night.

By most accounts, the Wolverines seemed destined to get through to the state title game. But Glassboro broke their hearts with a trick play that went for 60 yards and a touchdown with 50 seconds left, propelling the Bulldogs to a 14-10 win in front of nearly 2,000 fans at Clint Ware Field.

Glassboro (9-3) will now play Mountain Lakes (10-2) next Sunday at Rutgers for the Group I state championship.

The Wolverines (9-3) have had the hardest luck in the playoffs. They were taken out by Woodbury in the final five minutes of the South Jersey Group I final two years ago and they lost to Paulsboro in the second round last year in a game where turnovers did them in. 

“The deeper you get in the playoffs the tougher they get,” Wolverines quarterback Max Webb said. “You can’t ever expect to have a blowout win in anything like that, so you have to expect these things when they come.

“It sucks. The last time on this field, last time playing for this high school, this team, it sucks. It’s not how you want to go out, but it’s what it is.”

Adams conceded this one was the hardest of the three heartbreaks to take because this one was right there for the taking.

“To have it end like that is just something that’s tough to swallow,” Adams said.

The play that broke the Wolverines’ heart Friday was a double pass from Kristopher Foster to Davon Barr to Xavier Sabb. 

The game seemed headed towards a wild Woodstown celebration after Jake Ware hit a 22-yard field goal to make it 10-8 and Damien Eichler sacked Foster inside the Glassboro 20 on fourth down with about four minutes to play. If the Wolverines could punch it in from there, they surely would have put it away.

“The whole crowd was going nuts,” Adams said. “I had double headsets and I could hear them through the headsets. It was insane how loud it was. And when Max ripped off that run on the bash that we called and we end up getting that first down, we were just saying ‘ball security’ and just keep running it and run the time down. Unfortunately, the ball security wasn’t there.”

Their fortunes turned on the next play. Webb went to fake a handoff to Bryce Belinfanti in a play that had worked so well for them all game but the ball got hung on Belinfanti’s hip on the takeaway and bounced free. Glassboro’s Damere Lassiter recovered it to give the Bulldogs life with 2:58 to go.

Foster moved his offense out towards midfield. On a second-and-15 from the 40, Bulldogs coach Timmy Breaker called for the double pass.

It was a play the Wolverines (9-3) had been working on in practice ever since Shore Regional and Woodbury caught them on it in the playoffs two years ago. This time Sabb got behind the corners who bit on the play and the freshman had open field in front of him when he pulled it in. Barr admitted he was nervous at first, but those butterflies went away as the play developed.

“Devon is the backup quarterback; we practice it all the time, all the time,” Breaker said. “We knew they were playing Xavier hard. A heluva call, one that’ll go down in the books. I’ve got to give big, big, big props to the kids. They executed it.”

Sabb also returned a punt in the third quarter 86 yards for a touchdown and Barr ran in the conversion to give Glassboro an 8-7 lead. The big return atoned for the punt he fumbled earlier in the quarter. 

“I was talking to the ref and was like if I get this in my hands I’m going to get a touchdown because a messed up the first one,” Sabb said. “Once I got it in my hands I wasn’t going to let anybody touch me. I was in my feelings a little bit (after the fumble), but I had more worry about the game than myself.”

Neither team yielded much in the first half, but Woodstown came away with a 7-0 halftime lead after Webb’s 1-yard sneak in the second quarter. It was the first touchdown Glassboro had allowed in the playoffs and the first one they had allowed in 14 quarters.

The Wolverines preserved their early lead with four takeaways, including interceptions by Carter Orlandini and Webb inside the 3 in the first half, but they were the ones with the turnovers in the second half.

“I think it’s a learning curve; it’s getting used to playing at this level.,” Adams said. “We got to the championship two years ago and we knew this feeling we’re having tonight and we learned from it. Two years later we end up conquering that and win the championship.

“I told them now it’s the next step, being able to finish in a game like this. Gotta learn from it and gotta hope the younger guys, just like these seniors did, have that chip on their shoulder that they want to get to this stage and you hope you get a chance again.”

Glassboro 14, Woodstown 10

On life in uncharted territory, playing a third straight regular-season rematch, the underlying secret to the Wolverines’ success, and more

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Playing this deep into the high school football season is a whole new experience for the Woodstown football program. It’s an exciting time for the Wolverines, for sure, but instead of getting off track in uncharted territory they are approaching it as they have every game this year – business as usual.

The Wolverines won their first South Jersey Group I title in school history last week and host Glassboro Friday two wins away from a state championship. But if you watched them practice this week, you’d think they were getting ready for a game in early October.

“It’s like every other week, preparing the same,” quarterback Max Webb said. “Obviously it’s for a little higher stakes, but we’re not doing anything special. It’s just like every other week.”

That doesn’t mean they aren’t intense as they go about it.

“There’s definitely a different tone to the team in our work ethic and drive since the playoffs have started because we know it’s win or go home,” record-setting running back Bryce Belinfanti said. “What we’re doing right now is something that’s hard to be done again so we have to make it count.”

So what’s like being in uncharted territory?

“It’s awesome,” Wolverines coach John Adams said. “I said to the kids we’re not used to this, I think 2018 was the first time they started doing the regional championships, which is this round, and if we win this one you move onto the state championship, which has only been one year in the making so far.

“We can’t be satisfied with just getting over that hump last week. We’ve got to make sure we’re focused on Glassboro and not coming off a big-win hangover like what happened to us walking into Haddonfield (after beating Woodbury in the regular season).

“It’s fun. It’s special. The kids are going to remember being one of the only sports out here. You look around there’s no other teams playing right now. It’s pretty special.”

THE SECRET: The Wolverines may be riding the momentum of their first sectional championship, but they’ve been on this track for a long time. 

Over the last four years they are 30-11 – 26-7 in the last three, with three playoff trips and two appearances in the sectional final. The secret to that success can be traced to the fact most of the players have been playing together since they were 6 and playing for the Woodstown Pirates youth program.

“It’s definitely part of it,” Webb said. “We’ve run something close to this offense since we were little, so growing up in it definitely helps with our comfort level of what we’re doing now.”

“It makes us have so much more chemistry than the other team,” receiver/defensive back Anthony Ford Dale said.

It was Ford Dale who techniqued Woodbury receiver Marquis Taylor out of the back of the end zone to deny his potential game-tying touchdown catch in the fourth quarter of last week’s sectional final game.

A good feeder program is the key to any sustained success, and that’s what they’ve got here. Adams went to one of their games over the weekend and thought he was on his own sideline.

“A lot of these guys grew up playing for the Woodstown Pirates and it just so happens that our Junior Woodstown Pirates, our Senior Woodstown Pirates and us all play Glassboro this week in the playoffs,” Adams said. “The majority of these guys went through that program, they grew up in that program. 

“Some of our kids go and coach for them. You go over there and you hear all the terminology that we’re using, so when you hear the coaches yelling stuff out that’s the same term we use. It’s just neat to see.

“That group – Jack Knorr, Max Webb, James (Hill), Bryce (Belinfanti), Damien (Eichler) and all those guys – have always grown up winning down there at that level so we knew when they came to high school we had a group of kids who knew how to win.”

THREE’S COMPANY: If the Wolverines didn’t know better, they’d swear they were playing in the NFC East or within some other division in the NFL. 

This week’s Group I state semifinal game against Glassboro is the third week in a row the Wolverines will be playing a regular-season rematch, something akin to playing the Giants, Dallas and Washington in home-and-home series like they do in the pros.

Woodbury won three rematches on its way to winning the first ever Group I state title – Penns Grove, Maple Shade and Salem – but not in consecutive weeks. Woodstown beat Diamond Division rivals Penns Grove and Woodbury each for the second time in the second and third rounds and will be looking to avenge a regular-season loss to Glassboro.

“It shows how tough our division in that we’re seeing these teams so deep in the playoffs,” Webb said. “It definitely helps because we know what they’ve got and we know what they’re going to show against us. It helps us prepare for it a little bi more

The prep to the rematches are easier, Belinfanti said, because you’re immediately familiar with the opponent’s tendencies and personnel, but the game itself will “definitely be harder, especially if you won the first one.”

“It’s a challenge, definitely,” Belinfanti said. “Our coach always says it’s hard to beat a team twice. We love the challenge. Three rematches in a row would be huge to win, for sure.”

END ZONE A DEAD ZONE: The Wolverines have outscored their opponents 118-40 during their current four-game winning streak, but they may find touchdowns hard to come by Friday night. 

Glassboro has shut out all three of its opponents in the playoffs this year and hasn’t given up more than one touchdown in any of its last eight games, including a 13-7 overtime win over Woodstown. The last team to find the end zone against the Bulldogs was Buena in the third quarter of a 39-6 loss – that’s 13 quarters of 0s.

“They haven’t played an offense that’s the caliber of us yet,” Belinfanti said.

“We know what we’ve got and we’ll handle all that,” Webb said. “I’d put it on a lot of things that we can score on almost any team in the state.”

IN LIVING COLOR: The Wolverines’ color scheme for the state semifinals is blue on white.

Glassboro (8-3) at Woodstown (9-2)
Tale of the Tape

Woodstown junior running back was going to play a big role in offense this year, but comes into his own a year ahead of schedule

NJSIAA GROUP I SEMIFINALS
Friday’s Games
Glassboro Bulldogs (8-3) at Woodstown Wolverines (9-2), 7 p.m.
Shabazz Bulldogs (8-3) at Mountain Lakes Herd (9-2), 7 p.m.
Championship game
At Rutgers
Nov. 26 or Nov. 29 (if Shabazz wins North)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — Bryce Belinfanti came into his junior season expecting he would be an important part of Woodstown’s offense, with a larger role at the start of the year already mapped out but ultimately as a complementary piece when record-setting running back James Hill returned from rehabbing his knee injury.

It was going to be a chance to show everyone the kind of back he could be and he’d continue in that mindset once Hill returned even if it were in a reduced role as he waited for his chance to be the Wolverines’ full-time lead back next year.

Well, next year came a lot faster than anyone thought.

Hill was expected to return in the third game of the year, but the week he was due back he hurt his other knee in gym class and eventually would undergo another season-ending surgery.

Fortunately for the Wolverines, everyone, including the running back himself, had gotten comfortable with Belinfanti in the role as lead back, so there really wasn’t much of a transition as much as it was keeping on more of the same. If anything, it removed any doubt about the distribution of carries and Belinfanti has emerged as the back he always thought he could be.

He has gone on to have one of Salem County’s most productive rushing seasons in the last 15 years. His 1,641 yards eclipsed the Woodstown school rushing record Hill set last year and is the fourth-best year by a Salem County back since at least 2010 when best records are available. He certainly will add to those totals Friday night when the Wolverines host Glassboro in the Group I state semifinals.

He is the most prolific running back left in the Group I playoffs and the second most prolific running back left in the state playoffs in any classification to only Trashon Dye of Group V Passaic Tech (1,849).

“I came into the year looking to prove myself, to show that I can play, too,” Belinfanti said. “They knew I could play, but I could be a running back, too. I knew when James came back I was still going to get a good amount of touches and we were going to run different formations and all, and I was excited because it would be hard to stop the two of us.

“When we got that news (of Hill’s new injury) I was sad because I love playing with James. When I knew James was out I knew that I didn’t want to let my teammates down, that I didn’t want them to feel like (it) was going to affect our season and feel down on themselves. I just knew we had the offensive line to do it and I always knew I could do this. When it was time, I was just ready to work, ready to play, to show who I am.”

The plan all along was to have Hill and Belinfanti in the backfield at the same time, a sort of thunder-and-lightning duo with complementary running styles, so teams couldn’t key on one over the other. They started sliding pieces of that plan into the offense as early as late last season when the two flipped positions, with Hill moving to slot receiver and Belinfanti to running back to get him experience in that role.

But it’s funny how fate has a way of intervening sometimes. What is it they say about the best laid plans? When thunder-and-lightning became a rain of one, the Wolverines incorporated some schemes to take advantage of Belinfanti’s vision and skill set.

“We were really gearing to do a lot of things with them in the backfield at the same time, to open it up even more because who are you going to key on,” Wolverines head coach John Adams said. “When James went down it was (to Belinfanti) you’re in the role we were going to start to use you in just full-time now without another guy to share the handoffs with and he’s done a great job.

“He’s been a guy that we always knew could run the ball. He has been one of those kids who growing up you knew he had it and he was just waiting for his time. He was a really, really good back when you watched him in elementary school and middle school growing up and (when his turn came) he really stepped up.”

Belinfanti carried the ball 10 or more times only twice in his varsity career prior to this season, but proved capable of handling a bigger load in the first two games when he had 20 carries in each game and went for 132 and 186 yards. Hill was expected back the next week against Deptford, but was held out after hurting his other knee in gym class earlier in the week. The Wolverines only needed Belinfanti for a half and he had 92 yards on six carries. 

When the word came down on Hill it saddened everyone. It was all on Belinfanti’s shoulders now, but he never wavered. He had every confidence he’d deliver in a role “I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”

The Wolverines played Glassboro the next week and the Bulldogs kept Belinfanti out of the end zone while winning 13-7 in overtime. (The Bulldogs will be Woodstown’s third straight regular-season rematch when they play Friday). It was the last time anyone kept him out of the end zone. In the seven games since he hasn’t rushed for fewer than 140 yards and scored at least one touchdown every game. 

He had a season-high 203 yards against Woodbury on 30 carries – a load that even caught Adams by surprise – in the regular season and scored four touchdowns (five, if you count his TD catch) against Dunellen – all in the first half – in the opening round of the playoffs.

He carried it 27 times when the Wolverines played Woodbury again last week, breaking the school record with a 182-yard game to lead the Wolverines to their first South Jersey Group I title in school history. He didn’t know about the record until they told him in the locker room after the game.

“It’s unbelievable what he’s been able to do this year,” senior quarterback Max Webb said. “I think his mindset has always been the same. Everybody wants to be that guy. Even though the first two years he wasn’t very that guy because we’ve had James, but he’s always kept that mindset and he was ready for the moment.”

By all accounts it has been a breakout year for Belinfanti. Riding behind the fire trucks in last week’s victory parade through town was a fun memory he’ll never forget, but there’s still one thing missing. That would be the prize that awaits the winner of the next two games.

“The big gold trophy, that’s what I really want,” he said. “I feel like my life would be complete if we got that.”

Belinfanti’s Breakout Year

Salem County 2023 Rushing Leaders

Salem County 1,000-Yard Rushers
(Since 2010)