Dynamic Woodstown running back looking forward to a positive report from doctor for return to practice from offseason knee injury

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN — James Hill is looking forward to Monday as much as any Opening Day he’s ever had before.

That’s the day he, his coaches and the South Jersey football world should learn whether the dynamic Woodstown running back gets to return to the field for his senior football season — six months after a devastating knee injury that threatened his high school playing career.

If he gets the positive report, the 3,000-yard career rusher could be back on the field as soon as the Wolverines’ Monday afternoon practice — 10 days before their season opener against Haddon Heights.

The options are return to football with no restrictions, return to football with no contact, or wait a while longer. He anticipates a good report and is eager to return.

“Monday will be my return back to sports,” Hill said. “I knew I had a great sophomore year, junior year, and I knew my senior year would be my breakout year, my time to go rush for 2,000 yards, go break more records than I’ve already broken.

“I broke the record I set last year but that wasn’t good enough for me. I knew my senior year was a make or break year, especially recruiting. People were skittish (after the injury) but now I have to prove to them I’m the same James Hill you were recruiting my junior year. I’m actually better than I was.”

He was pretty good then, rushing for 1,636 yards and 16 touchdowns. Then a few months later it all changed.

Hill tore an ACL jumping around in the wrestling room. Conventional wisdom suggests a recovery time of six to nine months. He was in therapy the day after his surgery and has continued an aggressive rehab for a return in an amazing six months.

Coaches and teammates have marveled at his commitment to rehab, which often has included three- and four-times-a-week therapy sessions. “Crazy recovery,” quarterback Max Webb told Riverview Sports News in July. “There’s not too many guys, even at the professional level, who are recovering in six (months).”

Hill’s most recent testing indicates only a three-percent difference in strength between his two knees and if the surgically repaired knee matches or exceeds the other in Monday’s test, he should be good to go.

He got around pretty good at Thursday’s scrimmage, where he was on the sidelines serving in a support role. Shortly before the start of the exercise, he checked something on his phone, then ran as naturally as ever down the path, over the pedestrian bridge and back to the school building before returning with two racks of water bottles. 

“Right after surpery I had PT the next day and that day I knew I could make it to come back,” he said. “I knew that being James, I’m a kid of perseverance, I’ll battle through anything to get back to high school football because I love playing high school football. I love playing football in general.

“When I got told recovery time is between six and nine months I knew I’d be that type of athlete who’s gonna be making it back in six because I have trust in everybody around me. I knew it was going to be tough. It’s all a mental battle and if you’re mentally strong you’ll be able to do it and I was able to do it because I was mentally strong.

“I’ve had tons of people tell me you’re going to be able to do it James and I believed them because they believed in me.”

The plan for his return to the lineup will be a measured one. It likely will involve starting out on defense only to work back into in the game before subjecting his knee to the pounding that goes with being an elite back.

They won’t be giving him 28 carriers in each of the first two games like they did last year, when he rushed for 540 yards and five touchdowns. Saying he’s “1000 percent confident” in his knee, he’s OK with that, just as he’s confident in the other guys in the running backs room to keep the offense on track until his full return.

“We’ve got to take it day by day,” Wolverines coach John Adams said. “We’re gonna make sure he’s there by the end of it.”

“I’m fine with that; as long as I’m playing high school football,” said Hill. “Sometimes you’ve got to go slow to win the race. You can’t go speeding because if you go speeding you might blow a tire.

“I’ve got eight games. I know we’re going to make the playoffs as a good team, so there’s no reason to rush and go rush for 312 yards a game (like he did in last year’s season opener) where I know that the rest of my running back crew is going to be able to just handle it just as well.”

And just in case you’re wondering about wrestling, where he was undefeated at the time of the injury, he’ll be back on the mat this winter as well.

Photo: Woodstown running back James Hill works the Wolverines’ sideline in a support role during a recent scrimmage as he awaits his return to practice.

The James Hill File

YEAR	RUN	YDS	TD	REC	YDS	TD
2020	41	183	1	9	60	0
2021	166	1374	15	5	110	2
2022	237	1636	16	7	110	3
TOTAL	444	3193	32	21	280	5

Woodstown plans to pass the football a bit more this season and has two big targets for QB Webb to locate; RB Hill hoping for good news Monday

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The day Woodstown football coach John Adams told Max Webb he had every intention of throwing the football more this season the senior’s eyes got real wide and a broad smile crossed his face. What quarterback wouldn’t want the chance to air it out, especially when he has a couple 6-4 and 6-6 targets on either end?

It’s not like the Wolverines are going to air it out 30 times a game, maybe half that much depending on the circumstances, but enough to make opponents respect that part of the offense. They put that part on display in Thursday’s scrimmage with St. Joe of Hammonton and weren’t shy about showing it.

The most visible of their receivers is 6-foot-4 veteran Garrett Leyman and 6-6 newcomer Rocco String. If you can’t recognize them coming off the bus, you’re just not paying attention.

In the three 10-and-10 segments with the first two units, the Wolverines threw it 10 times. Webb threw it five times in the opening set alone, completing three for 56 yards and had another in the numbers dropped in the end zone. His first completion was nice downfield throw to Leyman for 33 yards after just missing on the play before.

“I saw he had a step on his corner and just gave him a chance and he finally jumped for a ball and made it look easy,” Webb said.

It’s the kind of pass you can complete when you’ve got guys with that kind of size.

“They can go get it where most of the other guys in high school can’t get it,” Webb said. “They’re more open with their height, you can just put it up above everybody else.”

If you think the quarterback is excited about the prospects of bringing more passing to the offense, imagine how the receivers feel. 

“It’s going to be more exciting for all of us,” String said. “It gives us way more power, more confidence in order to go far in the playoffs and make the big step to where we’re trying to reach our goals.”

“It’s definitely going to make our offense a lot harder to defend,” Leyman said.

Leyman is a proven commodity. He played on last year’s 8-2 team and had five of the Wolverines’ 54 total receptions for 57 yards. He caught two balls from Webb Thursday for 45 yards and maybe even more impressive provided the main blocking for Bobby Donahue’s 34-yard run.

String is a little more unknown. He is back on the football field for the first time since the seventh grade. He was a 6-1 right tackle and defensive end then, but hung up the helmet through high school to concentrate on baseball. He returned this year because he “wanted to hit someone” and every day urging from Adams in Algebra II class. 

He may become even more impactful as a rush end on defense, but he’ll make an appealing option for the Wolverines to move the chains.

String hasn’t caught a ball in a game ever, but he hasn’t dropped many in practice. He caught a 5-yard pass from backup QB Jack Holladay and missed one on the next play but more because he got tangled up in his route than any hands of stone; he still got his hands on it, though.

“We knew what Leyman had, he was starter for us last year and he’s gotten faster, runs smoother, catching the ball better, so he definitely progressed as the year went on,” Adams said. “But Rocco was a big question mark. He didn’t play since middle school, we had no clue what he could do and we get him out here running routes and stuff and he’s catching everything you throw to him.

“You just put that ball up a little bit, he’s so tall he can go up over anybody and get it. He’s also coming along in the blocking game, so we’re really excited about the ability to use him.”

To the point they just moved a tight end who had been in that mix to tackle to provide more depth and competition in that slot.

As for the scrimmage, the Wolverines saw everything they wanted. They moved the ball well — through the air and on the ground) – didn’t give up much on defense, got players lined up in the right spots and even rolled out a new legacy kicker who is sure to be a weapon this season. Even though they only scored one touchdown, the 1s twice were deep inside the red zone when they ran out of plays

Even running back James Hill was on the sideline in a supporting role as he moves closer to a potential return from his offseason knee injury next week. The Wolverines are hoping for some good news on that front Monday when Hill returns to his doctor for clearance, a date he confidently calls “my return to sports.”.

He’s likely to experience a measured return when he is allowed back, but he expressed confidence in the rest of the running back corps keeping the offense moving. The Wolverines showed plenty of capable ballcarriers in the scrimmage. Donohue had 59 yards on six carries, Bryce Belinfanti had 50 and a nice spinning touchdown on seven carries and Alex Torres had 28 on four carries.

The first two defenses held St. Joe’s offense to only 28 yards in 30 plays with Torres and Anthony Ford-Dale grabbing interceptions. And kicker Jake Ware, a mid-year transfer from Delaware whose grandfather’s name is on the field, showed a big and consistent leg in both placements and kickoffs.

“I was really pleased with our guys,” Adams said. “Every set of 10 that we ran, we ran 10 different formations with different things out of them, so I was glad we got lined up right. I was glad with how fast they were coming off the ball. I thought our backs ran the ball hard. I thought Max threw the ball pretty well 

“Defensively we were flying to the ball. When they were out on defense I thought we were pretty stout against them not giving up anything big. I thought our first string on both sides did really, really well.”

The Wolverines scrimmage again Saturday at Overbrook.

Top photo: Woodstown receivers Rocco String (L) and Garrett Leyman (R) talk things over with quarterback Max Webb during Thursday’s scrimmage with St. Joe of Hammonton.

Back-to-back gut punches in the playoffs the last two years has the fire to win a state title burning even hotter within Woodstown

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Max Webb is about to begin his fourth season as the starting quarterback for a team that has been together since they were toddlers. He’s played a lot of games in that stretch, a lot of big games, and won a bunch, too.

But there’s one thing that’s eluded him in all that time – a state championship – and that void is the white-hot ember that drives him and his teammates as Woodstown opens camp for the 2023 football season Monday.

Webb and the Wolverines have been close the last two years, but have had their run fall short in gut-wrenching fashion. He knows this is his last shot at it. Maybe the best shot at it. For all the seniors in the core group that has gotten them here it’s now or never time.

And that’s the fire that burns deep within each one.

“We all want to get back really bad,” Webb said during one of the Wolverines’ summer workouts. “We’ve been pretty good these past four or five years and we put in all this hard work and stuff like that. We’re really trying to get back there and trying to finish the job this time.”

The Wolverines have been good enough to play for it, but have had it snatched from them in the most frustrating of ways. 

Two years ago they lost to Woodbury in the South Jersey final 8-6, with the Thundering Herd scoring the game-winning touchdown on fourth-and-1 with 3:55 left and then sealing the Wolverines’ fate with an interception return to the 2 with 1:35 to go.

As if that feeling weren’t bad enough, last year they were the No. 1 seed only to be taken out by a Paulsboro team they beat in the regular season 15-6 in the South Jersey semifinals. That game was close until the final two minutes.

“It’s been in all our heads since then,” Webb said of the desire to get over the hump. “Being the 1 seed and coming up short in the semifinals was tough for us because we were expected to make it to the championship again.”

“It’s all fire,” head coach John Adams said. “It’s always in the back of your mind how close you came.”

The Wolverines have a lot going for them this time. For starters, they return the majority of their team, the core of which has been playing under the program’s triple option principles since they were tykes and, Webb said, “have that brotherhood like we know each other like the back of our hands.” Even the underclassmen have quality experience.

The line is loaded with prospects, big and strong, Webb has gotten better every year and, in the biggest boost to the summer, they’re expected to have dynamic running back James Hill back.

“The good thing is sometimes you have teams that get that far and you gradate them, you don’t have a chance to get that far and build off it,” Adams said. “It’s nice to have those core seniors who have been here for four years, who’ve been through those type of games and know how bright the lights are in those types of games, to now hopefully take that step to where now it’s expected and they settle in and it’s just like another game for them and we go out and try to finish it this year.”

It can’t be overstated what having Hill back means for their prospects. The back who Webb called “one of the best athletes Woodstown’s ever seen” suffered a major knee injury during the wrestling season, but underwent intense rehab that has him on schedule to return to the field in late August. 

Hill rushed for 1,600 yards last year and has produced more than 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns rushing the last two seasons, and gives Webb “another better target I can throw to with good hands.”

What? Throw? At Woodstown? Believe it. Adams has said he’d like to throw the ball upwards of 15 times a game this season. That’s music to Webb’s ears. 

“That’d be awesome,” the quarterback said. “I couldn’t tell you the last time this high school has thrown it 15 times a game, so being given that opportunity is awesome.”

Webb has thrown only 171 passes over the past three seasons – 107 last year with a 13.1 yard per completion average – but everyone who has watched Webb’s progress is confident he can handle it. In a game against Haddonfield last year, he was 11-of-14 for 145 yards and a touchdown. He was 8-of-17 for 138 yards in the playoff game against Paulsboro.

“Max has done a tremendous job in the off-season, working with private quarterback coaches and working on 7-on-7s, to the point he can throw the ball really, really, really well,” Adams said. “We’re excited to see what he can do. His knowledge of everything and how much the game has slowed down for him at the high school level is going to make him even better.”

With the pieces apparently in place, it’s just a matter now of the Wolverines getting it done. The anticipation is palpable. Even now Webb allows himself to think what it will be like if the Wolverines were to hoist the champion’s trophy at the end of the year. A guy can dream can’t he?

“There would be so much joy, relief coming off your shoulders, just for all the hard work you’ve put in for the last four years,” he said. “But mainly it’d be joy just because it’s a once in a lifetime thing with all your friends you’ve grown up with. You can’t get much better than that.”

The quest begins Monday.

Photo: Woodstown senior quarterback Max Webb (L) and coach John Adams share a light moment during a recent summer workout.

South Jersey’s second-leading rusher ahead of schedule in his recovery from off-season knee injury; could be cleared next week

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – The prospect of Woodstown running back James Hill returning to the field sooner than later gets better each day camp gets closer.

Hill tore an ACL in the midst of an undefeated wrestling season last winter. His recovery and rehab were expected to be long and arduous and expected to delay the start of his senior year. The injury to such a dynamic player left a cloud over the Wolverines’ viability as a contender in the SEC West of Group One football.

But word out of off-season workouts is better than encouraging. The latest reports indicate Hill’s repaired knee is percentage points as strong as his non-injured knee. When he goes to the orthopedist after returning from vacation this week he is expected to get the all-clear.

“You can’t replace a guy like James,” Wolverines head coach John Adams said. “He’s a phenomenal athlete. Obviously, since his freshman year he’s been doing special things for us on both sides of the ball, so to see him recover the way he is, I’m ecstatic for him.”

The old best-case scenario was for a return sometime during the season. Now, Hill likely will be back when the Wolverines open camp in early August and available when the regular season opens.

Now, he won’t return to drills to Aug. 21, won’t play in preseason scrimmages and when he does return the plan is to take it slow. Adams said they’ll probably just start him out on defense so he can deliver the blow as opposed to taking one early on. The Wolverines’ regular-season opener is Aug. 31 against Haddon Heights.

Of course, the Wolverines can afford that luxury because they are deep in the skill positions this season. Getting the second-leading rusher in South Jersey back sooner than later keeps the Wolverines on track to contend for a state championship that has eluded them in heartbreaking fashion each of the last two years, but this isn’t a race against the clock.

“I told him we’re not going to rush anything,” Adams said. “If he’s not 100 percent by the first game we have other guys who can step up like that core group of seniors who will go out there and battle and get the job done.

“I told him it’s his family’s timeline, his timeline, don’t worry about us. I worry about you and your future and stuff like that. We don’t need to rush anything. He’s been on board with that. I told the coaches when we get him back we’ll be glad to welcome him back but we’re not in a rush for anything.”

Hill’s recovery is almost Bryce Harper/Rhys Hoskins like. Both Phillies went through injuries that were major blows to the team and expected to keep them out a long time, but Harper is back in the lineup and Hoskins, who had the same ACL injury as Hill, already is throwing and might be a week away from swinging a bat.

Hill was an active participant in his recovery. He’d go three times a week to different rehabs and then show up to his own team’s workouts to do what he could. He attended the team’s recent camp with Kingsway as an observer.

“He does everything he possibly can,” Adams said. “I hope when we do get him back he’s able to work hard through it and get back to his normal self.”

That normal self is a game-changer. Hill rushed for 1,636 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. He’s had 3,010 yards and 31 touchdowns over the last two years.

Wolverines’ quarterback Max Webb remembers the day he learned Hill hurt his knee. The four-year starter was nursing a thigh contusion from basketball himself when his running back walked into the room showing no sign of an issue and said he felt “something weird” happen to his knee.

“The trainer told me what happened and I was completely shocked,” Webb said. “Then I started thinking about the season because most guys don’t recover in six, seven months, so I was trying to think of ways to get around it.”

Count him among those impressed by his teammate’s commitment to getting back on the field.

“Crazy recovery,” Webb said. “There’s not too many guys, even at the professional level, who are recovering in six (months), which is awesome. Hopefully he doesn’t hurt himself again. He’s got bigger goals than just high school. Hopefully he doesn’t hurt himself here, but it’s awesome he’s coming back for his team.”

Photo: Woodstown coach John Adams watches his team go through conditioning drills during off-season workouts.