Schalick boys basketball team getting the chance to play at Wells Fargo Center before Sixers’ game
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – In any other year, a late January basketball game against a non-division opponent wouldn’t draw any special attention, but this isn’t any other game.
When Schalick and Clayton play Jan. 22, it won’t be just another Saturday afternoon matinee. The teams will play under the bright lights of the Wells Fargo Center as part of a high school tripleheader before the Sixers play San Antonio that evening.
“I remember Schalick used to do it even before I even went to Schalick High School, but they stopped doing it I remember when I got to high school, so I never got to experience it,” Cougars coach James Turner said. “Then they picked it up again, but the girls did it a couple times a handful of years ago.
“I’m just glad the kids are going to be able to have that opportunity to be there, be on the floor; hopefully they’ll have some time to take some pictures. They don’t give us a whole lot of time to do all that kind of stuff because it has to be in and out, but we’ll do the best we can to try to make it a memorable night for them.”
The Schalick girls played Clayton in the Wells Fargo Center back in 2016. The Clayton girls beat Overbrook there last season.
The Cougars plan to make a day of it. After playing the Clippers in the afternoon, they’ll head to Dave & Busters for a couple hours of dinner and team bonding, and then head back to watch the Sixers play.
Just the thought of playing on an NBA floor has the players excited. It’ll be a normal high school game with a five-minute halftime, but if the game is running long the fourth quarter will play with a running clock. As part of the deal the schools are required to sell 55 tickets at $35 each.
“Coming into the season we heard rumors of a surprise and we tried to get our coach to budge and tell us, but that didn’t work,” senior forward Jake Siedlecki said. “We ended up finding out a few weeks before the season and we are super excited.
“It’s going to be a really fun day, not only playing there, but watching the Sixers play at night also. It’s really a unique experience and it’s given our team a lot of excitement for this upcoming season.”
It was a no-brainer for Schalick athletics director Doug Volovar. He reached out to Clayton AD Dan Antonelli about the availability of the game and the Schalick board approved the Cougars’ participation in it in November. Officials broke the news to the team at the parents meeting Monday.
“I think it’s awesome,” Volovar said. “To me, as an athletics director, that’s what you’re supposed to do – try to provide opportunities out of the norm for your kids to enhance your programs. That just seems like it’d be a great opportunity as an athletics director to give your kids a chance to do something different, to being a part of something special.”
The Wells Fargo date isn’t the only special event on the Cougars’ radar. The football team is in the mix for a game in next season’s Battle at the Beach in Ocean City and Volovar has entertained the idea of playing a soccer game at the Philadelphia Union’s stadium if that opportunity resurfaces.
“We’ve done it before and I’m trying to do it again,” he said. “Our kids are good enough to play, why wouldn’t you want to give them an experience like that?”
Tag: SCHALICK
On a roll
Monday roundup: Woodstown boys soccer heading into sectional tournament on five-game winning streak; roundup includes girls soccer, field hockey
MONDAY’S SCORES
BOYS SOCCER
Woodstown 2, Glassboro 1
Pennsville 4, Salem Tech 1
GIRLS SOCCER
Woodstown 2, Glassboro 2
Pitman 5, Salem 0
Pennsville 7, Salem Tech 0
FIELD HOCKEY
Clearview 2, Woodstown 0
Gloucester City 7, Pennsville 0
GIRLS TENNIS
Schalick 5, Woodstown 0
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
GLASSBORO – The Woodstown soccer team goes into the South Jersey Group I tournament feeling good about the turnaround it has put together during the season and on a roll after beating Glassboro 2-1 in its final regular-season game Monday.
Adrian Ibarra and Kaleb Gerace each scored a goal in the second half for the Wolverines in the battle of top four sectional seeds.
Ibarra opened the scoring seven minutes into the second half. Gerace made it 2-0 13 minutes later. Emirhan Kir’s penalty kick off an “unfortunate foul” in the box with 11 minutes left was the only thing that kept the Wolverines from posting a fifth straight shutout.
It was, however, their fifth win in a row, their second over Glassboro in the last four days and their sixth in the eight games (with one tie) since a 6-2 Alumni Night loss to Schalick in the football stadium.
“We had a lot of games over the last two weeks, so it’s been a grind, but we came in and kind of came out on top,” Woodstown coach Darren Huck said. “We didn’t play well against Audubon (the only loss in the home stretch), but when you play Schalick and two Colonial Conference teams, it wasn’t so much about wins and losses in that one, it was to see how we were going to battle and compete.
“We circle the wagons and bring them all back and remind them what the big picture is and remind them how one game doesn’t identify you in a good way or a bad way; let’s stay focused on what we need to do and they responded. I’m happy with my goalkeeper, how he responded from that tough night against Schalick, and defensively I’m happy with where we’re at right now.”
That would be 13-3-1 and the No. 3 seed in the SJ-I tournament;. A year ago they were 5-10-3 with seven one-goal losses and were something like 3-27 in the offseason going all over South Jersey playing larger schools. But they were playing and learning and growing.
Huck never lost faith and he was grateful the players didn’t either.
“I told them it’s not about the now, it’s preparing guys for the future,” he said. “I need all of you to believe and I will take you there, but do not lose confidence in what we’re doing.
“I had a parent today say I remember what you said in August in that last tournament; you said we’ll be just fine. I’m glad it worked this way. It made them believe they believed in me. I said this was going to happen.”
Ibarra’s goal was his 23rd of the season and 30th of his career. The nephew of Woodstown’s all-time leading goal scorer, Oscar Hernandez, Ibarra now has the second-most goals in a season by a junior in school history and has moved into the top 15 on the Wolverines’ all-time goals list.
“He’s really put it together,” Huck said. “He takes a lot of pride in being a complete soccer player, not just a scorer. He’s on the other end of assists, gets back defensively to help out. A lot of times he’ll ask me if I want him to drop back to help out the defense. He’s willing to take himself out of a scoring opportunity so we can get a win.
“He puts a tremendous amount of time into it. Many, many times I can go up to the park and he’ll be out there all by himself with a bag of soccer balls and some cones and he’s just working on his game. It’s good to see it all pay off for him.”
While Woodstown is going into the playoffs on a roll, Glassboro is looking to get back on track. The Bulldogs (12-5) have lost five of their last eight against some of their toughest opposition of the year after starting the season 9-0.
“We had a good regular season,” Huck said. “We can look back and say we had a nice season. We know the second season starts (Wednesday) and we’re going to try to go as far as we can.”
Pennsville 4, Salem Tech 1: Jake Isaac scored two first-half goals and assisted on the Eagles’ other two goals. It was his third multi-goal game of the season and fifth of his career. Stone Mumink gave the Eagles (6-12) a 3-0 lead and Kameron Brown got the Chargers (3-13-1) on the board before the end of the half. Shane Puckett scored Pennsville’s final goal in the second half.
GIRLS SOCCER
Woodstown 2, Glassboro 2: Emma Perry and Talia Battavio scored goals for the Wolverines (9-7-1), but Glassboro scored a goal in the second half to tie the match.
Pitman 5, Salem 0: Emery Sharpnack scored her 15th goal of the season to open the scoring and assisted on Alaina Williams’ goal in the second half. The Classic Division champion Panthers (13-4-1) are one of two teams to go through their Tri-County Conference schedule undefeated (10-0).
Pennsville 7, Salem Tech 0: Reagan Wariwanchik, Molly Gratz and Karsen Cooksey scored first-half goals and Cooksey completed the hat trick in the second half.
FIELD HOCKEY
Clearview 2, Woodstown 0: Marley Dutch scored a goal and assisted on Destiny Joseph’s score. The Group III Pioneers (12-5) peppered Woodstown goalie Shelby Foote with 29 shots.
Gloucester City 7, Pennsville 0: Lauren Perry scored four goals to lead the Lions (12-4).
County leaders
With the football playoffs beginning this week, here is a look at the Salem County leaders in rushing, passing and receiving through the end of the regular season
Rushing
| PLAYER | ATT | YDS | TD |
| Bryce Belinfanti, Woodstown | 149 | 1146 | 14 |
| Pop Jackson, Salem | 131 | 1023 | 8 |
| Bryce Wright, Penns Grove | 155 | 847 | 9 |
| Karon Ceaser, Penns Grove | 119 | 743 | 5 |
| Reggie Allen, Schalick | 92 | 588 | 10 |
| Sky Eppes, Pennsville | 109 | 547 | 9 |
| Jared Pew, Salem | 83 | 385 | 3 |
| Kenai Simmons, Schalick | 79 | 344 | 8 |
| Robbie McDade, Pennsville | 76 | 330 | 6 |
| Levi Feeney-Childers, Schalick | 50 | 301 | 2 |
| Max Webb, Woodstown | 61 | 265 | 5 |
| Ramaji Bundy, Salem | 47 | 260 | 1 |
| Alex Torres, Woodstown | 38 | 230 | 3 |
Passing
| PLAYER | COMP | ATT | INT | YDS | TD |
| Robbie McDade, Pennsville | 70 | 136 | 4 | 948 | 6 |
| Kenai Simmons, Schalick | 33 | 52 | 0 | 715 | 7 |
| Max Webb, Woodstown | 44 | 74 | 5 | 555 | 5 |
| Ramaji Bundy, Salem | 15 | 53 | 5 | 236 | 1 |
Receiving
| PLAYER | NO. | YDS | TD |
| Malik Rehmer, Pennsville | 39 | 604 | 5 |
| Bryce Belinfanti, Woodstown | 13 | 129 | 0 |
| Zach Bevis, Woodstown | 12 | 189 | 3 |
| Ty Young, Pennsville | 12 | 118 | 1 |
| Terrence Smith, Salem | 11 | 146 | 1 |
| Sky Eppes, Pennsville | 11 | 128 | 0 |
| Jake Siedlecki, Schalick | 9 | 268 | 3 |
| Dylan Sheehan, Schalick | 9 | 140 | 2 |
| Karon Ceaser, Penns Grove | 8 | 113 | 0 |
Kicking
| PLAYER | FGM-FGA | XPM-XPA | PTS |
| Jake Ware, Woodstown | 3-4 | 25-27 | 34 |
| Hunter Dragotta, Schalick | 2-4 | 25-27 | 31 |
| Jackson Leino, Pennsville | 4-6 | 15-19 | 27 |
Defense
SACKS
6.5: Dameon Wilson, Penns Grove
5.5: Bobby Donahue, Woodstown
4: Nasir Stewart, Penns Grove
3: Jermaine Loney, Schalick; Mando Johnson, Salem
2.5: Zach Bevis, Woodstown; William Slouch, Penns Grove
TACKLES FOR LOSS
17: Bryce Wright, Penns Grove
15: Nasir Stewart, Penns Grove
11: Dameon Wilson, Penns Grove
9: William Slocum, Penns Grove
8: Justin Martin, Penns Grove
6.5: Bobby Donahue, Woodstown
6: Zach Bevis, Woodstown; Walter Carter, Woodstown; Mando Johnson, Salem
5.5: Bryce Belinfanti, Woodstown
5: Max Webb, Woodstown; Thomas Hymer, Schalick
4.5: Pop Jackson, Salem
4: Jack Knorr, Woodstown; Najee Panter, Penns Grove
INTERCEPTIONS: 2: Malik Rehmer, Pennsville; Karon Ceaser, Penns Grove; Bryce Wright, Penns Grove
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: 2: Connor Ayers, Pennsville; Cole Campbell, Pennsville
Playoff pairings
Four of five Salem County teams qualify for Group I football playoffs; non-football playoff projections based on power points also listed
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
Four of the five football-playing schools in Salem County are in the NJSIAA Group I playoffs this year and two have pulled down No. 1 seeds.
In the final regular-season UPR ratings produced by the gridironnj website and released this evening, Woodstown and undefeated Schalick pulled down the Nos. 1 and 2 spots in the South Jersey Group I top 16 and will be the No. 1 seeds in the South Jersey and Central Jersey brackets, respectively, when the NJSIAA makes it official.
Only two-tenths of a UPR point separated the two teams. Schalick had the winningest team in South Jersey Group I (9-0), but Woodstown (6-2) had the highest OSI.
Horizon Division champion Schalick, with its first undefeated regular season since 2006, had been in line for the overall No. 1, but Woodstown overtook it after Saturday’s 21-6 win over Penns Grove for the Diamond Division title.
We’re guaranteed home field advantage through the sectional final,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “Strength of schedule is a very important indicator. From where we went from last year – we were the 15th seed last year now we’re the No. 2 seed – that’s a huge improvement in one year.”
Penns Grove (4-5) came in at No. 9 and sets up a potential second-round rematch with Woodstown. Salem (2-7) came in at No. 14. Both will open the playoffs on the road.
“We would’ve liked to been home but obviously too many times we came up a little short,” Penns Grove coach John Emel said.
Pennsville wound up being the county’s odd-man out. The Eagles came in at No. 17, 1.8 UPR points behind the final qualifying spot, which went to Dunellen. They went into the week as the No. 16 team, then lost Friday night at Pitman.
It would have been the first time since 2017 all five county teams made the field. Four teams have made it four of the six years since.
“We didn’t take care of business last night so it’s on us,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “We didn’t get the job done. We still improved a ton this year but obviously would have loved a shot in the playoffs.”
The Eagles will now play in the four-team sectional consolation tournament.
The playoff bracket did undergo some changes after the original 1-16 standings were posted due to various tiebreakers. South Hunterdon and Middlesex switched places due to South Hunterdon’s head-to-head win; Woodbury, Glassboro and Shore tied for fifth and shuffled by the OSI tiebreaker; as did Clayton and Keyport, who were tied for 10th.
Here are the projected first-round matchups (lower seeds at home). All games Friday unless indicated otherwise:
No. 1 Woodstown (1) vs. No. 8 Dunellen (16)
No. 4 Florence (8) vs. No. 5 Penns Grove (9)
No. 2 Middlesex (4) vs. No. 7 Burlington City (13)
No. 3 Woodbury (5) vs. No. 6 Riverside (12), Saturday
No. 1 Schalick (2) vs. No. 8 Audubon (15)
No. 4 Shore (7) vs. No. 5 Clayton (10)
No. 2 South Hunterdon (3) vs. No. 7 Salem (14)
No. 3 Glassboro (6) vs. No. 6 Keyport (11)
NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR rank
Soccer, field hockey projections
Based on the power points in each sport posted Saturday, here are the projected first-round pairings in the South Jersey Group I tournament for boys soccer, girls soccer and field hockey. The NJSIAA will determine the official brackets later.
BOYS SOCCER
No. 1 Schalick (14-4) vs. No. 16 Pennsville (5-12)
No. 8 Maple Shade (10-6) vs. No. 9 Pitman (12-4-1)
No. 5 Audubon (11-5-2) vs. No. 12 (Burlington City (7-10)
No. 4 Glassboro (12-4) vs. No. 13 Penns Grove (6-9-1)
No. 3 Woodstown (12-3-1) vs. No. 14 (Haddon Twp. (5-10-2)
No. 6 Buena (12-4) vs. No. 11 Wildwood (10-5-1)
No. 7 Riverside (12-3-2) vs. No. 10 Gateway (9-8-1)
No. 2 Palmyra (14-2-1) vs. No. 15 Woodbury (8-8)
GIRLS SOCCER
No. 1 Audubon (15-1-2) vs. No. 16 Penns Grove (1-11-1)
No. 8 Glassboro (9-6-1) vs. No. 9 Clayton (10-5-1)
No. 5 Pitman (12-4-1) vs. No. 12 Gateway (7-9)
No. 4 Maple Shade (11-4) vs. No. 13 Buena (6-9)
No. 3 Schalick (13-4) vs. No. 14 Salem (4-12-1)
No. 6 Haddon Twp. (6-9-2) vs. No. 11 Pennsville (5-9-3)
No. 7 Gloucester (12-5) vs. No. 10 Woodstown (9-7)
No. 2 Palmyra (13-3) vs. No. 15 Woodbury (1-14-1)
FIELD HOCKEY
No. 1 West Deptford (9-3-3) vs. No. 16 New Egypt (7-5)
No. 8 Salem (11-4) vs. No. 9 Haddon Twp. (7-7)
No. 5 Woodstown (12-2-1) vs. No. 12 Bordentown (4-10-1)
No. 4 Collingswood (8-5-2) vs. No. 13 Gateway (5-9)
No. 3 Middle Twp. (12-2-1) vs. No. 14 Pennsville (5-10)
No. 6 Schalick (11-5-1) vs. No. 11 Maple Shade (8-4)
No. 7 Gloucester (11-4) vs. No. 10 Lower Cape May (6-6-4)
No. 2 Florence (13-2-1) vs. No. 15 Audubon (7-6)
Cover photo: Riley Papiano (16) and Reggie Allen celebrate a touchdown in Schalick’s win over Gloucester Catholic Friday night. (Photo by Heather Papiano)
Riverview Sports News 