
FRANKLIN TWP. – The helicopter flew over the airspace of Delsea Regional High School around 7:10 p.m. Friday night.
Penn State University football coach James Franklin was aboard the plane and arrived on the field minutes before Winslow wide receiver and Nittany Lions recruit Ejani Shakir caught a 5-yard touchdown reception to just a few feet away.
A smile spread across Franklin’s face, and understandably so.
However, the boys in red were furious.
“That gives you motivation. That excites you,” said Delsea senior Jared Schoppe. “If you want to go to a team, go see them on their own pitch. If you want to come to our field, come and see our players”.
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Schoppe and the Crusaders, No. 3 in the latest South Jersey Mean 15 rankings, made sure Franklin and the rest of South Jersey took notice by earning a hard-fought 35-21 win over the ninth-ranked Eagles, with Schoppe leading the way with 136 scrimmage yards and 3 rushing touchdowns.
“(Winslow) has beaten teams in the past, but we haven’t shown it, and we just wanted to come here and show physical football and beat a talented team, because they have DI offers all over the place,” quarterback Zach Maxwell said. . he said.
Delsea learned of Franklin’s plans earlier in the week and pushed the show through to the start.
“You take it personally, like Michael Jordan,” said the young Dom Teti. “Alright, let me show you something, simple as that. That’s what we did.”
While many heroes emerged from the victory: Teti had an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 31.8 seconds remaining in the third quarter, which turned out to be the difference, Maxwell rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown and went 4- of-4 passes for 105 yards, and Joel Anderson and Ashton Blose combined for a 4-and-1 tackle at their own 3-yard line to force a turnover midway through the fourth quarter to preserve a 28-21 lead – it was Schoppe who personified the Delsea style.
The Crusaders haven’t produced many Division I players, but they work hard, play physical football and leave it all on the field, and that’s Schoppe to the letter.
“He’s the biggest competitor I’ve ever met,” Maxwell said.
Schoppe proved that all last year. He tore his ACL and was expected to miss the entire football season, but he returned in the late fall to try to spark his team.
“I was like I couldn’t do this anymore,” he said. “I know I’m a key factor for this team and it works better with me, so I had to come back.”
He then struggled with a broken hand in the state finals in the winter.
“He represents Delsea football,” said head coach Sal Marchese. “It is extremely hard. … He just plays with incredible competitive fire and I think the team feeds off of it. He was out most of last year and I don’t think we improved on last year as a team when he left, and I think a big reason was his leadership ability. He is a tremendous leader and a tremendous tough guy. He is the kind of kid who gives other kids confidence.”
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That was evident against the Eagles.
He only averaged 3.8 yards per attempt (18 carries, 69 yards), but he punished people when he ran. He sometimes sought out contact when there was a path of least resistance.
“That’s definitely how I handle the ball,” he said. “I want to hurt people in wrestling and soccer, I want to hurt people. I’m not a smart guy. If you’re in front of me, I’m going to run you over. If they’re on the side, I’m going to go to that side.”
The Crusaders may not attract many Division I coaches to their side, but players like Schoppe have made the program successful for a long time, and Marchese thinks they will again.
“We preach that,” he said. “We have our schedule this year, we are playing teams that have a lot of firepower and I told our kids that in the past Delsea beat teams from Camden, Timber Creek and Wilson who had four five-star kids. all over the field. We didn’t have one and we beat them, and we beat them more than we lost to them. That is what we are. We have to play confident, we have to play our brand of football, physical, patient, execute offensively, and you can beat teams like that.
“Play confident. That was an important thing that we told them to do before the game. You have to play confident. Don’t be scared of anyone. You can’t be amazed. You can respect your opponent, but don’t be scared, he plays with confidence, and I told them that if we play with confidence, eliminate mistakes, we will come out on top.”
And that is exactly what they did.
three things we learned
∎ Error free soccer key for Delsea: The Crusaders’ Wing-T offense isn’t explosive, and that’s fine. They are more than happy to hit the rock over and over again, picking up five yards at a time. Wear down opponents and they capitalize in the second half. However, playing that type of football can be risky. It requires long journeys and mental strength. Any mistake can frustrate a possession and cost the team a win.
“I’ve been telling our kids, we’ve been telling them all year, Delsea football teams beat people in the second half, wear people down, that’s our style and that’s what we have to do.” Marchese said. “You can’t have dumb penalties, you have to be able to execute and we just have to work and keep working and working and working on the first few downs and wearing people down.”
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∎ Don’t be fooled by Winslow’s log: The Eagles are 0-2, but they’ve played two very good games that went the distance, and they’ve done so without several starters, including Kenneth “Deuce” Everett, Darrien Smith, Omari Chambers and Kam Brown, and student standout Sophomore Cam Miller is playing with a broken wrist.
When this team recovers, watch out.
“I think we’re a couple of plays away from it being reversed,” coach Bill Belton said. “I think at this point we play a lot of young guys. If you look at our sideline, it’s full of crutches.”
∎ Wilson keeps getting better:Winslow’s first-year quarterback Jimmy Wilson Jr., a converted receiver, is getting better and better. He was 21-of-31 passing for 190 yards and a touchdown and had 9 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown. The arrow is pointing up and he should only benefit from having all of his playmakers back in action.
game balls
Schoppe. He had 18 carries for 69 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 receptions for 67 yards and made a lot of plays on the defensive end of the ball. And what was not seen in the minutes was his energy, to which the entire team responded.
tety: His 82-yard kickoff return touchdown was the play of the game and turned the momentum in favor of the Crusaders.
Shakir: Shakir did not disappoint his future college coach. He had 12 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown.
“That kid is special,” Marchese said.
they said it
“We don’t get a lot of love because of the offense we run (the Wing-T), but it’s just Delsea football and we love it. “We love physicality.”
– Delsea quarterback Zach Maxwell on the lack of individual attention the team receives.
Josh Friedman has produced award-winning sports coverage of South Jersey for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, please reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at [email protected] You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.