By BRIAN TORTELLA

Correspondent

On X @tortreports

GLASSBORO — On a night when Glassboro High’s offense recorded five turnovers, it was up to the Bulldogs’ stellar defense to get the job done. 

That unit did not disappoint.

In front of a packed homecoming crowd at Marvin Slomsky Memorial Field, Glassboro won the West Jersey Football League Diamond Divison title and clinched the top seed for the upcoming South Jersey Group 1 playoffs with a 20-7 victory over Woodstown.

“They fly around, they fly around,” coach Timmy Breaker said of his defense. “They’re playmakers. One hundred percent they’re playmakers. They practice like that, they love it. Hats off to them, they pride themselves on that.”

Glassboro’s defense allowed 87 yards in the first half and the Bulldogs went into halftime trailing 7-6 after allowing a second-quarter, 21-yard touchdown run from Woodstown’s star tailback, Bryce Belinfanti.

In the second half, the Bulldogs held Woodstown’s run-heavy offense scoreless. The offense finally found a spark and allowed Hammonton transfer Kenny Smith to redeem himself after two fumbles with two scores of his own to put the game away.

Glassboro’s defense allowed 114 total yards — and just 27 came in the second half. It was a dominant effort for a Glassboro team that played Woodstown to overtime in each of the last two seasons.

“It was a big mindset to come out here because last year and the year before that, it’s always been overtime,” said sophomore Xavier Sabb, who recorded an interception. “It’s been a battle. Today, we were trying to stay out of overtime. We knew their only way of offense was mostly running the ball. Once we knew we stopped that, it was over.”

Last year, Glassboro edged Woodstown 14-10 in the Group 1 state semifinal. The Bulldogs came out victorious on a late-game trick play. 

Junior defensive tackle Brandon Simmons rumbled his 6-foot-one, 270-pound frame through the Wolverine’s offensive line all night— ending with 11 tackles and a sack. He was thrilled to earn a convincing victory — that didn’t go into OT this time. 

“After knowing how this was last year, knowing we owed them,” he said passionately. “Last year they say we won by luck, we had to come out, play physical and play as a team. We didn’t do so well in the first half, but we came out and responded to adversity. Just as we should have.”

“I really am thankful for the rest of my D-line,” he continued. “There’s a lot of times where if I’m not making a play, they’re making a play. If I’m making a play, it’s because they’re forcing them to me. It’s really props to the rest of my D-line because we all collapsed the pocket. When we all put pressure, no one can do anything to us.”

So does coach Breaker believe in the good ol’ phrase “defense wins championships?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “We put that on our back and we wear that. We play defense first. It will never change. Defense wins championships, one hundred percent. Having the defense stand and bend a little bit and not break.”

“We were excited,” he added, speaking of the win. “As long as we execute, we’re a good football team. We made a lot of mistakes tonight, but like I tell the boys all the time, a win is a win. We’ll clean this up, keep getting better, and then we’ll be the Bulldogs we’re supposed to be.”

Last year, Glassboro made it all the way to the Group 1 state championship game before falling to Mountain Lakes in the final. 

The Bulldogs that Breaker envisions have aspirations of making it back to Rutgers’ SHI Stadium for that big game — but for now, it’s one game at a time heading into the opening round of the playoffs.

“We’re not even going to think about that,” when asked about his chances of another state final appearance. “We take it 1-0. Every single week. We don’t think about that. We didn’t set out to go 8-0, we set out to go 1-0. And nothing will change.”

Click these links to view the full postgame interview, + Mark Trible’s ‘Hats Off’:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBkXyDet05U/?igsh=MTlhazBnZDVyaGkzZg==

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBkWD12tJ6X/?igsh=dGowbng1NDd5ejFp

Contact Brian Tortella: btortreportssj@gmail.com.