By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
PINE HILL — The last two seasons, the Camden Catholic High football team combined for just four wins against 15 losses.
In 2024, however, these aren’t your older brother’s Fighting Irish.
Determined to turn things around with a renewed sense of passion and commitment this summer, Camden Catholic has completely turned its program around under second-year coach Wayne Gilliam II, improving to 6-0 on Saturday with a thorough 41-6 victory over host Overbrook.
The bright, sunny October skies matched the mood among the boys in hunter green-and-white, as there was nothing but smiles about being in a place most of them only dreamed they could ever get to, even just last year when the Fighting Irish went 3-7, including losing four of their last five games. That final loss was a 55-0 thumping at the hands of Paul VI on Thanksgiving.
So far this season, Camden Catholic has won in blowouts and tight games, and the Irish have been showcasing a pretty nifty passing attack led by senior southpaw Mike Moritz at quarterback. Against Overbrook he had perhaps the best day of his career, going 16-of-21 for 232 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 37 yards and another score. The only touchdown he didn’t have a hand in against the Rams was Terence Barnes’ 43-yard punt return that gave the Irish a commanding 20-0 lead in the second quarter.
Camden Catholic scored on its first two possessions, taking a 13-0 lead on Moritz’s first two touchdown passes of the day. He hit Nymir Daily on a swing pass that Daily took 13 yards into the end zone, and later in the first quarter Bryce Clark went 58 yards on a screen pass. The Irish made it 20-0 with 2:08 left before halftime when Barnes scooped up a bouncing punt and took it to the house, and after and Overbrook fumble, Moritz led the Irish on a 42-yard scoring drive with a little more than a minute to go in the half. Moritz made a big play in the passing game down to the Overbrook 8-yard line with 25 seconds left, spiked the ball, and on the next play he scrambled away from pressure and ran it in for a touchdown and a 27-0 halftime lead.
“It was a pretty good day. One of (my best), the most touchdowns, for sure,.” Moritz said. “It was the guys around me. This whole year has been stay together, be a family, play for each other, and we get the results. It’s been great.”
“Mike played very well,” said senior tight end and Villanova commit Sean Welde, who caught a 30-yard touchdown pass over the middle in the third quarter to stretch the Irish lead to 34-0. “He threw the ball to the right person every time and he can run. He played really well.”
“Today he was sick. He made a joke that he was about to have a flu game today (a-la Michael Jordan). He went out there and did what he had to do,” Gilliam II said. “Mike is a competitor. He always wants to compete. He always wants to get better from last week. He’s one of those guys who, when we watch film, he wants hard criticism. He’s the only kid on my team who comes up to me and asks, ‘as a defensive coordinator, what would you do to stop me?’ He wants to know that because he’s a gamer and always want to get better each and every rep.”
Camden Catholic’s defense was just as good, as Overbrook (2-4-1, 0-4 West Jersey Football League Patriot) was limited to just 149 yards of total offense and a late touchdown by quarterback Teriq Moore. Moore came into the game having thrown for nearly 300 yards and rushed for close to 200 more in the last two games, a loss to Paulsboro and a 42-42 tie against Clayton. Against Camden Catholic (6-0, 4-0 WJFL Patriot), Moore did finish with more than 100 yards, but nearly half of that came on his final rushing attempt of the game.
“Everyone was just reading their keys — the D-ends staying outside, the tackles staying in their gaps. We knew their QB was quick and agile, so we had to stay disciplined. Overall, we mostly did that,” Welde said. “The coaching staff is in its second year, and after a rough year last year knowing we had to come back all summer and work harder. We have young guys who have to play and they have to step up. Everyone has to contribute. We don’t have a 100-man roster like some teams, so it’s ‘next man up.’ Freshmen are going to play, seniors are going to play. All summer we’ve been putting in the work and it’s showing.”
“The energy around the team (is different). The last couple of years we weren’t the best and you could see it — around the school, around the team. Guys weren’t excited to play and not as thrilled about (practice) drills. Obviously, when you’re 0-and-4 you don’t really want to do that. But this year we’ve brought a certain type of energy and we’ve been playing great,” Moritz added. “We have a lot more confidence. We’re excited about the next couple of games; we have PVI on Thanksgiving, a playoff game.”
Gilliam said he’s been asking more from his players this year, and they’ve been responding.
“Our guys learned a lot from the year prior. Just learning how to want to play football again. If you’re a senior on this team, I’m your third head coach,” he explained. “We’re trying to get these guys to believe that, hey, we might only have 25 kids in here, but we have to get it figured out. We were able to go 3-7 (last year) and a lot of those games were close. We were in a lot of those games at halftime, but with (limited) subs and things like that. But in the offseason, the amount of participation was top notch. We created a mantra of ‘Plus-1.’ Give me everything you have — plus one more. Now that’s engrained in their mind and they want to do that every week. I say it at halftime, ‘I need your Plus-1 now. You guys played to your potential and now I need more.’ And that’s what we kind of rally on every single game.”
Moritz said he’s thrilled to be enjoying a lot of wins his senior year, especially after struggling so much during his first three years.
“I’ve been through a lot, a lot of lopsided scores. I’ve been on the other side of this (41-6 score) several times,” he said. “So it’s great to be on the other side all year. I wouldn’t change this squad. We want to win a playoff game. We haven’t won a playoff game in a while, and we haven’t won a division since 2017. If we win the next game we’ll be division champs, and that’s one of our goals.”
Gilliam said his guys can’t get caught up in their undefeated record, they have to come out Monday like it’s business as usual.
“I tell the guys we have the 24-hour rule. After that, we’re 0-0 and we have to focus on what’s in front of us every single day,” he said. “In order to compete we have to win when we’re supposed to win, and if it’s a tight game we have to figure out a way to pull it out. Ever since that Paulsboro game (a 29-28 win on Sept. 14), with it being so close at the end, I think a switch flipped for our guys that we’re not the team from last year and we can win tight games when we need to.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Camden Catholic hosts Collingswood on Friday at 7 p.m. Overbrook hosts Audubon on Friday at 7 p.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com.
