By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
EGG HARBOR CITY — Justus Peyton, a senior fullback and linebacker at Cedar Creek High, is a full-grown man now at 6-feet tall and 210 pounds of muscle. But when he started playing football he was just a little kid with dreams of success.
In all those years of putting on the helmet and shoulder pads, he had never won a championship. But after Saturday’s dramatic 34-28 win over Mainland Regional in the South Jersey Group 3 championship game, Peyton has to figure out what his ring size is.
Fellow senior Gyan King somehow hauled in a Frenchmon Bethea pass along the right sideline and raced down the sideline and into the end zone with 21 seconds left to break a 28-28 tie. Aamir Dunbar’s strip sack and Daniel Montero’s fumble recovery on Mainland’s last-gasp pass attempt with time winding down under 15 seconds sealed Cedar Creek’s first sectional title since 2021.
“It means a lot. I’ve been playing football since little league and I’ve never won a championship. This is my first-ever championship as a football player, and to do it with the people I grew up with means the world to me. It means everything,” Peyton said. “We knew coming in that they had people who could hurt us, but we always believed that we were the better team.
“We came into this game knowing that if we played our best game, which we did, we were going to win this game. We still have stuff to clean up, for sure, next week, but (today) we did our thing.”
Cedar Creek (10-2) advances to play Holmdel in the state semifinals next weekend, with the winner advancing to the state championship at Rutgers University. But for now, the Pirates will revel in one of the best wins in their program’s 15-year history.
“I love this school, I love this community, love what we’re all about. These kids are so tough. It’s such a resilient group,” said Pirates coach James Melody. “This wasn’t an easy one. We had to prepare the right way and I think we got enough stops defensively when we needed them. We hit on some big plays with some really good players. We made one more play than they did, that’s really what it comes down to.”
With 38 seconds left Mainland (7-5) tied the game at 28 when senior Nate Kashey — perhaps the best kicker in school history — drilled a 41-yard field goal with plenty of room to spare. It looked as though the game was headed to overtime, especially with Cedar Creek going into the wind and having a little more than 30 seconds to work with.
But Melody decided to take a chance and see if his playmakers could make a few more plays. Turns out, they only needed one.
Bethea — a converted receiver — rolled to his right to escape pressure then lofted a pass down the right sideline. Mainland defensive back Liam Kennedy was inches away from making an interception, but somehow King held his concentration, snared the ball just before it went out of bounds, raced down the sideline and eluded one more Mainland defender before reaching the end zone with outstretched arms.
“I don’t what my emotions were, I was just so happy,” Peyton said.
“It was me going deep and I saw my quarterback rolling out so I had to find a way to get open. My quarterback threw the ball and I knew I had to make a play, that’s it. When I was running (into the end zone) it felt great. When I scored and was celebrating with all the parents (at the fence), that felt awesome,” King said. “This win meant everything. Since we started last December our goal was to win a championship — but the job’s not done. We want to play at Rutgers in the state championship.”
“We were going to take a shot. I love my receivers against most DBs. We were going to take a shot, we had a timeout in our pocket, so we were going to try to get inside the 20-yard line and take a shot (into the end zone). Gyan King made a play — and he’s been doing that his whole career here as a three-year starter. He did an unbelievable job of catching that ball and scoring,” Melody explained. “My heart’s been coming out of my chest all year. Those are the moments you live for, though. The moments you prepare for. We put these kids in adverse situations in January in the weight room, just trying to get them going and get them acclimated to this sort of thing. This is a program win, and we’re continuing to build.
“Our team speed took over, and that was a big thing going in. We needed to use that to our advantage and we certainly did.”
After a first-half slugfest that saw Cedar Creek take a 14-10 lead, things got really interesting in the second half. Cedar Creek scored on its first possession of the third quarter, as Bethea found Jahmir Campfield down the left sideline for a 47-yard touchdown that stretched the Pirates’ lead to 21-10. But Mainland’s Jake Blum took the ensuing kickoff back 83 yards for a touchdown, then caught the 2-point conversion pass from John Franchini to cut the deficit to 21-18.
The teams traded punts before the Pirates struck again on a 45-yard touchdown run up the middle by Campfield. Again, Mainland answered, as Blum hauled in a 40-yard scoring strike from Franchini, juggling the ball at about the 10-yard line before collecting it again and scoring. That got the Stangs to within 28-25 early in the fourth quarter and set up a hectic final few minutes.
Bethea’s performance was a major factor in Cedar Creek’s win, as he rushed 12 times for 107 yards and completed 10-of-16 passes for another 209 yards. He had two touchdown passes and a touchdown run as well.
“He started off as a wide receiver and filled in, played his part as a quarterback and led us to a sectional championship,” Peyton said. “Love him to death, he did his thing. Frenchmon Bethea is a special player.”
Added King, “our quarterback can do everything. He can play any position he wants to play. He’s that guy.”
“He’s such a good quarterback and has done such a good job for us,” Melody said. “He’s come such a long way. He used his legs today, his arm — he did everything for us.”
Cedar Creek may have its toughest test to date in the state semis, as Holmdel has been rolling through the state playoffs. The Hornets are 9-2, have won six straight games and have scored 40-plus points in every playoff game, including a 65-42 win over Neptune earlier this month.
“We have more to play,” Melody said. “I have to ground these kids at some point on Monday. We’re going to enjoy this for tonight, but we have to get back to work because we have a really tough Holmdel team coming up.”
