By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
FRANKLINVILLE — It used to be that everybody feared driving down Fries Mill Road and taking on the Delsea Regional High Crusaders. Their machine-like Delaware Wing-T offense would grind opponents into a pulp, as opposing defenses would be forced to tackle burly fullbacks and strong, fast halfbacks upwards of 50 times in any particular game, as throwing the ball was akin to a mortal sin under legendary coach Sal Marchese.
These days, folks are starting to fear the Washington Township Minutemen and the kind of two-pronged, efficient offense they bring along with a lunch pail type of defensive mindset.
On Friday night, the Minutemen scored just three plays into the game, raced out to a 24-0 lead and never looked back, eventually beating Delsea 40-0 with a running clock the entire second half. It was kind of a show of force for a Township team that still has tough opponents like Millville, Rancocas Valley, Kingsway Regional and Timber Creek left on the docket before the state playoffs begin.
Colin Beeler ripped off a 65-yard run on the first play of the game, and two plays later fellow senior Jaylen Robinson punched it in from 6 yards out to put Township up 6-0 before Delsea even had a chance to go on offense.
“The line opened up holes all night, and they’ve been doing that all season so far,” Beeler said. “I’m really proud of them. I just saw green, and it’s all on them, my line, they were great tonight. They work their tails off every day. They are the hardest workers on the team, and my yards are because of them. I love those boys.”
The Crusaders — who after the first series were down to their fourth-string quarterback, sophomore Shane Fryer, due to injuries — fumbled on their second play from scrimmage and the Minutemen took advantage, as another big run by Beeler set up a 25-yard field goal by senior kicker Luke Sheets that pushed the lead to 9-0.
Washington Township (3-0, 1-0 West Jersey Football League Classic) forced a punt on the Crusaders’ next possession and promptly scored again as senior quarterback Cole Aquino connected with junior speedster Isaac Parra on a pass over the middle and the pair hooked up again on the two-point conversion to give the Minutemen a commanding 17-0 lead with four minutes still left in the opening quarter. Things only got worse for Delsea (2-1, 0-1 WJFL Classic) on the next possession, as the Crusaders were stuff on a 4 th-and-1 near midfield and defensive back Jyair Moore scooped up a fumble in the scrum and raced down the field for another touchdown, and 24-0 lead.
“It’s unfortunate for them that they got hit with the injury bug this week, but for us, we’re just trying to focus on what we need to do,” said Township coach Mike Schatzman, whose team has outscored its first three opponents 124-12. “Obviously, the last three weeks have been a little lopsided and it’s almost harder to keep guys focused and avoid complacency and all the issues that can come (in blowout wins), as crazy as that sounds. It was good to see us do positive things in all three phases of the game. I didn’t think we played great in the second half, and there were some things late in the first half that we have to clean up a little bit; ball security and some penalties, stuff like that.”
Township scored again early in the second quarter following another Delsea turnover, as Aquino hooked up with Moore in the right corner of the end zone for a 27-yard scoring strike. Sheets blasted a 46-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, pushing the lead to 34-0 and instituting the running clock for the second half.
Washington Township’s offensive line was one of the big stories of the night, as guys like Jordan Palmer, Dante Morici, Stephen Davidson and Jake DiRidolfo tried to out-do each other with pancake blocks.
“It’s the same line as last year and every day we just come in and work so hard. Our preparation for every team, every week, is serious,” Davidson said. “We take this stuff really seriously. We just want to win and let everybody know that our offensive line can win games for our team. We have three running backs who are straight dawgs and we know how to run the ball and get going downhill. They know how to share the carries the right way so that we can have fresh legs on the field all the time.”
Last year, the Minutemen saw their state championship dreams go up in smoke in a 27-10 loss to Toms River North in the sectional final. This group seems like the kind that is intent on not letting that happen again. They’ll get a chance to prove they’re for real next weekend against Millville.
“We feel like we’re a lot better this year and can accomplish a lot more this year. That loss (in the sectional final) last year really hurt, but we use that as motivation every day we come out here. It does (eat at you) but coach Schatzman had us out here since December, working every day, no breaks,” Beeler said. “We have weapons all of this team, everybody can do something. Our receivers, our backs. Jaylen Robinson and (Andrew) Osborn, those guys can run the ball and are great backs. We have everything we need on this team. Millville is a great team, we lost to them last year, but we’re ready for them this year. It’s going to be a great game.”
“Our team is such a close-knit group. We’re together every day, all day. It’s become second nature, we don’t even have to communicate things out there sometimes because we already know,” Davidson added. “We’ve been building for this year since eighth grade. We knew when we got to high school it was going to be a good ride and we’d have a nice squad. We’re just really excited for what the future holds for all of us.”
Said Schatzman, “our sole focus is really just focusing on what we need to do and try not to let the opponent dictate what we do. We feel really confident and comfortable in all three phases of the game. It’s nice to get off to a 3-0 start regardless of the opponents or the outcomes you had.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Washington Township travels to Millville on Friday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. Delsea travels to Kingsway Regional on Friday at 6 p.m.
