By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The Winslow High football team came into the 2024 season looking to make a statement that the Eagles were one of the best teams in South Jersey.
They certainly looked the part for most of their 21-0 win over Montclair at the Battle at the Beach at Egg Harbor Township High School on Friday evening, but Winslow will have to be extra careful the rest of the season because one more ejection will mean a ban from the NJSIAA postseason and a chance at a state championship.
Things were going well for Winslow as the Eagles were up, 21-0, early in the fourth and looking to milk some clock. After a running play up the middle, things got heated between the teams and a fracas ensued, and two players from each team were dismissed from the game.
“It’s embarrassing as a program,” said Winslow head coach Bill Belton. “Anytime you work your butt off in the summer and try to do things the right way in the summer and come out here and do what they did is embarrassing. That’s not the type of program we are, and going forward we’re not going to have those issues.”
According to NJSIAA rules, the players ejected from both teams must now serve a one-game suspension, and if a team accumulates three coach or player ejections during a season, that team is disqualified from the state playoffs.
When there was action, it was all Winslow as the Eagles scored twice in the opening half and added to their lead in the third. Winslow took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Roman Duckett in the first quarter, then extended that lead to 14-0 on a 23-yard scoring run by KaRon Ali in the second.
Winslow forced a punt on Montclair’s first possession of the second half then got to work again on offense. Sophomore quarterback Jalen Parker hooked up with Nakeem Powell on a 33-yard touchdown strike where Powell dragged a defender the last few yards into the end zone. That put Winslow up, 21-0, and the Eagles’ defense did the rest.
Winslow held Montclair quarterback Jaylin Bullock to just 60 yards passing, and Montclair rushed for minus-7 yards on 21 carries.
“We’ve put in a lot of work and we’ve done a good job, for the most part, all summer,” Belton said. “Our defensive staff put together the right scheme. They did a good job of getting our kids ready and understanding what we’re trying to do.”
Offensively, Parker finished 12-of-19 for 155 yards and a touchdown while the Eagles racked up more than 200 yards rushing, including 118 on just 15 carries from Ali.
Winslow joined the entire West Jersey Football League American Division — Cherokee, Mainland, Millville and St. Augustine Prep — by going 1-0 in the season’s opening week. The Eagles have a huge stretch coming up beginning in late September that features St. Augustine, Millville, Camden, Camden Eastside, Mainland and Cherokee, and Belton said his message to his team was going to be simple: “keep your composure. It doesn’t matter what the other side does, we’re here to play football, and that’s it. It’s as simple as that.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Winslow hosts Highland on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. Monclair hosts Ridgewood on Sept. 7 at 2 p.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com.
