By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
MONROE TOWNSHIP — Josh Quann played in his first high school football game less than two months ago, but the Williamstown rookie already made quite a play he will never forget here under the lights on Friday night.
With Williamstown holding a precarious seven-point advantage with 1 minute, 43 seconds left in regulation, the freshman safety read the route perfectly, jumping in front of a Cherokee receiver and snatching the game-sealing interception as the Braves held on to defeat the Cheifs, 21-14, in front of an inspired homecoming crowd.
“Hard work, practice, taking responsibility,” Quann said. “Nobody said it was going to be easy. So we have to come with what we got, come with intensity, and play. We love our fans. They come out and support us, we love that.
“(I’ll remember that play for) the rest of my life.”
Williamstown took an early 7-0 lead behind a 29-yard touchdown run from standout sophomore running back Trey Alexander, capitalizing on a Cherokee fumble on the prior possession. Dylan Kolinsky — who racked up more than 100 yards — scored first for Cherokee, which failed on a two-point conversion and trailed, 7-6, early in the second quarter. Tyson Forman scored on a quarterback sneak for the Braves and Kolinsky ran in his second touchdown for the Chiefs to make it an even 14-14 score at halftime.
Elijah Campbell scored the eventual game-winning touchdown for Williamstown with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter. The Braves’ defense stood strong on several second-half drives by Cherokee. Kysheem Prunty tallied two interceptions, including a key turnover with 7:03 left in regulation, and junior defensive end Diar McBeth hounded the quarterback all night.
“It (the momentum) continued from last week. The excitement is getting better and better every week. We’re so young,” Williamstown coach Frank Fucetola said of his Braves, who beat Rancocas Valley last week after dropping four of their first five to start the season. “The defense had some growing pains early in the season, but they’re just getting better and better, like we saw tonight. (Cherokee) is a good football team.”
The Braves were riding a wave of momentum from last week’s major upset triumph over Rancocas Valley — previously ranked in the South Jersey Glory Days/South Jersey Football Frenzy Show Best 11 and nj.com Top 20 polls — and it sure carried over.
“In practice this week we just talked about bringing over momentum from last week beating the No. 10 team in the state (Rancocas Valley),” Prunty said. “We came out with energy, and every time they made a play, we still kept our heads up.”
An extremely young Williamstown team, which starts five freshmen on defense, improved to 3-4 with the victory, putting the Braves squarely back in contention in the Group 5 state playoffs.
“The kids practiced hard all week and came up with a big win,” Fucetola said. “They could have had a letdown. There was no letdown. We’re young; we’re so young. We play at Mount. Everest. We play at the bottom of the ocean. Today, we played at Mount Everest.”
It was a homecoming the Braves’ faithful surely won’t forget.
“Definitely with the win last week, everyone was coming to see if we were frauds or not, so it was a packed house,” Prunty said. “It was loud and they gave us energy.”
After two consecutive statement victories, they don’t belong anywhere near that category.
“No sir,” Prunty said, referring to if this team is fraudulent. “We showed that today.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Williamstown hosts Delsea Regional on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. Cherokee is at Millville on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 2 p.m.
