By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
The Kingsway Regional high girls flag football team defeated Cherry Hill West, 66-0, in the season opener of South Jersey girls flag football action on Tuesday afternoon.
Heavily outnumbered, Cherry Hill West (0-1) fell quickly behind in the first half fueled by Kingsway Junior Tatum Rieger’s two first half pick-sixes.
After earning a sizable lead early into the affair, Kingsway was able to rotate out starters with junior varsity/freshman team players, which was valuable to get each and every player field time.
“I feel pretty good,” Dragons’ coach Susan Massara said. “All of our girls got some time today, so experience is always a really good thing. We have 30 girls out on the team. We’re trying to build our program to the best of our ability, and I think the more games they get to play in, the better.”
Quarterback Ava Valente completed all four of her passes, two of which went for touchdowns, in the victory.
Despite the sizable loss, Cherry Hill West head coach Justin Arabia believes said he believes getting the in-game experience is very beneficial to his players.
“We knew we were in for a test,” Arabia said. “They’re (Kingsway) going to be one of the teams to lead the pack in South Jersey this year. We could have run the clock a little sooner or forfeited after 19, (points) but for us, we just need the game experience. We need to get out here and see what the game is like, and move forward.”
Arabia also serves as the Cherry Hill West head football coach during the fall. His assistant, Sam Henderson, is a current senior and played football under Arabia. He’ll be continuing his career for Ursinus football in the fall, but in the meantime is helping his enjoying coaching alongside his longtime coach!
WHAT’S NEXT: Kingsway will host Mastery Charter of Camden on Friday. Cherry Hill West will travel to Washington Township on April 17.
