By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
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VOORHEES — Want to know what it’s like trying to tackle Atlantic City High junior wide receiver and punt returner Don’Taye Thompson? Try picking up a salamander from a muddy river bank … with rubber gloves on that are coated with Vasaline. That pretty much sums it up.
The Stucco Pros Game of the Week was the latest version of the Don’Taye Thompson Show, as the sinewy wideout put on full display his vast arsenal of shifty moves, scoring touchdowns seemingly at will and leading the visiting Vikings to a dominating 47-7 win over the host Vikings of Eastern Regional High on Thursday night.
The win was huge for Atlantic City, which came in with an 0-2 record and was staring at defending Group 5 state champion Washington Township next weekend. It might only technically be Week 2 of the season, but Atlantic City was desperate for a win.
It was destined to be anything but a nail-biter from the start, as Thompson and his teammates raced out to a 27-0 lead in the first quarter, and with the running clock, the second half took less time than the coming attractions at the movie theater. Thompson scored two of A.C.’s first four touchdowns, one on a screen pass from Marvin Burroughs that he took 60 yards to the house, and the second on one of the most electrifying punt returns you’ll ever see. Thompson juked about half the Eastern roster, starting on the left side of the field and cutting all the way back across to the right before downshifting into second gear for the final 15 yards and cruising into the end zone.
That gave Atlantic City a 21-0 lead, as Thompson’s two scores sandwiched a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Ahmad Chambers that was set up by one of his own long runs. With a little less than two minutes left in the second quarter, the game was effectively over.
“He’s been doing that since second grade,” teammate Jarrod Barnes said of Thompson. “People think that because he’s kind of skinny that you can tackle him, but he’s strong. I can tell you, when you make contact with him in practice it’s hard (to bring him down). He’s a great player and a great athlete, and he really puts the work in. Going up against him every day in practice is making us better as a team.”
“We were 0-2, so I had to come out here and give it my all. I had to go for not one, but two (touchdowns). When I caught (the punt), I saw somebody in front of me so I had to make a move, and I just took off after that. That was that. It gave us momentum because when I score, it gets everybody else going. Once I score, everybody gets going, and that’s how we get rolling,” said Thompson, who also is a standout basketball player. “That first touchdown, I told (the defenders) that I’m here, I’m coming for it all and that we came to play today. We needed this win a lot. We have Washington Township next week at home, and we’re ready. (The 0-2 start) has been kind of tough, there have been some ups and down. We came up short in the first two games, but this game, we had it.
On the first score, Thompson took about a 2-yard screen pass, stiff-armed the cornerback and turned on the afterburners, racing 60-yards to put Atlantic City up, 7-0, halfway through the first quarter. Atlantic City scored three more times in the next seven minutes to put the game out of reach before the hot dogs at the snack stand were fully cooked.
“This was a must-win. We had to bounce back,” Barnes said. “We were 0-2 and our backs were up against the wall, so we had to come together as a team. There weren’t really any rough moments; we knew we had one of the hardest schedules in New Jersey. We just bounced back, practicing hard every day.”
Barnes added a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the first quarter to make it 27-0.
“In film, every time they ran that little tunnel (screen) they ran it with that big receiver. So when I saw that tunnel screen, pick-6, touchdown,” said Barnes, a linebacker who had 37.5 tackles as a sophomore last year. “That felt real good. That was my first interception in high school. I dropped a lot last year, so I knew I had to get one. Film work pays off.”
The lead reached 35-0 in the second quarter on a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Barnes.
“This win definitely hypes us up,” Barnes said. “Going up against Washington Township, they are a good team, so this motivates us. We’re ready for next week, I promise you that.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Atlantic City hosts Washington Township on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. Eastern travels to Northern Burlington on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m.
