Salem CC closes inaugural football season with close loss at Erie; women’s XC team fourth at regionals
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Salem CC football team wrapped up its historic first football season Saturday with a 29-12 loss at Erie CC that in a lot of ways reflected all the Mighty Oaks have experienced along the way.
The Mighty Oaks were once against competitive with their opponent – they led early, were close at half and it was a 10-point game until the final minute. They couldn’t establish a running attack, but they did throw it better than they had all season, and gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown that changed the complexion of the game.
“We were with them toe-to-toe all the way to the end,” Accorsi said. “I was really, really pleased how we finished it off, because after last weekend we could’ve rolled over and just give up and we didn’t. I think that a credit the our coaches and a credit to our players and a credit to the type of program we’re trying to build.”
The game was the first overnight trip in the program’s history and it wasn’t without challenges. The team bus carrying the defense broke down on the way up. It forced all the players onto one bus to continue while leaving several coaches and staff with the disabled bus awaiting assistance. They rejoined the team about an hour later and the rest of the night’s itinerary continued.
“I thought the coaches and players handled it really well,” Accorsi said. “It could have been a disastrous situation, but they made it as best they could.”
Once they got to the game, the Mighty Oaks struck quickly with quarterback tCan Wright hrowing a 60-yard touchdown pass to DJ Joyner in the first minute of the game. “Great throw, great catch,” Accorsi said. Wright completed 12-of-27 passes for 223 yards.
The Mighty Oaks appeared headed for a second score but fumbled the ball at the goal line.
“Usually when you do these long trips you’re worried about leaving your legs on the bus,” Accorsi said. “We didn’t. We came out right from the beginning and competed right away and we did all the way through the end.
The Kats scored the next two touchdowns to take the lead, but the Mighty Oaks closed the gap at halftime on Wright’s 89-yard touchdown pass to Kemarley Mason with 1:23 left.
“I thought for the first time we really threw the ball downfield,” Accorsi said. “We weren’t great at running ball, but we did move it here and there. I thought we had a chance to be competitive all the way to the end and maybe pull out a win, but the opening second-half kickoff completely deflated us and we were kind of scrambling from there.
“I thought we played really, really to be honest with you. It’s probably one of the better game we’ve played in the last couple weeks.”
The whole mood changed at the start of the third quarter when Romell Phillips returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown to extend the Kats’ lead to 22-12. It stayed that way until 36 seconds left in the game when Douglas Hunt recovered a fumble in the end zone.
The Mighty Oaks finished their inaugural season 1-7 and were in every game except Navy Prep in Annapolis last week. Their win came in the third game over Thaddeus Stevens at Penns Grove High School.
“To complete an eight-game season , to finish it off with an overnight and to be competitive all the way through, if you’d have asked me back in the beginning when I scheduled eight I thought it was kind of stressing ourselves and I wasn’t really sure if we could finish eight. We finished eight and were competitive all the way through to the end.
“I think that’s one of the steps that you look at as you start to build a program and also making a great experience for the players. That’s the other part you want it to be, that they have great memories and great experience and hopefully they remember this trip for many years.”
Erie CC 29, Salem CC 12
| SALEM | ERIE | |
| 8 | 1st Downs | 15 |
| 34-2 | Rushing | 30-35 |
| 12-28-2 | Passes | 12-37-1 |
| 223 | Passing | 237 |
| 5-26 | Sacked | 2-16 |
| 2=2 | Fum-Lost | 3-2 |
| 9-31.6 | Punts-Avg | 6-25.0 |
| 17-129 | Penalties | 14-125 |
| 2-18 | 3rd Down | 3-14 |
| 30:17 | Possession | 29:43 |
| Salem CC | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0- | 12 |
| Erie CC | 0 | 14 | 8 | 7- | 29 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-DJ Joyner 60 pass from Cam Wright (pass failed), 14:28 1Q
E-Brayden Tryon 60 pass from Salomon Georges (kick failed), 10:32 2Q
E-Tommy Hunt 8 pass to Salomon Georges (Tommy Hunt run), 1:38 2Q
S-Kemarley Mason 89 pass from Cam Wright (pass failed), 1:23 2Q
E-Romell Phillips kickoff return (Saloman Georges run), 14:49 3Q
E-Douglas Hunt fumble recovery in end zone (Zhiere McKnight kick), 0:36 4Q
Mighty Oaks harriers place fourth
LANCASTER, Pa. – Freshmen Izzy Saulin and Eliyah Smith posted top 20 finishes and all five Salem CC runners posted PRs as the Mighty Oaks finished fourth in the Region XIX Women’s Cross Country Championships.
Saulin was 15th overall in 27:49.1, with Smith right behind in 16th (28:19.6). They were fifth and sixth, respectively, among Division 1 & 2 runners.
Gabby Lemke (37:25.6) and Madison Toomey (38:11.8) finished just outside the top 20 and Breanne Ruhl was 25th (40:01.7).
Since the start of the season the Mighty Oaks have shaved 17 minutes off their collective team time or an average of more than three minutes per runner.
RCSJ-Gloucester’s Kayla Ayars of Woodstown won the race in 22:25.8.
Sahim Rodriguez was the fastest Salem runner in the men’s race, finishing 41st in 46:35.1.
WOMENS TEAM SCORES: Delaware Tech 36, RCSJ-Gloucester 45, Union 54, Salem CC 75.