The combination of relentless defense and another big day from QB Thomas leads Rams in rivalry game
SALEM – The bad weather cleared out right before the start of the game, but luckily for the Salem football team the Blue Storm stayed around.
Rams head coach Kemp Carr put the moniker on his defense before the season started and the unit lived up to the name Saturday. They were aggressive, they were fast, and they were physical. Combined with an offense equally impressive in the hands of Desmund Thomas, it added up to a 40-7 homecoming win over inter-county rival Woodstown.
The defense established its presence right from the start. On the first defensive play of the game, the Rams threw Cole Ware for a five-yard loss on a screen pass and knocked him out of the game. On the next play, Tony Merendino broke into the backfield and dropped TyRell West for a three-yard loss. Six of Woodstown’s first eight plays and seven of their first 10 were negative impact plays. The Wolverines had only six yards net rushing in the first half and 17 in the game.
“That’s what we want to be; we want to be a storm,” Carr said. “When a storm comes, people run for shelter. That storm can be many different storms. Storms come in many different volumes. It comes with violence, sometimes it comes with a lot of noise, and we want to be that.
“There are a lot of facets around that. We’ve got three things we want to do every week. We want to be disciplined, we want to communicate and we want to be violent. I think we answered all three of those bells.”
Merendino, a transfer from Woodstown, really showed out against his former team with 2.5 sacks, several other tackles for loss and a fumble recovery that led to the Rams’ fourth touchdown. Carr called it “the strongest game he’s played” with the Rams.
“This one felt extremely important to me because throughout my entire career I was always doubted upon and I took advantage of every opportunity on the field,” the edge rusher said. “I was extremely aggressive because I did understand their offense a lot more, but at the end of the day if he’s not wearing a blue, gray, white jersey or he’s not a Ram, that’s a target.
“We were all excited today. We all wanted this win. I believe we were all hungry for this. I believe this defense could really do something big and special. I believe this could be a state championship defense; we’ve just got to work on our Ps and Qs. That name, It fits the program. As a unit, as an entire team, we come, we conquer, and I believe that this team can go far with that motto.”
The defense playing as well as it did made it a lot more comfortable for Thomas and the Rams’ offense to function; more pressure by their defense, less pressure on their offense. The Rams scored on six of their first seven possessions in the game, and the only one they missed was an interception in the end zone from inside the 30. They scored on all six of their meaningful possession in Thomas’ season debut last week against Overbrook.
“They’re a different team with him at quarterback,” Woodstown coach Frank Trautz said. “He makes them a much more dangerous offense.”
Thomas completed 14 of 18 passes for 144 yards to seven different receivers against the Wolverines and had five carries for 41 yards. He threw for two touchdowns (to Ahmad Tucker and Kyvion Parsons) and ran for two more—all in the first half. The pass to Tucker he threw sidearm. In his two games back, he is 21-of-25 passing for 285 and four touchdowns for a passer efficiency rating of 224.56.
Carr continues to say the senior is one of the top five quarterbacks in South Jersey. He cites maturity as the key to Thomas’ increased efficiency over a year ago.
“I’m just trying to do better every game,” Thomas said. “I feel like I got better this game.”
The Salem defense was so aggressive they left the Wolverines in a condition similar to the Thanksgiving Day Classic/Rivalry Week trophy the Rams retained for winning the game.
Four significant Woodstown players were knocked out of the game. Starting quarterback Cole Ware went out with an ankle injury on that first screen pass, seriously crimped the Wolverines’ offense the rest of the day. It got even bleaker when quarterback Mason Middlemiss (ankle) and center Rex Hannah (head) went out on the same play later in the first quarter. And Asher Fitzpatrick (shoulder) joined them later.
Ware and Middlemiss both were headed for X-rays after the game. The status of the four going forward wasn’t immediately known.
The Wolverines went through a similar rash of injuries last year that was so severe as many as nine starters were on the sideline at the same time.
“It’s tough when we got, again, guys in key positions go down who we rely on very much,” Wolverines coach Frank Trautz said. “We lose Cole Ware on the first play of the game. It’s tough.
“I was proud of the way the kids came back out at halftime. They battled. They stuck together. This team, we’re learning to stick together. We’re learning to win. And we’re learning to try to get to where we want to go. We’re not going to be the same team in November.”
Noah Chiu replaced Middlemiss at quarterback and directed the Wolverines to their lone touchdown, a 35-yard pass to Andrew White with 4:19 left on a running third quarter clock that capped the opening drive of the second half. Chiu was 3-for-4 on the touchdown drive and finished the game 5-of-8 for 62 yards.
Salem 40, Woodstown 7
| WOOD (7) | SAL (40) | |
| 7 | 1st Downs | 13 |
| 23-17 | Rushing | 23-224 |
| 8-14-1 | Passes | 14-18-1 |
| 130 | Passing | 144 |
| 3-1 | Fum-Lost | 0-0 |
| 3-26.3 | Punts-Avg | 0-0 |
| 10-65 | Penalties | 7-80 |
| Woodstown (3-3) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0- | 7 |
| Salem (3-3) | 12 | 22 | 0 | 8- | 40 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-Desmund Thomas 11 run (pass failed), 10:18 1Q
S-Ahmad Tucker 19 pass from Desmund Thomas (run failed), 6:55 1Q
S-Izaiah Santiago 9 run (Myshon Barnes pass from Desmund Thomas), 10:32 2Q
S-Kyvion Parsons 7 pass from Desmund Thomas (Adrian Alleyne run), 6:21 2Q
S-Desmund Thomas 14 run (pass failed), 0:33 2Q
WO-Andrew White 35 pass from Noah Chiu (Jack Bucksar kick), 4:19 3Q
S-Adrian Alleyne 3 run (run failed), 8:33 4Q
Photos from throughout the Salem vs. Woodstown Football Game of 2026 taken by Zachary Ahl
