SJSW Notebook: Rising to the top

Williamstown’s David Fuller-Williams attempts to bring down Shawnee running back Jake Barnett. (MIKE MONOSTRA, South Jersey Sports Weekly)

South Jersey Sports Weekly is a publication that launched in April. It’s produced by Sun Newspapers and appears in the physical copy within the Suns throughout South Jersey (in Moorestown, Medford, Cherry Hill, Washington Township, Deptford, etc). each Wednesday. Most of the content also appears online. The weekly, online notebook will provide you with even more of the content within SJSW’s physical pages.

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While teams in other sports are posing with trophies, football teams remain focused on putting their best foot forward each Friday of their regular season schedules. In the last two seasons, no team has done that better than Williamstown.

The Braves won their 21st straight game over a South Jersey foe (a streak that began two years ago) by defeating a very talented Shawnee team 17-0 in a matchup of 2018 championship teams on Friday in Medford. Williamstown (8-0) is led by arguably the best defense in the state: their shutout of the Renegades was the team’s fifth of the season, all over Group 4 or Group 5 opponents. (Stay tapped into SJSW in the next couple of days for Mike Monostra’s story on the Braves).

In the other football, or what American’s call soccer, South Jersey’s premiere in season tournament, the Coaches Tournament, crowned champions last weekend. Eastern’s girls team collected its third straight title wile upstart Moorestown pulled off one upset after another to win on the boys side.

Instrumental in the Quakers’ effort was senior goalkeeper Kevin Muhic, who recorded his third shutout of the tournament in a 2-0 win over Clearview in the championship match. Muhic was South Jersey Sports Weekly’s Player of the Week.

Moorestown senior goalkeeper Kevin Muhic allowed just one goal in four games to lead the Quakers to a Coaches Tournament title. (MIKE MONOSTRA, South Jersey Sports Weekly)

“We’re a very determined, motivated group ready to prove something,” Muhic said prior to Moorestown’s win over Clearview. “I think this was a great chance. This is a goal we worked toward, making it to Coaches Cup. Having the chance to play these top teams in South Jersey, everyone has been at their best performance.”

Moorestown (14-5-2) has 10 shutout victories this season.

“He has kept us in every game,” Moorestown coach Mike Randall said. “First at Eastern, he made a couple of great saves at home. But at St. Augustine, he might have made five or six, point-blank reaction saves that kept us in that game. At one point, we could have easily been down 2-0 in that game if not for Kevin. He came up huge. The one time, he came flying across the goal and gets (the ball) in his chest. The next time, he gets it in his hands. He had one on the near post, he gets with his hands. Kid goes to kick it, he gets up, gets it with his hands again and then gets up one more time and picks it up from the kid. Shutouts are one thing, but it’s how you get the shutouts. He’s been playing with a ton of confidence.”

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ICYMI: Stories from Last Week

Eastern High School junior Riley Tiernan and sophomore Ryleigh Heck. (RYAN LAWRENCE, South Jersey Sports Weekly)

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Games to Watch: Oct. 30 – Nov. 29

Wednesday, Oct. 30
Cross Country: Tri-County Conference Showcase
Races begin at 3:30 p.m. at Cumberland Regional High School

Thursday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1
Field Hockey: Public Sectional Championships
South Jersey Group 4: Kingsway at Eastern, 2 p.m. on Thursday
Central Jersey Group 1: Collingswood at Haddonfield, 2 p.m. on Thursday
Central Jersey Group 4: Lenape at Rancocas Valley, 4:30 p.m. on Thursday
South Jersey Group 3: Ocean City at Clearview, 2 p.m. on Friday
Central Jersey Group 3: Brick Twp. at Burlington Twp., 2:30 p.m. on Friday
Central Jersey Group 2: Seneca at Wall Twp., 2 p.m. on Friday

Friday, Nov. 1
Football: Haddonfield vs. Deptford
7 p.m. at Deptford High School

Monday, Nov. 4
Girls Soccer: Sectional semifinals
Game times TBA, hosted by higher seed

Tuesday, Nov. 5
Boys Soccer: Sectional semifinals
Game times TBA, hosted by higher seed

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Scenes from Last Week

Gymnastics: Olympic Conference Championships
All photos: Mike Monostra, South Jersey Sports Weekly

Cross country: Olympic Conference Championships
All photos: Ryan Lawrence, South Jersey Sports Weekly

Football: Williamstown at Shawnee
All photos: Mike Monostra, South Jersey Sports Weekly

RYAN LAWRENCE
RYAN LAWRENCE
Ryan is a veteran journalist of 20 years. He’s worked at the Courier-Post, Philadelphia Daily News, Delaware County Daily Times, primarily as a sportswriter, and is currently a sports editor at Newspaper Media Group and an adjunct journalism instructor at Rowan University.
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