MANSFIELD — What it meant, when Northern Burlington’s Clark Norway crossed the goal line on the final play of the first half, was that the Greyhounds could relax.

It wasn’t that the game was over, far from it.

It was just that Northern Burlington was no longer one mistake away from having to hunt him.

“We’re not here to do heart surgery,” Greyhounds coach Jule Dolci said. “It’s quite simple. We are playing football. And we just have to do what we do and do it well. Often these guys put a lot of pressure on themselves. They need to remember – it’s supposed to be fun.

“You have to be ready to play, but you have to be loose. When we’re loose and healthy and ready to go, I think we’re definitely tough.

They won’t get any arguments from Paul VI’s camp. Norway rushed for 171 yards on just 17 carries on Saturday as Northern beat Paul VI, 21-7, in their West Jersey Football League National Division game.

Norway‘s score ended an interesting streak. The Greyhounds faced third and goal at the Paul VI 1 with 26 seconds left. Ronnie Borden attempted a quarterback stealth and Norway, lining up behind him, was about to signal a touchdown when the ball went off the stack and into his hands.

“I thought he had touched it. I was waiting for the call, then the ball slipped,” Norway said. “It was just a reaction; pick it up and try to score.

Norway returned to 1. There was some confusion at the time as to whether a touchdown had been scored, or a fumble had occurred, or if Borden was down before it happened. But the clock was ticking, the ball was spotted and the Greyhounds lined up and ran one more play. Norway went to their right and made their way into the end zone.

“We have a number of games,” Norway said. “Some words to call plays with our offense. It’s super fast. That one word gives everyone a job to do. So we did a good job of being disciplined on those fast descents.

There was no time left in the half when he arrived in the end zone. Norway went slack on a 78-yard run on Northern’s first play in the second half.

“They were taking away our regular power. It just wasn’t there. They were sending a linebacker, digging gaps,” Norway said. “The counter was there the whole game, so my fullback (Tommy Walters) is doing a really good kicking job, and I like to read it at the line of scrimmage. If I take my time, the game is there.

Walters scored on a 2-yard run on the next play. Borden added a 29-yard touchdown pass to Sam Thomas early in the fourth quarter.

Paul VI, who was without quarterback Dominick Santiago, who suffered an apparent hand injury late in the first half, scored a late touchdown on Savien Higgs’ 21-yard pass to Winston Yates, but the Greyhounds recovered a kick in play at that time and got into the victory formation.

Three things we learned

Full strength and become stronger: Borden, sidelined by injury since day one, was 14-for-24 in his return for 143 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted once. It brings a whole new dimension to the northern attack. “He brings a lot to the table, us being able to get the ball out on the perimeter,” Dolci said. “We have kids who can do the game on the perimeter. We distributed the ball, and that’s kind of what we want to do, and he makes it a lot easier for us.

The defense responds: It’s not just the numbers, but the numbers are impressive. The Greyhounds allowed just 157 yards of offense. Paul VI moved the chains on two of the first three games he ran, then five more times on the rest of the match. Ryan Caloiaro and Manny Saenz each had 1 ½ sacks and Jailen Lopez reached quarterback once.

Still something to play for: Seneca clinched the National Division with their victory over Moorestown on Friday night. Northern Burlington is the only division game remaining on the Golden Eagles schedule and will not be the team the Golden Eagles see on tape. “The last two games it hasn’t really been that good,” Thomas said. “But this time everyone’s a little more excited, everyone’s a little more excited – we’re starting to believe in each other.”

game balls

For Paul VI, Yates caught three passes for 44 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown. He played the full game on defense, recovered a bouncing punt on his own 4 and returned it 34 yards, and also served as the Eagles’ long snapper.

For Northern Burlington, Caloiaro, who had been in the quarterback position for a few weeks, made his presence felt on the defensive line. Along with his sacks, he was part of a unit that kept the Eagles to 3.9 yards per carry. He also averaged just over 35 yards on five punts.

They said it

Dennis Scuderi, coach of Paul VI:

“We have to stick together. We are a family; we have to keep playing together. Things like this will happen. We need to put that behind us and prepare for next week. When things don’t go your way, you’re going to find out how good you are and you have to fight for it.

Dolci on the importance of scoring before half-time:

“I think it’s huge. You go up, you feel good, then you can go out and put another one on the board. Mentally, it exhausts you. We’ve been on the other side of that many times, and it’s not pretty. You start to struggle and you start to doubt yourself. All we have to do is believe. If we believe in each other and believe in what we can do, we are a strong football team.

Norway, why it all came together:

“I think after these last two games, with our QB back in action, we kind of all had flashbacks of that Shawnee Week 1 game, and what we can do, with 15 behind the center there. With his throwing ability, it relieves me a bit of the stress in the running game, and we just pulled it off.

John A. Lewis is a sportswriter for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and the Vineland Daily Journal. Email him at [email protected] Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.