The second week of the 2015 Pirate football season brought Willingboro to town on a beautiful Friday night in South Jersey. The Pirates built a 23-0 lead and held on to take down the Chimeras 23-16 for a 2-0 start to the season.
The first half was incredibly lopsided, with the Pirates posting 21 points before the break and holding the Chimeras to zero first downs on offense.
The Pirates got the scoring started with four minutes remaining in the opening quarter when freshman running back Rashad Raymond scampered 33 yards to the end zone. Joey Cody added the extra point and the Pirates went out front 7-0.
Willingboro could not get anything going on offense in the first half, punting multiple times and turning the ball over on downs at least twice.
“I thought the offensive line, defensive line, linebackers did a great job,” head coach Mario Patrizi said. “I thought as a team we did well. The phase of the game we lost tonight was special teams. We work everyday on that. Offense, defense, we won the battle. Special teams, we didn’t.”
Cinnaminson extended the lead to 14-0 when Devon Taylor scored from five yards out on an end around with 4:43 left in the first half. Then, with just over two minutes remaining, Raymond picked up his second rushing touchdown of the game when he broke the plane from three yards out.
“It was all because of the line,” Raymond said. “They were pushing real hard. I knew we would come out with a ‘W’ tonight.”
Heading into halftime, the Pirates held a 21-0 lead and little reason to worry that Willingboro would get going in the second half. That feeling would remain until the 5:28 mark, which is when Willingboro finally picked up its first first down of the game.
Just four minutes later, the Chimeras would score on a one-yard run from Trey Green. A two-point conversion made it a 23-8 game.
With under 8 minutes to go in the fourth, Amir Murray scorched the Pirates defense for a 47-yard touchdown run. Another two-point conversion attempt was completed and all of a sudden the Pirates 23-point lead was down to just seven points.
“We have to work on that second half,” quarterback Shaun Davilla said. “We saw that 21-0 lead and we got comfortable with it. We have to keep punching, we gotta keep throwing the ball hard. We did it in the first half and we gotta do it the second half. We got too comfortable.”
That was as close as the Chimeras would come on one of the last nights in the summer season as the Pirates defense held strong and the offense killed a ton of time off the clock to secure the victory.
“If we didn’t kill that clock and move the ball, we’d probably still be fighting right now in overtime,” Davilla said after the win.
As mentioned in our week 2 preview, Patrizi said to be successful against Willingboro, the Pirates would need to prevent the big plays. They did just that, minus one play (47-yard Murray touchdown run), en route to the victory.
“Willingboro’s good. They’re a good football team,” Patrizi said. “They played Northern Burlington to the end last week, who’s a very good football team. We knew coming in this was a major test for us and we needed to win, no doubt.”
There were a handful of turnovers Friday night, but two of the biggest ones were interceptions from Curtis Hickson and Frank Stepnowski in the first half for the Pirates.
“That’s a game where a lot of teams would give it up. We stuck to it. The kids stuck to the plan and they did what they needed to do to get out of here with another ‘W,'” Patrizi said.
Up next on the schedule for Cinnaminson is a date with 0-2 Bordentown, a team they beat twice in 2014 (regular season and state playoffs).
“Bordentown’s good,” Patrizi said about next week’s opponent. “They’re a good team, they’re athletic, and they’re very well coached. We played them twice last year; two great games. We’re gonna go up there and we know what we’re gonna have on our hands next week.”
The Pirates hit the road and visit Bordentown next week for a 7pm game on Friday, September 25.
[…] Week two brought old foe Willingboro to town. The Pirates led 23-0 before the Chimeras put up 16 points late in the game to make it interesting. Once again, the defense dominated, especially in the first half. Willingboro failed to secure a first down until the second half of play. […]
[…] came into Friday night’s game with victories over Robbinsville and Willingboro, but head coach Mario Patrizi knew his team had to be at the top of its game to take down the […]
[…] Cinnaminson moved to 2-0 with a 23-16 victory over visiting Willingboro last week. The game was much closer than anyone would have liked, especially since the Pirates held a 21-0 lead at halftime and then a 23-0 lead in the second half before surrendering 16 points. […]
[…] Football Moves to 2-0 with 23-16 Win Over Willingboro […]