Glassboro (19) at Salem (20) - Football

  • 09/09 - 2:00 PM FootballFinal
    Glassboro 19
    Salem 20
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Anthony Coleman | For NJ Advance Media

SALEM -- The Salem football team had as much trouble with itself as it did with its opponent in the first half Saturday.

In the season opener, the Rams had two big plays called back, one being a 95-yard kickoff return by Justin Harris, in totaling only six points by halftime. Eight first-half penalties didn't aid the Rams' cause either.

"I was frustrated," senior running back Zaire Jones said. "With our team, we have to be disciplined. If we had been disciplined, this would have been over at halftime. We just have to get better and work on our mistakes."

It was not until the fourth quarter that the Rams got their act together with two Jones touchdown runs to pull out a 20-19 victory over Glassboro.

"It was about the momentum shift," said Jones, who finished with 114 yards on 22 carries. "After we scored, we felt good. Everybody was jumping around, getting happy and having faith again. This just shows that we are tough and that we know how to battle through adversity."

The contest easily could have ended in favor of Glassboro. The Bulldogs (0-1) drove 56 yards in 1:18 to make it a one-point game in the fourth quarter. John Maldonado caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jamir Jenkins with seven seconds to go.

Head coach Mark Maccarone decided to go for the win, but the pass was too high for Dymeir Still.

"You know what?" Maccarone asked rhetorically. "You always second-guess your call, if we should have kicked it or called a different play for the two-point conversion. But you know what? We are the underdog in this situation. We were away. We went for the win. If I could take the call back, would I change it? Probably not."

The one thing that did go right for Salem in the first half was a swing pass from Ja'Yon Mejias to Harris that turned into a 52-yard score. The Rams got into the red zone again, but Mejias was intercepted by Still, who took it 56 yards the other way. The Bulldogs needed just five plays to convert the turnover into points. Tyrell Robinson scored on a 15-yard run. Gavin Shields' kick allowed Glassboro to own a 7-6 lead at the break.

"I told the guys to keep their heads up," Maccarone said. "They fought hard. Hey, we were able to control the ball at times. We have a very young team. We have seven sophomores and two freshmen on the field and we hung with the team that was in the Group 1 championship last year."

Robinson added his second touchdown on a 5-yard run in the third quarter to make it 13-6. Salem's rally began with 5:29 left in the game after Josh Johnson recovered a fumble at the Glassboro 25. Three plays later, Jones scored on a 21-yard run. Mejias ran around and bought time before finding Harris open in the back of the end zone for the 2-point conversion.

Glassboro was backed up on its own 5 to start the next drive. It netted 20 yards on seven plays. Salem took over on downs and appeared to finish off the game with Jones' 22-yard scoring run with 1:36 to go. Glassboro took over at its 44 following the short kick. A pass interference penalty on third down helped the Bulldogs to get into the end zone.

"It was a great team win," Salem coach Montrey Wright said. "Our goal was to come in here and leave here 1-0. We want to continue to get better. Today, we started off a little slow. Having two touchdowns called back hurt us.

"We have to cut back on penalties and things like that. If we cut back on penalties and things like that, we will be a good team. Other than that, we are a fourth-quarter team. They came out and finished the game, just like how I need them to do."

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