South Jersey Times Football Game of the Week preview: Salem at Gloucester

  • 09/24 - 7:00 PM FootballFinal
    Salem 49
    Gloucester 0
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Last week, the Gloucester High School football team took on South Jersey's leading passer in Deptord's Riley Giles.

This week, the Lions will face South Jersey's leading rusher, Salem's Jonathan Taylor, in a game that was voted the South Jersey Times Game of the Week.

Even though Giles threw for 374 yards last week, Gloucester still came away with a 22-21 win to improve to 2-0 in the season. The Lions will probably be OK with Taylor getting his yards – he has 410 yards and five touchdowns through two games – if the end result is the same.

“In the days leading up to the game, we were aware of how very dangerous Deptford was,” said Gloucester coach Ed Malone. “They were still moving the ball the whole game, but we made some adjustments and our guys rose up to the challenge.

“Salem is the same way. It’s always a battle and each week is a new challenge. They run the ball really well. We saw a lot of Taylor last year, but he’s a year older, he’s bigger and he’s more consistent.”

Taylor shared carries with Dione Alston and Zaire Jones last year. With both gone this season, he has shouldered the load.

Standout running back Justin Graves hasn’t played this year with an injury and is week-to-week, but the Lions have made up for his absence. Quarterback Andrew Burkhardt has thrown four touchdowns passes and they have run the ball by committee behind an experienced offensive line.

“It’s tough to lose somebody with Justin’s skill set, but we’ve become more balanced and more creative this year,” said Malone. “Andrew has a really good arm and that’s helped our passing attack.”

This game will be big in the South Jersey Group 1 and West Jersey Football League Classic Division race.

“We always talk about the next one,” said Malone. “But this is one of those games you don’t have to generate any hype. It’s a great challenge.”

The game was moved from Friday to Thursday because of concerns with the Papal visit in Philadelphia this weekend. Gloucester is at the foot of the Walt Whitman bridge leading into the city.

For Salem, it has made for a quick turnaround since they are coming off a Saturday game against Glassboro, but first-year coach Montrey Wright said his team has accepted the challenge.

“We just came in Sunday to start getting ready for this game, but the kids were all excited about it,” said Wright. “They were motivated to come to work. They’ve had a great week of practice. They got right back to it and showed me they were ready.

“We’re going to be facing a disciplined football team. You know Coach Malone will have his team ready every game.”

Wright, who took over for Dennis Thomas as head coach after Thomas left for Millville in the offseason, has been pleased with the 2-0 start for the Rams.

“It’s gone pretty good, we still need to correct small mistakes,” said Wright. “But they’ve played hard. We’re running the ball really well.

“We’ve been playing physical, playing fast and playing assignment football. It’s been a team effort.”

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports. Find the NJ.com High School Football page on Facebook by following this link.

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