A Season That Changed Everything: Pinelands Falls Short of First Sectional Championship

TABERNACLE — For three months, Pinelands gave its community something it hadn’t experienced in decades: a football team making history, bringing people together and giving an entire town reason to believe.

On Friday night, the Wildcats stood one victory from completing a transformation that once seemed unimaginable.

Instead, their remarkable season ended in heartbreak, controversy, and a 29-13 loss to Seneca in the South Jersey Group 3 sectional championship.

But the final score told only a fraction of the story.

A controversial quarterback ejection, three fumble-recovery touchdowns, and an inexperienced sophomore thrown into the biggest game of his life made for an extraordinary championship. Through it all, Pinelands refused to disappear, remaining within nine points until the final two minutes.

For head coach John Tierney, the disappointment couldn’t overshadow what his players had built.

“I just said to the kids, man, they brought a whole community together for the last six weeks,” Tierney said. “It’s unbelievable. The seniors have just completely bought in. They’ve taken leadership.”

To appreciate the significance of this season, consider where Pinelands started.

Before Tierney arrived in 2022, the Wildcats had endured 18 consecutive seasons without a winning record, including a combined 0-19 stretch in 2011 and 2012. The program hadn’t reached the state playoffs since 2004 and entered this postseason with just one playoff victory in school history.

Four years later, Pinelands had rewritten nearly every meaningful chapter of that history.

The Wildcats completed their first undefeated regular season, captured their first division championship since 1987, and established a school record with 11 victories. Playoff wins over Triton and Oakcrest, including a dramatic 13-7 overtime triumph in the semifinals, delivered the program’s first sectional championship appearance.

A program once accustomed to losing had become one of New Jersey’s most remarkable turnaround stories.

And its defense was the foundation. Entering Friday, Pinelands had surrendered just 38 points across 11 games, holding 10 opponents to seven points or fewer. Junior linebacker Montrell Carter, senior Paul Veneri, and a relentless defensive unit had transformed the Wildcats into a team capable of competing with anyone.

Seneca, however, presented their greatest challenge.

Senior quarterback Anthony Tirico, a Marist commit who entered the game with 11,184 career yards of total offense, a New Jersey state record, repeatedly tested Pinelands with his mobility and option-based rushing attack. He finished with 164 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries, scoring on runs of 17, 12 and 44 yards, the last coming with 1:45 remaining to seal Seneca’s victory.

Still, the Wildcats made the Golden Eagles earn their championship.

Pinelands answered Tirico’s opening touchdown when Dominic Colosi recovered RJ Clark’s fumble in the end zone. Later, Xavier Jones returned a fumble on a botched Seneca exchange 22 yards for another touchdown, bringing the Wildcats within 14-13 early in the second quarter.

But mistakes proved costly. Seneca recovered a high snap in the Pinelands end zone for a defensive touchdown, while another promising Wildcats possession ended when Ryan Fraley intercepted Jenkins in the end zone following an apparent miscommunication with his intended receiver.

Tirico’s second rushing touchdown and two-point conversion, following an offsides penalty on the extra-point attempt, gave Seneca a 22-13 advantage.

Then came the moment that changed everything.

With Pinelands driving inside Seneca territory late in the first half, senior quarterback and captain JJ Jenkins was ejected after officials ruled he had thrown a punch.

Tierney disputed the decision, saying a Seneca player initiated contact and Jenkins pushed him away. The coach said he never witnessed a punch.

“I’ve never seen a quarterback thrown out of a state sectional final for pushing somebody,” Tierney said. “And for that young man, as far as he’s come to be our leader, and that’s the way his career ends, I’ve got to question that.”

For Jenkins, who had helped guide Pinelands from an overlooked program to an undefeated sectional finalist, it was an especially painful conclusion.

His departure also forced sophomore Rex Kline into action despite never previously taking first-team snaps.

Rather than unraveling, Kline showed remarkable composure. He navigated pressure, extended plays, and delivered catchable passes, including several that his receivers couldn’t secure. Although he finished 3-for-9 for 22 yards, his performance showed considerably more promise than those numbers suggested.

“He played lights out,” Tierney said. “I mean, for being thrown into a role like that, he played lights out. I was very happy, very proud of him.”

The defense continued giving Pinelands opportunities.

Carter recorded three tackles for loss, including a critical stop during a Seneca possession that consumed more than seven minutes before ending on downs. The Wildcats forced another fourth-down stop in the final quarter, refusing to surrender despite their offensive struggles.

“I will go to war with No. 44 any day of the week,” Tierney said when asked how Carter compares with the Shore Conference’s top defensive players. “He’s a tremendous leader. He’s a tremendous player. He loves the game of football.”

But Pinelands couldn’t capitalize. Neither touchdown came on a conventional offensive scoring play, and a costly fourth-quarter holding penalty derailed another promising possession. A late strip sack by Josh Donofrio ended the Wildcats’ final meaningful opportunity before Tirico sealed the result.

Yet Friday’s defeat couldn’t undo four years of progress, 11 consecutive victories, or the belief this senior class instilled in a community that had waited decades for a season like this.

Tierney believes the greatest transformation of the season wasn’t measured in victories.

“I think just the commitment to each other, the leadership aspect,” he said. “They don’t want to let each other down.”

That commitment turned a program long accustomed to disappointment into one that expects to compete for championships.

“I just hope we can bottle this up,” Tierney said, “and when times get tough in the offseason, we remember what these days were like.”

For Seneca, the victory delivered a long-awaited breakthrough: its first sectional championship after five consecutive appearances in the final. For Pinelands, the trophy remained out of reach, but the Wildcats had already accomplished something their program spent decades chasing.

They turned belief into expectation, leaving behind a standard that will last long after the disappointment of Friday night fades.