Central Jersey Group 2 Football Final Preview: Camden vs. Wall
CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP 2 CHAMPIONSHIP
WHO: (2) Wall (8-2) at (1) Camden (8-2).
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m.
WHERE: Farnham Park – Camden High Athletic Fields; 1900 Park Blvd, Camden
WALL’S ROAD TO THE FINAL: Defeated Bordentown 41-0; defeated Rumson-Fair Haven 17-13.
CAMDEN’S ROAD TO THE FINAL: Defeated Voorhees 53-0; defeated Manasquan 46-6.
WALL’S BEST WINS: 25-22 over Manalapan; 28-0 over St. John Vianney; 17-13 over Rumson-Fair Haven.
CAMDEN’S BEST WINS: 26-21 over Kingsway; 28-14 over Holy Spirit; 8-6 over Rancocas Valley; 46-6 over Manasquan.
PLAYOFF HISTORY: Wall is playing in its first sectional final since winning a title in 2019 and its eighth championship game overall. The Crimson Knights have five titles in their history…Camden is playing in its fourth straight sectional final and has won two of the last three. The Panthers have been in the finals 10 times and have three sectional titles in their history. They were beaten by a Shore Conference squad, Point Boro, in last year’s final.
ANALYSIS
Camden is the strong favorite after reaching its fourth straight state sectional final. The Panthers have become a perennial power under coach Rob Hinson and have another loaded team this season.
Wall’s chances to pull the upset under veteran coach Ed Gurrieri hinge on the performance of its offensive line. The teams that have knocked Camden out of the playoffs the past three years (Delsea twice and Point Boro last year) have had clock-eating, ball-control offenses that ran the ball effectively.
Wall senior running back Dylan Cohen and the Crimson Knights’ ground game will be instrumental in the state final against Camden. (Photo by Patrick Olivero)
That is Wall’s bread and butter, as the Crimson Knights showed last week with a 22-play drive that took nearly 13 minutes off the clock in a 17-13 win over defending Group 2 champion Rumson-Fair Haven. They will jackhammer away at teams with senior running back Dylan Cohen, who has 1,037 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns, and sophomore Mike Boulard, who has 377 yards and two scores for an offense that averages 24.5 points per game. The main question is whether the offensive line can overcome its size disadvantage against the Panthers to still move the ball effectively.
Senior quarterback Brian McKenna has 1,100 yards passing and 11 touchdowns. He has gotten better as the season has progressed, and he will need to make some big throws on third down and in the red zone to keep Wall close. He hasn’t attempted more than 17 passes in a game all season and most likely will exceed that number on Friday night. Senior wide receiver Heath Reinhardt (43-480-2) is his main target along with senior Justin Davis at tight end.
Camden’s defense allows 10.8 points per game, and most concerningly for Wall, is one of the best teams in the state at getting negative plays. The Panthers average 4.3 sacks and 7 hits for a loss per game. In their win over Manasquan last week, they had four sacks and seven hits for a loss. They also held the vaunted Manasquan running game featuring seniors Ace Etienne and Justice Morgan to eight total yards on 20 carries.
Senior defensive lineman Jerome Foster has been a wrecking machine with 13.5 sacks, and senior defensive end Haleem Muhammad has 7.5 sacks. They also will walk senior defensive back Ibn Muhammad up to the line of scrimmage or blitz him from an angle, and he has seven sacks.
Camden’s offense averages 27.7 points per game, but has ramped that up to 49 points per game in its last three games. Senior quarterback Ahmad Jones is a transfer from Pleasantville who had to sit out at the beginning of the season and has 1,290 yards passing and 14 touchdowns since his return. He lit up Manasquan for 313 yards and five touchdowns on 22-for-29 passing in the semifinals.
His main target is Ibn Muhammad, a Syracuse recruit who has 37 catches for 587 yards and 7 touchdowns. The speedy 6-foot, 190-pound senior had eight catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the semifinals. The Panthers also have three other receivers with more than 250 yards.
In the ground game, senior Christian Braxton (117-665-5) is their speed back, and 205-pound junior Roman Duckett (65-476-6) is their power back. Ibn Muhammad will also get the ball on jet sweeps and other plays out of the backfield.
The backbone of Wall’s team is a defense that has been the catalyst in its eight-game winning streak. The Crimson Knights allow 12.3 points per game, which drops to 8.5 during their winning streak, including four shutouts.
Wall senior Justin Davis (#11) and the Crimson Knights’ pass rush needs to be a factor in order to knock off Camden.
A pass rush led by Davis (85 tackles, 15 TFL, 13 sacks), sophomore defensive end Jesse Roth (11 TFL) and Cohen (86.5, 7 TFL, 6.5 sacks) at linebacker will have to get after Jones to disrupt the passing game. Junior Franny Scaramellino should also be instrumental in the secondary as far as creating turnovers and preventing deep shots.
Camden goes for two after every touchdown, so it really doesn’t have a kicking game. Reinhardt is a weapon for Wall with range out to 30-plus yards and 30-for-31 accuracy on extra points.
On paper, it looks like a simple question. Wall may be better than Manasquan (we’ll find that out on Thanksgiving), but is it 40 points better than Manasquan? Because Camden showed last week that the Panthers are.
But it’s only one game, and anything can happen. If Wall can control the clock, shorten the game and kill a couple Camden drives with turnovers or maybe get a short field off a special teams turnover, the Crimson Knights could find a way.
The pick: Camden 26-17.
Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: scottstump25@gmail.com
