Penns Grove's Vincent Bonola (15) hurdles Woodstown's Justin Olbrich (13) as Gage Foote (5) looks on during a game in 2020. Bonola scored twice in Penns Grove's big 2-0 win over Schalick last week.Al Amrhein | For NJ Advance Media
Last week was payback time.
In a span of three days, GCIT and Penns Grove turned the tables on longtime thorns in their side and solidified strong starts to the season.
Penns Grove shut out Schalick 2-0 on Friday on a pair of goals by Vincent Bonola. Ruben Dominguez and Jacob Marquez collected the assists.
The Salem County rivals had met twice in seven of the past eight seasons coming into this one, and Schalick won all 14 of those games. Since 2011, the Cougars had led the series 16-0, with 11 of the victories by shutout.
“I’ll be honest, I’m still pretty pumped up about it,” veteran Penns Grove coach George Rhea said. “I tried keeping it low key, but it’s been a long time. I really don’t remember (our last win over Schalick). They’re always such a good team, and they’re still a good team. But we’re a good team this year too.”
Penns Grove is 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the Tri-County Conference Diamond Division, good for first place. The Red Devils are coming off a 10-6 season, but Rhea wasn’t sure coming into the year if they were ready to contend in the division.
“I really didn’t know,” he said. “Last year’s team was good too, but the competition was really good. We have about seven starters who are seniors and the rest are freshmen and new players. Right now we’re trying to blend them together, teach them and get them prepared for the playoffs.
“We had a real emotional game against Glassboro (in the opener), and then against Woodstown we were up 2-0 and blew it. We shut down and lost 1:30 into overtime. So I think the main thing this year is trying to get them to be consistent game in and game out. The focus is not there at times, but they’re getting better at it. I’ve seen the seniors mature and grow up a lot this year.”
One of those seniors is Bonola, who leads the Red Devils with four goals.
“He’s really a good player,” Rhea said. “He’s about 150 pounds soaking wet, but it’s unbelievable the stuff this kid does with the ball. He loves a challenge and he really wants to do nothing but win.”
No matter what happens the rest of the way, Rhea is going to savor the time with this group, many of whom have played soccer for him for four years and also play tennis for him in the spring.
“They’re great kids and they’re a lot of fun,” he said. “On Saturday we spent the day together cleaning up Penns Grove. I had 25 of them out there with me, walking the streets and picking up trash for the township. That’s the kind of kids they are.”
Earlier last week, GCIT edged Kingsway 3-2 behind two goals from Noah Heinz and a goal from Mike Stanwood. The Tri-County Royal Division foes have faced off twice every season since 2012 — except for 2020, when COVID forced a cancellation of their second game — and Kingsway held an 18-0-1 advantage in the series.
The Cheetahs’ only positive result in that span was a 1-1 tie in 2020. Seven of their losses were by four or more goals.
But GCIT is now off to a 4-1 start and is 2-1 in the Royal, tied with Kingsway for first. Every team in the highly competitive division has at least one win and at least one loss, and the race should go down to the wire.
Heinz, a senior, leads the Cheetahs with five goals and Stanwood, a freshman, has three.
HAT’S OFF TO YOU: Woodbury senior Daviont Baker-Alston recorded his first career hat trick in Thursday’s 6-2 win over Pennsauken Tech. He already has six goals on the year, doubling his total from each of the previous two seasons.
Baker-Alston has led the Thundering Herd to three wins in their last four games.
STAT LEADERS: Gateway’s Jacob Garrett sits atop the area scoring list with 13 goals, five more than Delsea’s Gabe Smith, who is second with eight. Timber Creek’s Nicolas Longo and Glassboro’s Atakan Ozdemir are tied for third with seven, while Woodbury’s Baker-Alston, Delsea’s Rexx Huntsinger and Deptford’s Tommy Newman each have six.
Mason Quinton of West Deptford and Cortland Webb of Highland each have six assists to lead the area in that category. Highland’s Aidan Anderson, Pitman’s Elijah Crispin, and Glassboro teammates Emirhan Kir and Matthew Rodriguez have five helpers apiece.
Pennsville’s Kyle Cahill and West Deptford’s Josh Owen are the top goalies with three solo shutouts. Clearview’s Connor Bowers and Washington Township’s Chris Clune have also been part of three shutouts, although several are shared.
NEWS AND NOTES: Clearview heads to Kingsway on Tuesday to resume one of the best soccer rivalries in South Jersey. In their last five meetings, there have been four one-goal games and a scoreless tie. … The season is just a few weeks old, but there are no undefeated teams left in the South Jersey Times coverage area. … Cumberland’s Jason Angel, who did not play high school soccer last year because of his club commitment, has five goals already, two off the career-high seven he scored as a sophomore.
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