Marc Narducci: Braves rebound with win

Williamstown's football team was ripe for a letdown after a 30-21 Group 4 semifinal loss to Cherokee, but Braves coach Frank Fucetola wasn't buying it. As it turns out, neither were his players.

The Braves still had plenty to play for, especially since a third consecutive Tri-County Royal Division title was in the balance.

While the motivation was high, the level of play was even higher as Williamstown beat visiting Delsea, 36-21, last night to clinch the Royal Division title and make a lot of fans from Egg Harbor Township very happy.

If Egg Harbor Township beats Cherokee in next Saturday's South Jersey Group 4 final, the 11-0 Eagles would be the consensus No. 1 team in South Jersey.

Then again, they may be popping corks in Marlton, where Cherokee all of a sudden is back in the No. 1 picture. The Chiefs currently are No. 1, but destined to drop after Thursday's 14-7 loss to Seneca.

Now the Group 4 game could be a winner-take-all bonanza.

Delsea is No. 2 but is now 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the Royal. No. 4 Williamstown is 10-1, 7-0, but no longer in the running for the top spot, simply because the Braves are out of games.

They sure weren't out of heart.

To a man, the Braves admitted that the Cherokee loss was devastating.

"It was really tough, especially the day after the Cherokee loss," said Williamstown running back Ron Gordon, who scored on 40-yard run that gave the Braves a 28-14 third-quarter lead. "It took us a few days to get together, but the conference was at stake and this was Delsea, so there was enough motivation."

Williamstown received two scoring runs of 77 and 40 yards from Harry Ulmer, who would be the featured back on many teams, but has to bide his time with Gordon and Marcus Hampton in the backfield.

Ulmer is just a junior, and right after the Cherokee loss he was thinking about the seniors.

"It was so crushing losing to Cherokee, because we had our goal to win a [sectional] championship," Ulmer said. "We knew this was it for the seniors, so we didn't stay down for long."

Delsea still has a championship to play for because the Crusaders will host Haddonfield in Friday's South Jersey Group 2 title game.

Having another title to shoot for was no consolation to the Crusaders, who treated this game as a championship matchup.

Unfortunately for the Crusaders, so did Williamstown.

"When you play a great football team like Williamstown, you can't make many mistakes and we made too many," Delsea coach Sal Marchese said.

Trailing, 28-14, Delsea cut the margin to 28-21 on Sean McPherson's 62-yard run with 3 minutes, 52 seconds left in the third quarter. Ulmer's 40-yard run and the Braves' two-point conversion rounded out the scoring midway through the fourth quarter.

Williamstown did a credible job on a Delsea running game that was averaging 9.66 yards per carry entering the contest. Linebacker Lou Carothers led the Braves defensive effort.

Like everybody else on his team, Carothers had to find it within himself to forget about the most recent loss and move on.

"We were crushed after that Cherokee loss," he said. "But we also knew that we didn't want to go out with another loss."

Then smiling, he added, "This was a program win."

Some win and some program.