Palmyra wins game and title

In one of the oldest Thanksgiving Day high school football rivalries in South Jersey Thursday at Burlington City, more than holiday bragging rights were at stake.

A share of the Burlco/Olympic League Freedom Division title was there for the taking, and Palmyra seized it.

Down by 14 points at intermission, Palmyra tied the game in the third quarter and quarterback Steven Morris won it, 28-21, with a touchdown pass in the final period.

Palmyra, Burlington City and Florence all had been tied with 4-1 records going into Thursday's final division game of the season. Florence routed Riverside, 48-0, to capture the other half of the crown.

Palmyra finished the season 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the division to lead the series that started in 1909, 50-45-12. The Blue Devils dropped to 5-5, 4-2.

Morris' heroics resulted from a broken play. The senior signal caller was supposed to run to his right and throw to a receiver on the right side of the end zone. However, City's aggressive defense forced him to scramble to his left.

"I got outside to my left, and I'm not too good throwing across my body," Morris said. "I was going to tuck and run because I had 30 yards of field in front of me. But I saw a receiver in the back of the end zone. I trusted him, and he trusted me, and he caught it."

Junior Derrick Dyer caught a 20-yard touchdown strike from Morris with 9 minutes, 1 second remaining in the last period. Morris kicked the last of four extra points, and the Panthers had their first lead of the game since tailback Alonzo Sadler scored on a 15-yard run in the first period.

Sadler tied the game, 21-21, on a 2-yard run with 32 seconds left in the third quarter. The play was preceded by a 28-yard interception return to the two by Nick Cannizzaro. That was the second City turnover of the second half, and Palmyra was able to turn it into points.

In the second period, the Blue Devils capitalized on two Palmyra turnovers to surge to a 21-7 lead. The defending division champion Panthers turned over the ball four times before intermission.

"This [win] feels great because I played a horrible first half," said Morris, who threw three interceptions in the first 24 minutes of play. "At the end I made that big play for the victory, and I am so happy because it is my last [high school] game.

"Everybody was doubting us, saying we didn't have the pieces to the puzzle. We proved everybody wrong today."

Blue Devils Kwaseen Cole and Shaquille Hall caught touchdown passes of 45 and 12 yards, respectively, from senior quarterback Shawn Diamond to take a 14-7 lead with 4:45 remaining in the second period.

Diamond tossed the 12-yard TD strike following Jonathan Pruden's interception of a Morris pass on the 50-yard line.

Larry Best intercepted Morris on City's 28-yard line to set up the last touchdown before intermission.

Diamond threw a 36-yard pass to Cole in the end zone with 3:51 left in the second period. However, the play was called back due to offensive pass interference.

Palmyra   7 0 14 7 - 28

Burlington City   0 21 0 0 - 21

P: Alonzo Sadler 15 run (Steven Morris kick)

BC: Charles Jones 4 run (Nick Ford kick)

BC: Shaquan Hall 12 pass from Shawn Diamond (Ford kick)

BC: Kwaseem Cole 45 pass from Diamond (Ford kick)

P: Romaine Evans 1 run (Morris kick)

P: Sadler 2 run (Morris kick)

P: Derrick Dyer 20 pass from Morris (Morris kick)