This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Timber Creek Football Repeats as Champions

The Chargers defeated Kingsway 57-27 in the Group 4 finals.

Repeat.

It’s a word that was shouted over and over again Saturday night at Rowan University. The Timber Creek Regional High School entered the season with their eyes focused on repeating as South Jersey champions and their goal came to fruition in dominating fashion.

Junior quarterback Dan Williams threw for more than 250 yards and five touchdowns and Zaire Williams ran for two scores, leading Timber Creek to a 57-27 win over Kingsway in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 4 championship game.

Find out what's happening in Gloucester Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Repeat, repeat, repeat, that’s all that’s going through my mind right now,” said Zaire Williams.

Kingsway had no answer for the Chargers on the ground or through the air. Dan Williams completed 15-of-18 passes for 256 yards, while Zaire Williams and Khalil Pierce each went over 1,000 yards on the season in the game.

Find out what's happening in Gloucester Townshipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I hoped that this would be the game we put it all together,” said Timber Creek head coach Rob Hinson. “Offensively, we had everybody on display. I don’t even know how many guys scored touchdowns, but a lot of guys touched the ball. … This is what we expected with this caliber of talent earlier in the season.”

Senior receiver Kevin Casey had the night of his career, hauling in a trio of touchdown passes. He caught passes of 42, 10 and 26 yards in the second half to erase any thought the Dragons had of making it a game.

“This moment means so much to us,” Casey said. “In the beginning of the season, we started off with a loss and it was devastating. From then on we came out with the mindset that we were the best team in South Jersey and we stepped on this field and decided to hit them hard. After that, our offense started flowing and defense got the job done. At the end of the night, we are champions again.”

The Timber Creek defense started the game by forcing Kingsway into a three-and-out. The tone was set by defensive end Dajaun Drennon, who had his first of three sacks on the night on that opening Kingsway possession. A shanked punt gave the Chargers the ball on the Dragons’ 16-yard line. Just a couple of plays later, Williams found the end zone on a 2-yard run to give Timber Creek a 6-0 lead.

After another defensive stop, Pierce got into the act, scoring on a 10-yard run.

Kingsway answered back with a touchdown of its own thanks to a sensational run by junior running back Ray Lawry, who broke a pair of tackles and sprinted to a 56-yard touchdown with 1:24 left in the first quarter.

The Chargers got their passing game going in the next series, highlighted by a huge fourth-down conversion. Facing a 4th-and-8 on the Kingsway 17, Williams dropped back and found an open Adonis Jennings for a touchdown.

“I knew that coming into this game my team was ready to come out here and get the job done,” Dan Williams said. “Coach put a good gameplan together and I just wanted to come out here and help my teammates. It’s just a dream come true.”

Lawry once again countered with a long touchdown run, this time of 71 yards, to bring Kingsway within 20-13 with 10:25 left in the half. However, any momentum was short-lived as Williams found Bryce Shade open for a 4-yard touchdown at the end of the half.

The second half was the Williams-to-Casey show as the Chargers rolled to the championship.

“I talked to my coaches before the playoffs and they told me to have a great championship game and have the best game of my life,” said Casey. “I came out of the season with four touchdowns and I am leaving this game with seven.”

Zaire Williams added a highlight of his own when he hurdled over a defender at the line of scrimmage, then broke free for a 20-yard touchdown with 6:48 left in the third quarter.

“I hurdled somebody earlier in the year and I knew I had to get another one,” said Williams, with a wide smile. “I guess that was the perfect moment to get it.”

For Dan Williams, Saturday’s performance represented the culmination of a season that started with him as a No. 3 quarterback and ended with jubilation.

“Last year, I sat behind Calvin (Lowe). Calvin was a great quarterback and I learned a lot from him,” Williams said. “Seeing him last year come out here and beat Hammonton, I felt that I could do the same from the bottom of my heart.”

Williams and the Chargers did exactly that, achieving the repeat.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?