Football: Kingsway beats Winslow Twp.

By Phil Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

Kingsway running back Anthony Seas described the football field as a "giant puddle."

Defensive tackle Wale Mustafa saw it more like a big sandbox.

"It was so much fun playing in that," Mustafa said of the driving rain and fierce wind during Kingsway's 36-8 victory over visiting Winslow Township in a West Jersey Football League inter-division game on Friday night. "We're just a bunch of goofy guys that like to have fun and we had a lot of fun out there tonight."

Mustafa led a dominant defense and Seas ran for four touchdowns behind a powerful offensive line for Kingsway (1-2), the No. 15 team in The Inquirer Top 25.

With Mustafa and fellow senior defensive tackle Arlen Larue disrupting plays at the line of scrimmage, and senior linebacker Jay Scerbo knifing into the backfield, Kingsway held Winslow Township (3-1) to just eight yards of offense before the final possession of the game.

"We've played great defense all year long," Kingsway coach Tony Barchuk said. "We just needed to eliminate some mistakes. These guys know what this team is capable of."

The game was played in difficult conditions on Kingway's grass field. There were large puddles along both sidelines before the opening kickoff and the footing seemed to worsen during the course of the action.

"It was rough but it made it fun," said Scerbo, also played a strong game at fullback.

Seas ran for 140 yards on 21 carries. His last carry was a five-yard touchdown run on Kingsway's second play of the second half.

"It was a great experience," Seas said of the playing conditions.

Seas creditted his offensive line.

"The blocking was great," Seas said.

Winslow Township, the No. 17 team in rankings, had broken to a 3-0 start under first-year coach Kemp Carr.

But the Eagles struggled to generate any offense against the combination of Kingsway's active defense and the deteriorating field conditions, and also hurt themselves with some special teams miscues.

"Humble pie," Carr said by text after the game. "We will return."

Kingsway's start had been the polar opposite of Winslow Township's although the Dragons had gone to-to-toe with top competition.

Kingsway opened with a 16-13 loss to No. 7 Hammonton and lost its second game by 14-7 in overtime to No. 3 Williamstown. The Dragons were coming off a bye week.

"We played great teams but we had to find a way to win," Barchuk said.

Mustafa said the Dragons felt like they were in a desperate situation.

"It was like dying," Mustafa said. "We needed to go into survival mode."

The 6-foot, 225-pound Mustafa made several tackles behind the line of scrimmage and also recovered a fumble on a kickoff.

He finished the game with his uniform caked in mud.

"He's so quick off the ball," Barchuk said of Mustafa. "Its an old saying but it's true, 'He has a nose for the ball.'"

Winslow Twp. 0 0 0 8 -- 8

Kingsway 6 14 16 0 -- 36

K: Anthony Seas 21 run (run fail)

K: Seas  20 run (Seas run)

K: Seas 5 run (run fail)

K: Seas 5 run (Jay Scerbo run)

K: Sean Samuels 12 run (Samuels run)

W: Keyshawn Branham 1 run (Branham run)

-- Contact Phil Anastasia at panastasia@phillynews.com

-- Follow @PhilAnastasia on Twitter