Football: Timber Creek's Lambert ready to go

Quanzell Lambert might be the best defensive player in South Jersey.

He definitely is the best waterboy.

That's the role that Lambert played on Thanksgiving Day, wearing his No. 22 jersey and trotting on the field during timeouts with a container of Gatorade bottles for his Timber Creek teammates.

Lambert hits the field for real on Saturday afternoon.

"I'm so pumpewd I can't sleep at night," Lambert said of his excitement over returning to the Timber Creek lineup for Saturday's SJ Group 3 title game against Hammonton at 4 p.m.

Timber Creek is 11-0 and the No. 1 seed. Hammonton is 9-2 and the No. 2 seed.

Lambert has sat out Timber Creek's last two games with an ankle injury. He hurt his right ankle in a No. 11 playoff game against Lacey Township.

"It was bad at first," Lambert said. "But it feels a lot better. I'm ready to go."

The 6-2, 240-pound Lambert, a heavy hitting linebacker, is South Jersey's most highly recruited player. Nebraska coach Bo Pelini was a visitor to Timber Creek's practice to see Lambert on Wednesday.

Lambert said he planned to make a college decision on Christmas Day. His final five schools are Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa and Northwestern.

He will make a recruiting visit to Alabama next weekend.

His focus now is helping Timber Creek finish the first 12-0 season in program history.

"This is something I dreamed about since freshman year," Lambert said.

-- Phil Anastasia