After early deficit, Delsea throttles Kingsway

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP - For one moment, early in the second quarter, Kingsway High's football team had all the momentum in its game at Delsea. The Dragons had matched the Crusaders for more than a quarter at Delsea's John Oberg Field and held a six-point lead against the defending Group 2 champions.

That's when Delsea's Dylan Wilton changed the tide, and, soon after, Tyler Coulbourn made this game his own.

Delsea beat Kingsway, 48-25, Friday night in the season opener between the two former Tri-County Conference Royal Division mainstays. Now in the new West Jersey Football League and, coincidentally, still in the Royal Division, Delsea showed that while the name might have changed, the Crusaders remain a force in this league.

In a game that featured a combined eight turnovers, Delsea showed that it has transitioned from a veteran offense that won last year's title to a fresher version of the Wing-T that, while it has some growing to do, certainly appears as explosive as its predecessor.

"We've heard how we aren't the same as last year's offense," Coulbourn said. "You know, we're not the same as that team. We're not [Austin] Medley, [Sean] McPherson and [Chris] Jackson. But that doesn't mean we aren't able to compete, and we showed that tonight."

Down 7-0, late in the first quarter, Kingsway put together a nine play, 80-yard drive - featuring a 49-yard completion from Rondell Gilmore to Kyle Heggs - that was capped by a lateral to Tim Durnell, who went 1 yard for the score. On the ensuing kickoff, Kingsway's Alvin Milsted recovered a fumble and, five plays later, Frank Rinaldi went 4 yards for a 13-7 lead. The extra point was blocked, a sign things to come.

"We made too many mistakes," Kingsway coach Tony Barchuk said. "I thought we could come in here and move the ball, and we did. I thought the coaches did a great job keeping everyone focused at halftime. We did a lot of really good things tonight.

"Our mistakes were the mistakes of a young team, and we are going to fix that."

Wilton took the kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown and, after a Frank Freijomil kick, Delsea led, 14-13. What came next was a Delsea onslaught, slowed only by 10 penalties for 73 yards that served as a small bump in the road for the Crusaders during that stretch.

Including the kick return, Delsea, aided by a pair of fumble recoveries, went on a 27-point run largely on the speed of Coulbourn, the senior quarterback, who scored on runs of 29 and 9 yards. Coulbourn, who spent the last two seasons as Chris Jackson's understudy, finished off the surge with a 34-yard touchdown strike to Darius Convery.

"We made a lot of mistakes," said Delsea coach Sal Marchese, whose team had 11 penalties for 80 yards. "We're inexperienced, and I think it showed tonight.

"You can't do that against a talented team like Kingsway. Both teams are young, and we got away with it tonight, but we have a lot of work to do over the next week."

Delsea has little time to age gracefully, as it hosts fellow Royal member and Group 3 powerhouse Timber Creek on Thursday.

"We're just going to keep working," said Coulbourn, who rushed for 68 yards and completed three passes for 109 yards. "Just keep working." *

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