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Pini's 2 TDs are getting him noticed

Vinnie Pini has enjoyed an accomplished career in football and track, but the Burlington Township senior receiver-defensive back achieved a first last week. The 5-foot-10, 155-pound Pini returned punts 51 and 75 yards for touchdowns in the Falcons' 42-7 win over Princeton on Thursday.

Vinnie Pini has enjoyed an accomplished career in football and track, but the Burlington Township senior receiver-defensive back achieved a first last week. The 5-foot-10, 155-pound Pini returned punts 51 and 75 yards for touchdowns in the Falcons' 42-7 win over Princeton on Thursday.

"I've never had two in a game, and it was a great feeling," Pini said. "The first one was a wide open area, and I just ran, and the second one I had to break a tackle and follow some great blocks."

Pini also has game-breaking ability at receiver for the 2-0 Falcons, who will host 2-0 Holy Cross on Friday.

He enjoyed a strong spring in track, finishing eighth in the 400 meters (48.95 seconds) at the Meet of Champions and ninth in the 200 (22.15).

"I got a lot of confidence from that because it was the first time I ran under 49 seconds," he said.

Pini, who is an honor student, said that if possible, he'd like to participate in both sports in college. But right now football is his priority.

Burlington Township coach Tom Maderia said that schools such as Rutgers and a few Football Championship Subdivision schools (formerly I-AA) had indicated that they were impressed with Pini, but that he was still waiting for offers.

"I compare him to guys in the past I've had who have gone places, and I'm not saying he can play at Ohio State, but he can play on the level of a Villanova or Delaware," Maderia said.

Right now, Pini is concentrating solely on Holy Cross, which outscored Florence and Cinnaminson by a combined 95-21 in its first two games. It's also the school where Maderia was the head coach before coming to Burlington Township, where he is in his eighth season.

"It's a great rivalry because all of our coaching staff coached and played there," Pini said. "We respect each other, and it should be a really good game."

Waiting his turn. Delsea junior fullback-linebacker Marshall Brooks has patiently waited his turn and is making the most of his opportunity. Last season, Brooks was the backup on offense and defense to Austin Medley, The Inquirer's South Jersey offensive player of the year.

That was a senior-laden team, and Delsea was expected to face a drop-off from an 11-1 team that won its second straight South Jersey Group 2 title.

So far this season, the 2-0 Crusaders haven't shown any letdown.

On Thursday, Brooks rushed for 132 yards on 26 carries and was a force on defense as Delsea defeated Timber Creek, 33-14. Timber Creek was ranked No. 6 in South Jersey by The Inquirer.

"I learned so much from Austin Medley, who had a great work ethic and always gave 100 percent," Brooks said.

Unlike many prognosticators, Brooks felt the Crusaders would be better than others had forecast.

"We were unbeaten as freshmen and had a really good JV team," he said. "A lot of us felt that it was our time to step up and contribute."

Not impressed. Cherokee is 2-0 and ranked No. 1 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, but one person who wouldn't vote the Chiefs there at this time is coach P.J. Mehigan.

Despite a 39-14 win on Thursday over Eastern, Mehigan wasn't satisfied. The Chiefs trailed at half, 7-6, but were helped by two blocked punts in the second half.

"In the second half had it not been for special teams we would have been in trouble," Mehigan said. "We are far from a No. 1 team."

With tight end Connor Stahl lost with a season-ending knee injury and receiver Drake Rodgers sidelined with a broken fibula, the Chiefs are not throwing the ball as much as expected.

It does help to have a veteran like Mike Zeuli, a big-play performer on both sides of the ball. Zeuli scored four touchdowns: two running, one on a reception, and another after he blocked a punt and returned the ball 11 yards.

Cherokee is idle this week, a break that the coach welcomes.

"We have to work and get back to basics," Mehigan said.

Bell ringer. Bishop Eustace running back Sean Bell rushed for 340 yards and four touchdowns in Friday's 31-8 win over Gloucester Catholic. In two games he has rushed for 508 yards and five touchdowns on 61 carries. Bell's single-game total of 340 yards ties him for the 11th-best single-game total in South Jersey history.

Extra points. Shawnee linebacker Dillon Lucas visited Duke this weekend, and took in the Blue Devils' game with Alabama. . . . Palmyra linebacker Derrick Dyer had three tackles for a loss in a 39-7 win over Riverside. . . . An interesting game Friday finds a matchup between defending Colonial Conference division champions as Woodbury visits West Deptford at 7 p.m. . . . Under first-year coach Thomas Kelly, Atlantic City is 2-0 after going 1-9 last year. . . . Rancocas Valley, under first-year coach Dan Haussman, is 2-0 to match last year's win total. . . . Last season, Deptford used female placekicker Samantha Dimitri, and this season fellow Tri-County school Kingsway has senior Krista Carroll attempting extra points and field goals.

The Langerman file. South Jersey statistical expert Chuck Langerman notes that since the inception of the program in 1960, Delsea head coaches John Oberg and Sal Marchese Jr. have combined for 360 wins. That computes to more than seven wins a season.

Former Atlantic City High School head coach Bobby Weiss is now an assistant at Egg Harbor Township.

Deptford started playing football in 1959, and Friday's 8-6 loss to Camden was the Spartans' first ever under the lights.

Mainland's Jim Cooper kicked a 35-yard field goal in overtime to give the Mustangs a 10-7 win over St. Augustine. Only a sophomore, Cooper has nine career field goals. The South Jersey career record is 30, set by Lenape's Rob Juliano.

Holy Spirit kicker Tom Worthington is 13 for 13 on extra-point attempts this season.