Early defeat has made Williamstown stronger

Tyrik Glenn and Joe Early were in uniform as freshmen in December 2012, when Williamstown completed the best season in the history of the football program with a victory over Southern in the South Jersey Group 5 title game at Rowan University.

They planned on book-ending their careers with another 12-0 season as seniors.

"That's what everybody wants, to finish that way," Glenn said.

The perfect season is beyond Williamstown's reach in 2015.

But the Braves' veteran leaders think the team might be stronger because of its recent misstep.

"You find out about people when things go wrong," Early said. "Losing a game opened our eyes. What I like is how we reacted to it."

Glenn and Early will lead Williamstown (6-1), the No. 5 team in the Inquirer Top 25, against No. 2 Hammonton (7-0) in an intriguing West Jersey Football League inter-division clash Friday night.

For the Braves, it's a chance to continue to build on the momentum the team has generated since its lone loss, Oct. 9 against Cherokee.

"I think that loss made us a better team," Glenn said. "It showed us just how strong of a bond we have. It made our chemistry even better."

Glenn and Early were wide-eyed ninth graders when that 2012 team went coast-to-coast without a scratch and finished No. 1 in the rankings.

This year's team faces a different challenge, especially after the turnover-marred setback in the rain at rival Cherokee.

"Those guys are our captains, our leaders," Williamstown coach Frank Fucetola said of Glenn and Early. "They've led the way after that loss with the way they've played, their attitude, the way they've picked everybody up."

The 6-0, 195-pound Glenn has been an impact player on both sides of the football. He has 377 yards on 39 carries (9.6-yard average) with nine touchdowns as a running back and has made 50 tackles as a linebacker.

The 5-10, 170-pound Early has run for 305 yards on 39 carries (7.8-yard average) with three touchdowns.

Both running backs are averaging fewer than seven carries per game. Neither is complaining.

"We do what we have to do to win the game," Glenn said. "If I have to block for us to win, I'm happy to do that."

Early said he stood up in the locker room shortly after the loss to Cherokee and told his teammates of the movie When the Game Stands Tall, about the De De La Salle High School football team of Concord, Calif.

"That team won something like 150 games in a row and then lost the first game of the next season," Early said. "They handled that and won every other game and another championship.

"I told the guys, 'That's the kind of team we want to be.' "

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