A new team: How Paulsboro football turned around its season, made 8th straight semifinal

PAULSBORO – Ivan Murray called a players-only meeting on Sept. 19.

Two days earlier, the Paulsboro High School football team lost to Woodbury 46-8, sending the program to 0-3, its worst record since 1974.

Head coach Kevin Harvey decried his team’s fight as he walked off the field that day. He said his team needed a leader.

Murray, who wears a shirt under his jersey every week with the words “FOR HER” and four pictures of him and his grandmother Loretta, who passed away last Christmas Eve, put the blame on himself.

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“It was weighing heavy,” Murray said. “I felt like I was letting her down at first. I felt like I was letting everybody down, our old coach (Glenn Howard), I felt like I was letting him down. I felt like I was letting my new coach down. I just felt like I had to be better, put on.”

So, he called everyone into the locker room that Monday and laid it on the line.

“The meeting was short and simple,” Murray said. “I said we got to be better, got to start playing better. I got to be better as a leader, we got to start getting the right blocks, getting the right passes, catch the ball, we had to do everything better.”

Big Red heeded his words and has been one of South Jersey’s best squads since.

Fourth-seeded Paulsboro punched its ticket to the sectional semifinals for the eighth straight season, downing No. 5 Audubon 42-13 in Central Jersey Group 1 on Saturday. The Raiders will square off with top-seeded Woodstown, which it lost to 18-0 on Sept. 9, on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We hungry, we ready,” senior Jordan Eli said.

That traces back to Murray’s speech.

“That was really the turning point,” junior Sharif Green said. “He hit all of us. He said we got to stop playing around in practice, go hard no matter what we do. Go to practice, work hard and we’ll execute on the field, and that’s what happened.”

Green has never executed better than he did Saturday, catching 4 passes for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns, and snagged an interception on defense.

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“Never had a game like this, felt good,” Green said.

Earlier this season, mistakes led Paulsboro players to hang their heads. It’s obvious that’s no longer the case.

Green’s first score, an 85-yarder, came one play after Pellegrini was sacked, setting up a 3rd-and-19. No fear, no quit.

On the previous drive, Eli didn’t drop into the proper zone and gave up a 49-yard pass. He forced a fumble on the next snap, resulting in a turnover.

“I was like I got to get something back,” said Eli, who forced two fumbles in the contest. “I can’t go out like that.”

There’s no dejecting this Paulsboro team anymore. It’s 100 percent all the time. A perfect example came with Saturday’s game already out of reach.

The Raiders had the JV unit in, but there were only 10 on the field for a defensive snap. Murray, a Villanova commit, rushed onto the field.

“That team (from early September) is in the past and will stay in the past,” Murray said. “Moving forward, we’re a dangerous team.”

Three things we learned

∎ Murray-Eli combo is a dynamic duo. The senior defenders play off each other beautifully. Murray occupies multiple blockers up front and allows the speedy Eli to barrel in off the edge, or loop around Murray on the inside, often leading to sacks or big hits on the quarterback.

That showed against Audubon, as Eli had a strip sack and Murray finished with two sacks (two halves and a full).

“That’s my partner in crime right there,” Murray said.

Murray gets motivation from his grandmother, who he thinks about whenever he’s on the field.

“It motivates me a lot,” he said. “I feel like I still got her with me. She’s watching over me, she’s still in my heart. She’s still sitting in the same spot she sat in, she sat right next to my mom. I still feel her, her presence.”

∎ Injury bug never stops biting. Paulsboro lost a pair of two-way starters to leg injuries on Saturday as Damire Avant and Jamile Gantt both left the field on crutches. It’s unclear what their status is for the sectional semifinals, but their absences would be tough to overcome.

However, Big Red did well making up for Avant’s first-quarter exit as Eli and Preston Moore handled the bulk of the running back duties in his stead. Eli had 7 carries for 71 yards while Moore also ran 7 times for 91 yard and a TD.

∎ Lynch has a bright future. Audubon’s season didn’t go the way the Green Wave intended, but it’s hard not to be impressed with senior quarterback Scott Lynch, even in defeat. He’s got a big arm and the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is a handful to bring down. He finished 20-for-33 for 254 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and 16 ran times for 43 yards. He’s a very good linebacker too as he had a sack and a pair of tackles for loss. Lynch is still uncommitted, but he should find a home somewhere. He deserves to play on Saturdays.

Game balls

Green: His 85-yard touchdown reception three minutes into the game felt like it took the life out of Audubon. He also had a 72-yarder, and his 14-yarder with 14.8 seconds left in the first half put his team up 29-0 and the game seemingly out of reach.

Pellegrini: Finished 11-of-16 passing for 267 yards and the 3 scores to Green.

Eli: Did it all for the Raiders. Had 7 carries for 71 yards helping to fill the void left by Avant, 2 forced fumbles, and a tackle for loss.

Murray: Was in on three quarterback sacks (finished with two himself), had a fumble recovery, and was excellent at left tackle.

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Did you know?

Paulsboro has won 26 consecutive meetings against Audubon, per South Jersey historian Chuck Langerman. The Green Wave’s last win in the series came in 1990.

They said it

“We’re a way different team.”

– Paulsboro senior Jordan Eli on the squad Woodstown will see next week compared to the one that showed up in September.

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Paulsboro football bests Audubon in Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs