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High School Football:
Shawnee Wins Another Big Playoff Game On The Road

Saturday, November 18, 2000

By Vincent Lewis
SJSports Staff Writer

Try telling the Shawnee Renegades that it's hard to win games away from your home field. Last week the Renegades won a playoff game at Cherokee in front of a huge crowd. Again faced with another obstacle of traveling on the road to Washington Township, the Renegades took the early lead and advanced to the Group 4 finals with a 21-7 semi-final victory.

This meeting featured both teams coming into this game with a 7-2 record and looking to improve that record by one. Early in the season, Shawnee had traveled to Township on October 6 and lost to the Minutemen by a score of 24-7. On that night, Washington Township used the big plays when needed to come away with the win. But this was the playoffs and players push themselves harder than they have all season for the championship title.

Washington Township would win the coin toss and elected to receive the ball first. The Minutemen were able to move the early in their drive, but the Renegade's defense forced Township to punt the ball. That's when the offensive line for Shawnee won the battle against their opponents to grind out a time consuming scoring drive in the first quarter. Sophomore quarterback Bill Kurtz connected with Dan MacDonald for a 13-yard touchdown pass. The drive was an impressive one as it chewed up all but seven seconds of the initial quarter. The extra point attempt fail, but the Renegades made no mistakes on their first scoring opportunity of the game.

The Renegades defense would come up big again when Dan Scafidi recovered a fumble and ran in for a touchdown. Shawnee swamped on the quarterback and the defense set up the Scafidi score. The two point conversion pass was good and Shawnee had a 14-0 lead. With the Minutemen faithful sitting in the stands trying their best to get their home team motivated, Washington Township stuck to their game plan. Township was able to move the ball during the first half, but just could complete the scoring drive...until late in the half. Mike D'Andrea got the Minutemen on the scoreboard on their next possession with a 1-yard touchdown run. The extra point attempt was good and Township close the gap to just seven points going into the half.

The Renegades scored again in the fourth quarter to seal their victory over Washington Township when Keith Smith crossed the goal line on a 4-yard touchdown run. Shawnee will face Jackson in the South Jersey Group championship. Jackson defeated Brick Township by a score of 19-14.

Photos by Jason Brown

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