Burlington Township goes on the defensive to win first title since 1977

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CAMDEN — During a season marked by many injuries more regular season losses than wins, Burlington Township got healthy prior to the postseason and the defense also picked an opportune time to hit its peak.

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Continuing a trend of postseason defensive excellence, Burlington Township rode that unit during Friday’s 9-6 win over Camden in the Central Jersey Group 3 championship. It was the Falcons’ first sectional championship since 1977.

Fourth seeded Burlington Township (7-5) will visit South Jersey Group 3 champion Seneca in Friday’s state Group 3 semifinal.  Second-seeded Camden, the defending Group 2 state champion, is 7-4 with just the traditional Thanksgiving matchup at Eastside remaining.

When asked if his team has ever played a better defensive game, veteran Burlington Township head coach Stephen Everette couldn’t think of one.

“Probably not, this was a pretty good one,” he said.

Pretty good may be putting it mildly.

The Falcons allowed just two pass completions for 25 yards and intercepted two passes.

Led by senior edge rusher Bryan Konadu, the Falcons put excessive heat on the Camden quarterbacks.

Despite the performance, Konadu wasn’t totally satisfied.

“There is always room to improve,” he said. “We can always dig deeper.”

That might be a scary thought for a unit that has allowed just 10 points per game in its three playoff wins.

The first major defensive play came midway through the first quarter when Konadu and linebacker Andrew Schantzer combined to sack Camden quarterback Greg Wyche in the end zone.

Big offensive play

Camden to its credit, did a good job stuffing the Falcons running attack led by senior Aiden Binns. In last week’s 27-17 semifinal win over Deptford, Binns rushed for 324 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. Camden held him to 65 yards in 25 carries.

Still, Falcons quarterback Bryce Carter had success throwing the ball, completing 12-of-22 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown.

The TD, with 5:07 left in the second quarter, came on a Camden defensive breakdown. Township senior receiver Julian Carter found himself wide open, resulting in a 46-yard touchdown reception.

“I had a corner route, but I knew the guy covering me wasn’t going to just fall for the corner, so I went inside and cut back out and he fell for it,” Julian Carter said. “And it was a drop in the bucket, and I had to make a move and score.”

Duckett leads Camden back

Trailing 9-0, Camden opened the second half by giving the ball to Roman Duckett, one of just three senior starters for the Panthers.

Duckett, who played on a state championship team at Winslow Township in 2024 and on Camden last year, carried the ball on four straight plays to open the half. His 29-yard run put the ball on the Township 2-yard line. Two plays later Anthony Nelson bulled over from the 1-yard line.

Duckett finished with 114 yards rushing on 20 carries.

Camden’s two-point conversion run was stopped by Kyheem Freeman, one of the many big plays that the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker made.

Both defenses pitched the shutout the rest of the way.

Two big INT’s

Burlington Township made two key second-half interceptions. The first came on a fourth-and-three from the Falcons’ 20 yards line when Londyn Johnson picked off a pass over the middle.

The second interception was on Burlilngton Township’s final defensive play of the game when Mekhi Curry made a leaping pick on a third-and-nine pass from Camden’s 43-yard line with just 1:10 remaining.

“I was doing what my coaches taught me,” Curry said. “I was getting underneath and reading it out and I just made a play.”

As for winning the sectional title?

“I can’t describe a better feeling right now,” Curry said. “I truly feel blessed to have the opportunity.”

Tough game for the Panthers

Camden played one of the toughest schedules in South Jersey and maybe this was a game where the youth finally caught up to the Panthers.

The Panthers had a second-quarter touchdown pass nullified by a holding penalty. They also had a punt blocked by Burlington Township’s Gerald Sackie, threw the two interceptions and despite a great defensive effort, allowed the long touchdown pass.

“In a championship game, all phases of your game have to be confident and it was really tough,” Camden coach Rob Hinson said. “We had a punt blocked, which we haven’t had a punt blocked all year.”

Then there were miscues on offense and defense.

“We didn’t do well offensively, and it was probably one of our worst offensive games all season,” Hinson said. “Defensively, we played hard, but we can’t have a busted cover when they scored on that pass.”

Hinson says he feels extremely good about the future with most of the team returning.

“I think we are in a really good position moving forward because these young guys got a lot of experience,” he said. “So next year we’re going to be super, deep with a lot of playing experience and we are going to be a dangerous team.”

Marc Narducci is a freelance reporter for the Courier-Post. He can be reached by email at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Burlington Township goes on the defensive to win first title since 1977

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