Thunderbolts from the blue

 

Coming to the end of another college football season with The OSU Buckeyes contending again for the playoffs while many teams are unexpectedly stumbling in the wake of the recent rule-free “GO Fish” approach to player recruiting/hijacking. Why I don’t much care about who gets the big trophy. Nobody knows who’s going to win or lose. Except maybe not me. I didn’t watch the Harvard-Yale game because I don’t care who wins the Wokest Ivy F___ball Championship anymore, and Harvard proceeded to lose, at home, and I don’t care.

What do I care about? Millville High School In neighboring Cumberland County. I’ll explain why so you believe it. 

I actually lived in Millville for more than a year when I was driving a truck for a lumber yard and eating the best cheese steaks in the known universe, courtesy of Shannon’s sub shop, where the ladies behind the counter were magnificently large and generous with their steaks. 

Millville is also a point of personal connection. Its modest airport was the home of the company where most of my parents’ closest friends worked, living as happy refugees from New England snob communities. They were always kind to my sister and me. 

Millville and the world of flight have been together for a long long time. The 1940s airfield became the base location for training of P-47 Thunderbolt pilots in WWII. In accordance with traditional military logic, my dad’s P-47 training did not occur in Millville, 25 miles from his hometown, but at Thunderbird Field in Arizona, almost 2,400 miles away.

Still, the Thunderbolt connection made us continuously aware of the annual Millville Air Show, to which I took my wife a dozen or so years ago to see the Blue Angels, who were shatteringly great. The post I wrote about that day for the original Instapunk website may be the single most popular one I published at IP.

So this year I’ve had the coincidence of two Thunderbolt experiences after years of no Thunderbolts anywhere but the lovely 18-inch wooden P-47 model that’s been sitting in my line of vision on a speaker for years — until a rambunctious encounter with the new terrier Tommy sent it crashing to the floor, damaged but (hopefully) repairable.

The first experience was getting contacted by the webmaster of the 79th Fighter Group my dad flew with as a member of the Flying Skull Squadron in WWII. He wanted information about my dad for the site, which I compiled for him and he posted some months ago. I think I learned almost as much from him as he learned from me. A good experience.

Now, suddenly, more Thunderbolts in the news. This time it’s the Millville High School football team, who’ve apparently had a year of unbelievable comeback victories and are now headed, after another last minute win, to the State Finals. 

Why I’m sharing the full newspaper story with you. We’re used to Salem football success, but Millville’s season has been a surprise to everyone but the team and its coach:

FTA: <<Millville High School football makes another last-minute comeback to reach state final

By Josh Friedman, Cherry Hill Courier-Post, 16 hours ago

MARLTON – It’s not the script the Millville High School football team wrote up.

The program’s pursuit of the first-ever Group 4 state championship has come with far more drama than it hoped, but the jaw-dropping endings have been worth the knee-rattling suspense.

Na’eem Sharp’s go-ahead, 18-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds remaining lifted the Thunderbolts past Mainland 18-14 in the state semifinals Sunday at Cherokee, the squad’s second-straight thrilling comeback in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.

“You got to play to the end, you got to play to the end when you play us,” head coach Humberto Ayala said. “We’re in it, no matter what the situation is, to the very end.”

Last week, Sharp scored from 4 yards out with 1:15 left as Millville found the end zone twice in the last 9:08 to capture the South Jersey 4 crown.

The Thunderbolts seemed down and out in the fourth quarter against Mainland too, but the “grit” Ayala has praised his team for left its mark on the turf in Marlton.

“Ever since July 5 we’ve been out here grinding,” quarterback Jacob Zamot said. “Our practice field is practically dirt. We’re from Millville, a hood town, but us guys, we really develop a family, a brotherhood, and we just came out here today and showed that.”

The Thunderbolts got within 14-12 on Bricere Hunter’s 1-yard plunge with 11:21 remaining, but Mainland’s Ja’briel Mace’s took the ensuing kickoff 83 yards down to the Millville 4. A two-score deficit against a biting cold, howling wind and a stout Mustang defense felt too much to overcome.

And it might’ve been, except the Thunderbolt D had other ideas.

Mainland was dropped for 1-yard losses on the first two plays of the possession, then sophomore Darian Blachewicz burst through the line and sacked quarterback John Franchini for an 8-yard loss. Franchini’s pass to the end zone on fourth down fell incomplete and the Thunderbolts stayed within two.

“I just did what I had to do,” Blachewicz said. “I wanted my team to win.”

Blachewicz and his teammates know anything is possible with their offense, and they showed that against the Mustangs.

They needed 100 seconds to go 83 yards against the Blue Devils in the sectional final.

They had 3:04 to go 75 against Mainland.

“We had 3 minutes,” Ayala said. “I’m confident with what we can do in 3 minutes. We just had to make plays.”

Zamot directed another magical march, which Sharp capped by cutting back into a vacated gap by a blitzing linebacker as he scooted past the goal line.

“It just felt good to be in the end zone again,” Sharp said.

Sharp looked to have tears in his eyes after being carried onto the field on the shoulders of his cousin and teammate, but it was actually because of the cold, the shivering junior said.

Zamot’s eyes were welled up. Millville’s heartstopping performances the past two weeks define the character of the program.

“A lot of teams have doubted us after our two losses, but if we come together and play OBG football, there’s no team beating us,” he said. “I have no doubt in my mind. Even when the games are close, I know we’ll always come through.”