New Egypt teams look toward state playoffs
Field hockey already in; football needs a win and some help to qualify
BY MIKE WHITE Staff Writer
In the deep corners of his mind, New Egypt High School football coach Tom Farrell knew he was taking a huge gamble.

After just converting a 27-yard field goal with six minutes remaining last Friday night against Palmyra, Farrell decided to accept the roughing the kicker penalty that occurred on the play and take the first down.

A few plays later, running back Langston Lacroix bulled in from four yards out, and then Davion Clanton intercepted a pass to thwart a potential scoring drive as New Egypt hung on for a 7-0 rain-soaked victory over Palmyra.

"You know, I talked to my dad after the game and he disagreed with what I did," Farrell said with a chuckle. "He told me never to take points off the board. However, we talked about it and felt that we could move the ball and get a score. Luckily for us, it worked out in our favor."

Weather conditions were rough, as a driving rain and slippery field made advancing the ball for either team a nightmare.

"The conditions don't bother me at all," Farrell said. "I'm from the old school mentality, and the only time I believe a game should be stopped is if there is lightning. Sure, it was difficult to move the ball, so playing conservatively was in our game plan."

With the win, New Egypt improves to 4-3 overall. The Warriors still have an outside chance of qualifying for the NJSIAA Group I playoffs.

"It's possible that we can still get a berth," Farrell said. "We need to win, and we need some other teams to get knocked off. We're not giving up hope. We've had a good season so far. These guys have played hard, and this was a particularly good win for us."

Field hockey prepares for states

It wasn't exactly the way New Egypt High School field hockey coach Patti Nicholson wanted to enter the playoffs.

The Lady Warriors suffered a 3-1 loss to Collingswood last week in its final regular season contest. Nicholson was hoping to enter the NJSIAA central Jersey Group I tournament coming off a win.

New Egypt is scheduled to square off against Moorestown Friends in the second round of play. The Warriors got a bye in the opening round.

"We didn't play as well as we could have in that loss to Collingswood," Nicholson said. "We got up on them early and then they battled back. They have a young team that just kept coming. We wanted to end the regular season with a win and take some momentum into the playoffs."

In the loss, New Egypt got its lone goal from Lindsay Mann early in the game. Mann scored in the first two minutes to put New Egypt ahead, 1-0. Moorestown answered with three consecutive goals to complete the come-from-behind win.

With the loss, New Egypt falls to 11-4-2 overall.

"We need to be aggressive in this game against Moorestown," Nicholson said. "We can't sit back and let them take the play to us. We want to score early and set the tone."