By Bob Nuse, The Packet Group
If there was a way to score points on the football field, the New Egypt High football team found them in a 44-14 win over Riverside last Friday night.
The Warriors scored on a safety, on a kick return, twice by recovering fumbles in the end zone, and even a couple of old-fashioned scores on runs and passes in cruising to their second straight win to open the season.
”Our defense really stepped up in the first half until our offense got going,” said New Egypt coach Luke Sinkhorn, whose team will play its first home game when it hosts Palmyra on Friday night. “We scored a safety and recovered two fumbles for touchdowns in the first half. And we also had a kick return for a touchdown to score to start the second half.
”So our defense and special teams really stepped up for us and did a great job.”
Kevin Mason recovered a fumble in the end zone to get the Warriors off and running in the opening quarter. They would score on a safety and a touchdown pass from Dylan Wills to Jamel Smith to take a 16-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Tyler Dietrich recovered another fumble in the end zone and New Egypt had a 23-0 lead at halftime.
”We didn’t do much offensively in the first half but with the defense and special teams we were in good shape,” Sinkhorn said.
Smith returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown to make it 30-0 and the Warriors were never threatened in the second half. Smith and Dylan Horner would each score on touchdown runs to close out the scoring.
”Jamel had another good game for us,” Sinkhorn said. “He’s scored six touchdowns in two weeks. He’s scored pretty much every way you can score. He caught a pass for a touchdown, he’s run for touchdowns, he’s returned a kick for a touchdown and he’s had an interception return for a touchdown. He also returned a punt for a touchdown but that got called back for a penalty.
”We call him out Mr. Everything because he can do so much for us. He also punts and kicks out PATs and field goals.”
After opening with two wins on the road, the schedule gets tougher starting this week for the Warriors. They will host a Palmyra team that is 2-0 and has outscored its opponents 71-6 in two games.
”Palmyra is an excellent team,” Sinkhorn said. “They have a couple of very good running backs and they have a lot of other weapons on offense. We’re going to need to do a great job of team tackling and pursuing the ball against them.”
Following the game against Palmyra, the Warriors have tough tests against two other unbeatens — Willingboro and Allentown — with both games on the road.
”We have four of our first five games on the road,” Sinkhorn said. “These next few games are going to be tough. We have to be ready to play. We’ve had a good start. Now we need to build on it.”

