Williamstown steps up, downs Cherokee

Now it's a rivalry.

Now it's real.

Now the rebels have scrambled over the top of the castle walls.

Don't misunderstand. Williamstown's impressive 35-24 victory over Cherokee on a sloppy, slippery Friday night doesn't put the Braves on equal ground with the Chiefs.

Williamstown can't hold a candle to Cherokee's past.

The Braves just want to compete with the Chiefs in the present, and in the future.

"This is where we belong," Williamstown coach Frank Fucetola said of the West Jersey American Division. "This is where we're going to stay."

Cherokee, the No. 2 team in The Inquirer Top 10, still is the standard for large public-school football programs. One bad game - and by the Chiefs' standards, this was a bad game - doesn't change that.

But this was a signature victory for No. 9 Williamstown, all the same.

And with all those young players running around for the Braves - especially sophomore fullback John Chamberlin, who scored four touchdowns, along with sophomore two-way back Marquis Little and junior linebacker/tight end Buddy Brown - it's clear this program is here to stay.

"I don't think they have a weak point," said Cherokee coach P.J. Mehigan, whose team's winning streak was snapped at 15 games. "They're big so you can't push them around. They are fast as anything. And they are well coached."

This game was the reason Williamstown wanted out of the old Tri-County Royal and into the new West Jersey Football League. The Braves wanted to play Washington Township and Eastern and Lenape and Cherokee, most of all.

"They are the team everybody talked about," said Chamberlin, a 5-9, 195-pound power back who gained 106 yards and scored those four touchdowns on just 14 carries.

Fucetola and his assistants and his players and most of the program's supporters - other than those enthusiastic folks who tend to get carried away - know this is just one game and that no program is defined by one game.

Cherokee is still Cherokee.

Williamstown is still Williamstown.

But now it's a rivalry. Now, a rising power has finally beaten an old power.

"We came out on this field and we said we'd win for past teams, for the alumni, for the fans and the community," said Williamstown senior quarterback Dan Collins, who was 6-for-8 passing for 137 yards.

The Braves are 10-3 since the formation of the WJFL. They are 3-0 this season, sure to rise from their current spot in the rankings and clearly among the top contenders to win the South Jersey Group 4 title.