Mainland

Mainland's football team forfeited its four wins from this season after the NJSIAA ruled Wednesday that the Mustangs had used an ineligible player. Mainland coach Bob Coffey could not be reached for comment, but an official from another Cape-Atlantic League school said he was contacted about the matter. NJSIAA assistant director Bob Baly and executive director Steve Timko also were unavailable for comment. However, on the NJSIAA website that lists teams' power ratings, Mainland's record has gone from 4-3 to 0-7. St. Augustine, Ocean City, Absegami, and Buena received wins.

LINWOOD - The coach wanted things to be normal. Typical. Routine. He talked strategy in the pregame meeting. He told his players to stick to their habits. He told them to do what high school football players do on opening night - run on the field and pound each other on the shoulder pads, then line up and collide with the other kids in the different-colored uniforms. "It was all about football," Mainland coach Bob Coffey said of the team's season opener. Mainland lined up and played a tough, physical game against Hammonton in the Cape-Atlantic National Division game on a cool, clear Friday night before a huge crowd on the Mustangs' home field off Route 9. Hammonton won, 23-7, using a sturdy defense and its signature powerful ground game.

Ryan Karrer and Ross Thomas have made a difference. Mainland coach Brian Booth certainly knows that having two members of the United States Swimming squad decide to compete with the Mustangs has given his team a boost. But he also knows that Karrer, a senior, and Thomas, a sophomore, aren't the only reasons Mainland can call itself the Cape-Atlantic League champion for the first time. "It obviously helps," Booth said. "I can move other kids around, and they can do a lot of different events.

Two teams in the Cape-Atlantic League have unblemished American Conference records, and those two teams will clash tonight in Linwood. Mainland (5-1 overall, 4-0 conference) will greet visiting Hammonton (6-0, 6-0) with all of the appropriate aggression that a Group 4 school can muster. Hammonton, which is in Group 3, will strive to accumulate a bonanza of power points that a victory over a large school yields. "Any time you play a bigger school it's a tremendous challenge," Hammonton coach Pete Lancetta said.

Mainland, which won its first South Jersey sectional softball title since 1976, lost to Nottingham, 4-1, in the Group 3 state semifinal yesterday. And one bad defensive sequence was the difference. The Mustangs (17-8), who started the season 1-3 and qualified for the tournament by just one game, defeated top-seeded Lower Cape May, 5-0, on one of pitcher Karen Brown's two perfect games in the early rounds of the tournament. Then, after Rancocas Valley eliminated defending state champion Ocean City, 1-0, in eight innings, Mainland, No. 8 in The Inquirer's Top 10, knocked off RV, 3-0, in the South Jersey final.

Steve Hevalow was the last Absegami player to make it through the handshake line immediately following last night's impressive 28-9 victory at Mainland, but it had nothing to do with the junior savoring his performance. "Nah," he said when asked if he was trying to bask in the moment. "I had to get my left knee checked by the trainer before coming back on the field. " That was the closest anyone came to making the Braves' talented running back stand still. Hevalow rumbled for two touchdowns and 212 yards on 19 carries, including a masterful 92-yard scoring jaunt in the waning moments of the first half.

The word is that defending champ Mainland has what it takes to be a two- time defending Cape-Atlantic I League champ next season. The No. 1 team in The Inquirer's final South Jersey Top 10 last spring, Mainland could well be the top team again in all of South Jersey. The Mustangs went 23-2-1 last year, before losing to league foe Ocean City in the South Jersey Group 3 tournament. A couple of days later, Mainland came back to defeat Ocean City, 3-1, in a makeup game to win the league title.

Apparently, all that Mainland needed to finally beat Holy Spirit was the overtime rule put in by the NJSIAA this year. The host Mustangs knocked off the Spartans last night for the first time since 1966, winning, 35-28, on a 12-yard touchdown run by Tony DeSalle in the first overtime period. Mainland had gone 0-23-1 against Holy Spirit since the 1966 victory. The teams did not meet from 1989-92. DeSalle also led the way for the Mustangs in regulation. His 7-yard run gave Mainland a 7-0 lead with 9:17 left in the first period.

The drama of yesterday's South Jersey Group 3 football title game was upstaged only by Ocean City's resolve. Playing the rare role of underdog, the Red Raiders overcame a key injury, a costly inadvertent whistle, and a previously undefeated Mainland team (11-1) to defeat the Mustangs, 21-18, at Rutgers Stadium. Third-seeded Ocean City (8-4) earned its fourth sectional title and third since 1996, while also avenging a 17-14 regular-season loss to its Cape-Atlantic rival. Ocean City played without all-star tight end Matt Chila, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Thanksgiving Day against Pleasantville.

LINWOOD - The coach wanted things to be normal. Typical. Routine. He talked strategy in the pregame meeting. He told his players to stick to their habits. He told them to do what high school football players do on opening night - run on the field and pound each other on the shoulder pads, then line up and collide with the other kids in the different-colored uniforms. "It was all about football," Mainland coach Bob Coffey said of the team's season opener. Mainland lined up and played a tough, physical game against Hammonton in the Cape-Atlantic National Division game on a cool, clear Friday night before a huge crowd on the Mustangs' home field off Route 9. Hammonton won, 23-7, using a sturdy defense and its signature powerful ground game.

Burlington Township won the NJSIAA State Group 3 and Tournament of Champions boys' team golf titles on Monday at Hopewell Valley Country Club. The Falcons carded an overall score of 303, led by Kevin Sarlo - the individual runner-up in Group 3 with a 1-over-par 73. Sarlo was joined on the leaderboard by teammates Brandon Roche (third, 74) and Nick Carpetti (fourth, 76). Mainland was third to Burlington Township in Group 3 with a 339. Middle Township, paced by David Hicks (second, 74)

Highlights of Monday's contests can be found at: www.philly.com/rally Baseball CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP 2 FIRST ROUND Bordentown 10, Hillside 0 SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 FIRST ROUND Gateway 9, Palmyra 0 Audubon 16, LEAP Academy 0 Pitman 4, Cedar Creek 3 Glassboro 5, Schalick 2 Pennsville 8, Gloucester 2 Maple Shade 9, Salem 0 Wildwood 5, Cape May Tech 2 ...

The Temple women's varsity eight won the Carley Copley Cup at the 2012 San Diego Crew Classic on Sunday, the first-ever win by the Owls at the prestigious regatta. The boat was crewed by Eleanor Oken (coxswain), Victoria Joye (stroke), Claudia Loeber (Haddon Township), Brittany Adell (Gloucester), Taylor Wasserleben (Upper Moreland), Joanna Sutor (Mainland), Jeanine Lees (Archbishop Prendergast), Paige O'Sullivan (Mainland) and Jackie Lees (Prendergast, bow)