Sibanda, Salem football win showdown with Pinkerton

SALEM - The Salem High School football team tries to find ways to get running back Josh Sibanda into space on the outside.

But when there was no room to run on the outside Saturday against Pinkerton Academy, the senior was able to get his yards the hard way.

Sibanda rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns, and also returned a kickoff for a score, as Salem overcame an early deficit to knock off Pinkerton 35-20 in a Division I South Conference game.

Salem finished with 305 yards on the ground, most of which came in the final three quarters, after the Astros' defense contained the Blue Devils through the opening quarter.

"They did a very good job of containing the outside stuff that we were trying to do early," Salem coach Rob Pike said. "They were doing a good job getting off blocks. Then (Sibanda) hit a couple inside and that loosened things up."

Sibanda scored on runs of 73 and 44 yards, and returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the second week in a row, going 94 yards to get Salem on the board after Pinkerton had taken a 7-0 lead with 3:57 left in the first quarter.

"That ball got kicked (almost) to the goal line," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "That hurt. And the (73-yard run) before halftime was a back-breaker. I was standing next to the down marker on third (down), assuming that we’re going to stop him and call timeout so that we can get a chance for a field goal. And then he just goes."

That touchdown run gave Salem (3-0) a 21-14 lead at halftime. Dom Paci also had two touchdown runs for the Blue Devils and finished with 55 yards rushing, while Matt Soldano was 3 of 6 passing for 86 yards.

Pinkerton (2-1) got short touchdown runs in the first quarter from Terrell Hicks and Aiden Goujon to take a 14-7 lead after the opening 12 minutes. Avery Battle added a 25-yard touchdown run in the final minutes of the game.

The Astros opened the scoring in the first on a seven-play, 86-yard drive, with Goujon connecting with three different receivers to pick up first downs, including a 45-yard connection with Gennaro Marra that set up Hicks' 3-yard scoring run. Goujon finished the game 9 of 16 for 130 yards and an interception.

But the ensuing kickoff, Sibanda caught the ball at the Salem 6-yard line and nearly slipped before finding a hole in the coverage before bursting down the home sideline. It's the third time in as many games that the Blue Devils have returned a kickoff for a score.

"That’s huge," Pike said. "We’ve returned a kickoff in each of our three games now. They all have been timely. That’s a big play."

Pinkerton needed just three plays to go back in front, as Ty Hicks picked up 41 yards and Gannon Fast tacked on 21 more, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Goujon with 2:48 left in the first quarter.

But the Astros' offense would struggle to move the ball in the second and third quarters, and Salem tied the game on a 9-yard touchdown run by Paci. Sibanda put the Blue Devils up for good with 58.8 seconds left in the half.

Pinkerton got the ball to start the second half, but a sack of Goujon - one of three on the day by Salem - forced the Astros to punt, and three plays later, Sibanda made it 28-14 with a 44-yard touchdown run.

"The kids played physical and they played aggressive," Pike said. "They executed pretty well. That was a good job against a good team."