The Jersey Shore football team has lived up to its motto of “tradition never graduates” two games into the season. The reigning Class AAAA semifinalists dominated at Shikellamy in every facet of the game Friday en route to a 53-0 victory.

The win improves Jersey Shore to 2-0.

The Bulldogs were off to the races from the opening kickoff. The first Jersey Shore drive took just a hair over two minutes and concluded with a four-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Brandon Wheary to junior receiver Cayden Hess. That would be the first of two times on the night that the pair would hook up for a score.

By the time the first quarter ended, Jersey Shore had already tacked on four touchdowns. One of those scores came on a strip-sack by senior linebacker Gabe Packer that ended with senior defensive end Quincy Myers coming up with the fumble and dashing another 25 yards into the end zone.

Conversely, Shikellamy had yet to convert a first down by that time.The Braves are trying to reboot their program under first year coach Jim Keiser, formally a coach at Danville, but a team trying to find it footing was simply no match for an experienced Jersey Shore group.

“We wanted to establish tempo at first,” Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish said. “The defense did a fabulous job getting a touchdown on a sack-strip. We were powerful up front.”

While it is Wheary’s first season as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs, he has done everything Gravish has asked of him and more to this point. The senior threw another three touchdown passes Friday, putting his total at seven through two games.

“I really like his command (of the offense),” Gravish said of Wheary. “He’s picking up the signals with great accuracy and he’s taking charge out there. He’s putting us in a position to make great plays.”

Jersey Shore has defeated Shikellamy in four straight contests, and has seemingly found the Braves’ run defense as a soft spot to attack. In a 2019 Class AAAA District 4 semifinal 72-25 victory, Gravish’s team ran for 435 yards and eight touchdowns. While the score didn’t look quite the same as last season’s jaw-dropping thrashing, the ground and pound was in full effect Friday.

Shore punched in four rushing touchdowns Friday, moving the ball on the ground in a variety of different ways. Whether it was out of the I-formation or the shotgun, Shikellamy simply had no answer to the Bulldog rushing attack.

“We had a really good week of practice,” Gravish said. “We were being physical. We actually had to back off of being physical at some point. They just had a good approach (to the running game).”

Sophomore fullback Hayden Packer tallied two of those scores, while senior Cam Allison and sophomore receiver Brady Jordan were responsible for the other two.

While the stands weren’t completely vacant — with Shikellamy capping the number of people that could enter the stadium on game night at 500 — a venue that seats over 5,000 looked quite barren. A crowd that consisted of mostly maroon and white did its best to cheer on Shikellamy, but witnessed an absolute beatdown by the Bulldogs.

Jersey Shore now regroups for a home matchup with Central Mountain on Friday. A surging 2-0 Wildcats team coming into Thompson Street Stadium should make for an excellent matchup, and a good litmus test for both local rivals.

“Coach Renninger’s a great coach,” Gravish said. “They have good coaches on their staff and they have a nucleus of players coming back. We’ll celebrate this tonight and around midnight we’ll start getting ready for Central Mountain.”

Jersey Shore 53, Shikellamy 0

Jersey Shore 28 12 13 0 — 53

Shikellamy 0 0 0 0 — 0

First quarter

JS-Cayden Hess 3 reception from Branden Wheary (Cam Allison kick), 9:36.

JS-Hayden Packer 1run (Allison kick), 7:00

JS-Quincey Myers 20 fumble return (Allison kick), 5:27

JS-Owen Anderson 17reception from Wheary (Allison kick), 3:48

Second quarter

JS-Allison 2 run (PAT failed), 9:48.

JS-Hess 16 reception from Wheary (PAT failed), 2:03.

Third quarter

JS-Packer 1 run (PAT failed), 6:38

JS-Brady Jordan 1 run (Allison kick), 1:48

TEAM STATISTICS

JS S

First downs 18 4

Rushes-yards 49-244 27-14

Passing yards 186 11

Total yards 430 25

C-A-I 12-18-0 2-16-1

Fumbles-lost 2-0 4-2

Penalties-yards 2-10 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Jersey Shore: Allison 21-84, TD; Jordan 10-74, TD; Packer 9-36, 2 TDs; Nicholas Williams 5-32; Anderson 3-18; Gabe Andrus 1-0. Shikellamy: Coltyn Sempko 12-30; Gage Wolfe 4-3; Chase Morgan 2-3; Isaac Schaffer-Neitz 3-(-1); Braydon Wertman 1-(-8); Drew Balestrini 5-(-13).

PASSING – Jersey Shore: Wheary 12-180, for 186 yards, 3 TD. Shikellamy: Balestrini 2-16-1, for 11 yards.

RECEIVING – Jersey Shore: Hess 8-110, 2 TDs; Anderson 2-48, TD; Dalton Dungan 1-29; Allison 1-(-1). Shikellamy: John Peifer 1-11; Wolfe 1-0.