VIDEO: Henry’s hustle, terrific ground game carry Lower Cape May to first-ever state playoff victory

Posted: November 1st 2025

Lower Cape May's football team celebrates its state playoff win over Gloucester.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ERMA – The Lower Cape May Regional High School football program had never won a state playoff game entering this season.

Logic might dictate that the Caper Tigers would need something extraordinary to change their postseason fortunes.

They got just that from senior linebacker Jadon Henry. 

With fifth-seeded Gloucester leading Saturday’s South Jersey Group II playoff game 13-7 late in the second quarter, Henry ran down a Gloucester back from behind and forced a fumble just before the end zone to prevent a 71-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds to go in the half. Fourth-seeded Lower Cape May went on to dominate the second half, scoring four unanswered touchdowns in what turned out to be a surprisingly lopsided 34-13 victory over the Lions.

“How many times have we seen ourselves on the opposite side of one of those plays?” Lower coach Billy Damiana said rhetorically. “That’s something you see in highlights from (college games on) Saturdays and (NFL games on) Sundays. It really saved the game, essentially.”

Lower opened the second half by recovering its own short kick, the bouncing ball secured by Will Torres. The Tigers didn’t score on the possession, but went on to control all of the proceedings in the second half.

“Fantastic call by (special teams coach) Paul Baruffi there,” Damiana said. “Even though we didn’t score on that possession, I felt like we held onto that momentum and didn’t let it go.”

Lower took the lead for good with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter on a one-yard scoring run by Dave Douglass that finished a 14-play, 79-yard drive. It was the second of five rushing touchdowns for the junior quarterback.

Three plays later, Lower’s John Fernandez ripped the ball from a Gloucester running back and returned it nine yards to the Lion 32-yard line. A 16-yard run by Mallon and a penalty on Gloucester set up Douglass for an eight-yard scoring run to make the score 21-13.

“Once we got that turnover, I feel like we really harnessed the momentum and we imposed our will up front,” Damiana said.

Henry made his mark again with a third-down sack on Gloucester’s next possession. After a punt, Lower needed just six plays to go 56 yards and score again on a four-yard run by Douglass.

A few minutes later, Ashton Ray executed a wonderful interception return for a touchdown. The score negated by a penalty committed just as Ray was crossing the goal line, but the infraction only delayed the final Caper Tiger score as Mallon’s 11-yard run to the 2-yard line set up the final touchdown run by Douglass. 

The win sends fourth-seeded Lower Cape May into a second-round game against top-seeded Haddonfield next weekend. The victory also improves the Caper Tigers to 1-3 all-time in state playoff games. The victory also represented the first in the state playoffs for any Cape May County team south of Ocean City.

Lower had previously qualified for the state playoffs in 1980, 2006 and 2010 but lost each time.

“I was here (as a player) in 2006 and we played Bridgeton and they beat us up and then my younger brother (Cory) was here as a player in 2010 and we lost to Barnegat by a point,” Damiana said. “It’s just fantastic to finally do this, especially at home.”

Lower (8-2), which had lost 28-7 to Gloucester (4-5) in early September, rushed for exactly 300 yards, with 216 of them coming in the second half. Mallon ran 28 times for 167 yards and Douglass rushed 21 times for 124 yards and his five scores.

“I feel like, for the most part, we’ve been better in the second half running the ball all season,” Damiana said. “I think it comes from our training and our conditioning. We feel like we prepare for that and we try to own the second half.”

Lower’s Britton Walls made four of his five extra-point kicks. 

In addition to his massive play at the end of the first half, Henry finished with two sacks.