'We Came Together as a Team'

by Marc Narducci | Aug 1, 2025

It is a much different version of football, but as they say, a championship is still a championship, and so Rancocas Valley will enter the high school football season as a summer champ.

The Red Devils won the 13-team West Deptford 7-on-7 Passing League, defeating Collingswood, 27-15 in the championship game.

One of the standouts was rising senior quarterback/cornerback Sayvien Adams, who scored on an interception return and threw two touchdown passes.

Adams is expected to be among the top football players in South Jersey. He has already committed to Monmouth, where he was recruited as a receiver.

That said, he has a rife arm and will certainly be dangerous at quarterback this season for the Red Devils.

When this season’s high school football playoffs begin on Oct. 31, there won’t be many people talking about the summer 7-on-7 champs.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t significant.

While the 7-on-7 is a vehicle for a team to develop its passing game, and for defensive backs and linebackers to cover fleet receivers, it is also a way to form team bonding.

Rancocas Valley had to win three playoff games to be champion, also defeating Camden Eastside and West Deptford in previous games before the come from behind postseason victory over Collingswood.

So, Rancocas Valley will enter the high school season with an extra boost.

“It gives us juice going into the season,” Adams said. “We had to come out and compete every day this summer and it gives us juice going into week one.”

It must be noted that Rancocas Valley is coming off an excellent season. The Red Devils went 9-3 and were runner-up to Camden in the West Jersey Football League Colonial Division. Then Rancocas Valley advanced to the South Jersey Group 5 championship before losing, to Toms River North, 42-27 in the South Jersey Group 5 championship.

That’s a Toms River North team that ended 14-0 and earned its third straight state Group 5 championship.

Adams had a big hand in Rancocas Valley’s success, throwing for 2,134 yards and 26 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,036 yards (11.2 avg.) and eight scores. He returns as one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in South Jersey.

Adams says what was the best about the summer title was that Rancocas Valley got progressively better each week.

“We started out slow, but we came together as a team,” Adams said. “We didn’t point fingers, and we fought.”

While 7-on-7 is so much different than regular football, there is still the major benefit of a quarterback getting aligned with his receivers.

“We lost three starting receivers last year and we have three new, younger kids,” Adams said. “I don’t know how they are going to run their routes yet and it is all about getting used to them, so this puts us in rhythm with all the receivers, and it helps the team.”

Group 5 is absolutely loaded. Washington Township is the defending Central Jersey champ, and the Minutemen return a veteran team. Toms River North isn’t going anywhere.

Yet Rancocas Valley has designs of being highly competitive in this difficult group.

The summer may not have a direct correlation to winning in the fall, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that Rancocas Valley will have an extra bounce in its collective step heading into training camp.

Photo: Sayvien Adams of Rancocas Valley / Marc Narducci

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After the spring season was canceled last year due to the pandemic, these standout student-athletes from South Jersey are hoping to make the most of their opportunities in 2021.

Author: Marc Narducci

'We Came Together as a Team'

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