EWING TWP. — Although the Ewing High football team went into Saturday’s Homecoming Day game with a record of 0-5, the thing that very much needed to be considered was four of those losses were by a combined 12 points. As such, when the KIPP Cooper Norcross team from Camden team threw a 41-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass on the last play of the first half to take the lead, you couldn’t help but wonder if it was going to be another one of those  nightmare days for the Blue Devils. To its credit, a determined Ewing team was having none of that and shrugged off any adversity to bust into the victory column with 33-14 triumph over KIPP. “They (the losses) were frustrating, but we knew we had to hang together and do a better job of finishing,” said Ewing coach Ross Maddalon. “I give all the credit to my assistant  coaches and, of course, the kids.” There was a lot to this game, which had more flags than the United Nations and an officiating crew that really struggled at times. This included an inadvertent whistle, awarding the ball to the Ewing offense after first declaring KIPP had recovered a fumble and even a penalty flag during a time out. While it took a while to unfold, Ewing got the job done behind a swarming defense that took away KIPP’s ability to run the ball and a solid game by junior quarterback Ryan Greig. After KIPP opened the scoring in the first half, Greig scored on a 1-yard sneak to cap a 55-yard drive that included a 33-yard run by Josh Missick. The next time Ewing got the ball it scored on a 20-yard pass by Greig to Sam Simpkins with 1:19 remaining in the first half. This set the stage for KIPP’s unlikely touchdown pass that put the visitors ahead 14-12 and what looked like would be a very competitive second half. Guess again. KIPP fumbled  the ball away on the third quarter kickoff and Ewing quickly took the lead on a 3-yard pass by Greig to Davon Law. KIPP fumbled the ball away again on Ewing’s second kickoff of the third quarter as well, but Ewing then fumbled the ball right  back to the Titans on the very next play. As it turned out, the Ewing fumble didn’t matter because by this point Ewing’s defense was in total control and the Blue Devils added two more touchdowns on a 6-yard run by Missick and a 4-yard run by Cordell Sloan. “It was tough on our team, we were feeling kind of low,” said Greig of the five losses. “But we kept working hard and played through it. We needed to do a better job of executing our offense.” Greig completed four passes for 46 yards. Although Missick  (13 carries for 95 yards) and Sloan (10 carries for 54 yards) had the bulk of the rushing attempts, Ewing spread it around with eight different backs carrying the ball. In addition to putting a lot of pressure on the KIPP quarterbacks, the Ewing defense also got an interception from Nahdir Guinyard that led to the Blue Devils’ final TD. “Our defense has been coming on,” said Maddalon of a unit that held Trenton to 14 points the previous week. “Our players really deserved a win.” KIPP (4-2) 6 8 0 0 – 14 Ewing (1-5) 0 12 14 7 – 33 K-McIntosh 5 run (run failed) E-Greig 1 run (kick blocked) E-Simpkins 20 pass from Greig (pass failed) K-Morton 41 pass from Cosby (run good) E-Law 3 pass from Greig (Jones pass from Greig) E-Missick 6 run (pass failed) E-Sloan 4 run (Jones kick)