The Millville High School football team cruised to a 41-14 win over Kingsway Friday in the Bolts' home opener at Wheaton Field.
MILLVILLE - The Millville High School football team did not want a repeat of last year's showing against Kingsway.
Shortly after the Thunderbolts' 40-point win over Egg Harbor Township in Week 1, coach Dennis Thomas reminded his team of as much in the postgame huddle.
"7-0... We can't have that again," Thomas said, referring to the Bolts' tight victory over Kingsway in 2016.
Millville responded in a big way to their coach's plea.
The Bolts scored early and often en route to a 41-14 trouncing of Kingsway in Millville's home opener at Wheaton Field Friday night.
Senior transfer Elijah Nichols had an exciting debut in orange and blue. Nichols, who was forced to sit out last week, threw touchdown passes on Millville's first two possessions.
Nichols got things started with a 29-yard touch pass over the Kingsway defense to Carlton Lawrence for the game's opening score. The Camden Catholic transfer then hit Clayton Scott on a 45-yard touchdown pass to make it a 14-0 Bolts lead early in the first quarter.
"It's been a long wait, but I was ready for it," Nichols said. "It felt good, good to throw that first touchdown."
Tristan Harris, last week's starting quarterback, also tossed a pair of touchdowns in the win over Kingsway. The plan moving forward is for Harris and Nichols to share signal-calling duties.
Harris connected with Marical Ramos on a 4-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter before finding Lawrence in the third on a 63-yard catch and run.
Lawrence isn't concerned about Nichols and Harris coexisting.
"They love each other, their bond is crazy," Lawrence said.
Scott was his usual dynamic self again for Millville (2-0).
Aside from his touchdown catch, the senior ripped off second-quarter scoring runs of 41 and 16 yards, respectively. Scott finished with 121 yards on 16 carries.
It's off to rival St. Augustine next week for Millville in what figures to be the Bolts' biggest test of the young season. The Hermits were 45-7 winners over Williamstown on Friday.
"Coach said don't even think about the Prep, just keep your mindset on this game," Lawrence said. "Don't worry about the Prep, we got them next week, just finish this game then we'll deal with them."
Thomas, when asked, quickly shrugged of the notion that Kingsway could have been a trap game for the Bolts.
"We take one game at a time," Thomas said. "One game at a time, and this was the game at hand, this was the most important thing in the world right now.
"Now we're going to go lick our wounds and prepare for (St. Augustine). They're now our target."
Player of the Game: Carlton Lawrence — The versatile Millville senior added another wrinkle to his game Friday, serving as the team's kicker on extra points. Lawrence was 5-of-6 on his attempts to go with the pair of touchdowns. Lawrence was effective in the return game again, consistently giving the Bolts strong starting field position.
Quote of the Game: "I kicked my freshman year, but this was my first real action. When I kicked it, it was good every time except one. I ain't gonna lie, on the first one I was tired." — Carlton Lawrence on taking over extra-point duties.