Football: Undeterred Millville squad peaking at right time

MILLVILLE - There were plenty of celebrations taking place at Wheaton Field on Friday night. 

Millville crowned its homecoming king and queen — Ralph Martin and Alize Wilson. 

The school unveiled its new mascot — a fighter pilot named Maverick — who seemed to instantly win over the Bolts' faithful. 

And to top it all off, Millville took care of business on the football field with a 50-0 shellacking of Atlantic City to push its win streak to five games. 

More:Football: Millville routs Atlantic City for fifth straight win

Maverick will make at least one more appearance at Wheaton Field this season, and the Bolts are hoping that's not all. 

Millville (5-3) gets a bye next after eight straight weeks of action and the time off should conclude with some rewarding news. 

The Bolts appear destined for the top seed in the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs, and with the South Jersey sectional finals no longer being played at Rowan University, that means there's a chance Millville could host a championship game in the Holly City.

The bye week comes at a good time for the Bolts, according to coach Dennis Thomas. 

"It gives us time to heal up and we gotta sharpen up on offense," Thomas said after the Vikings win. "We weren't as sharp as I wanted to be and there were some things I didn't like that we have to brush up on. I was happy with the result, we put 50 points on the board, but we were sloppy at times." 

Should Millville earn the No. 1 seed that would bode well for the program. 

The Bolts are 4-1 at Wheaton Field this season with their only home loss coming the first game of the year against non-public state power St. Peter's Prep of Jersey City. 

"Home field advantage would be phenomenal and our fans would appreciate it," Thomas said, adding "and the city, this city needs it."

Millville's players would relish the opportunity to win a title on their home field, but they are being careful not to get ahead of themselves.

"To have a chance to have that championship here with maybe thousands of people cheering for us, that's going to be a good feeling," senior running back Tex Thompson said. "Now we just gotta keep working. During that bye week, we're gonna be outside working hard, preparing for that playoff weather, preparing for that playoff game." 

What the Bolts have done to rally from an 0-3 start is impressive. 

Millville has allowed less than 10 points per game during its five-game winning streak and has scored an average 38 points per game over that span.  

Now the Bolts find themselves in a favorable position having weathered the early storm.

"I think it shows resilience because it was hard to keep our heads up in the beginning when we started off 0-3," Watson said. "After the Williamstown game, we lost (35-6 to fall to 0-3), everyone was sad and everything but coach Thomas, he ran up to us and he was real excited, just real happy. He always talks about consistency and how that's the difference between good and great, and we just stuck with it."

Millville will be eyeing its second sectional title under Thomas in three years. 

The Bolts beat Toms River North, 22-16, in 2016 to take home the South Jersey Group 5 championship at Rowan. 

To win a title inside Millville's city limits would be something special for the Bolts. 

"They're gonna shut down the city. It's going to be pandemonium," Thomas said. 

Anthony V. Coppola: @AVCoppola; 856-563-5258; acoppola@gannettnj.com