August 28th was the most anticipated game in Winslow Eagles football history. The “Battle at the Beach” 2025 pitted Winslow Township vs IMG Academy of Florida, the 5th ranked team in the United States. IMG is one of the most coveted high school sports programs in the country. Having been dominant for years and every successful program wants a piece of them. Winslow is coming off of their most successful season ever, going undefeated and winning the Group 4 state championship vs Phillipsburg 35-0.
The “Battle at the Beach” in Ocean City was packed, and there was a buzz in the air. Winslow’s fans definitely came and gave them the support and IMG had supporters come all the way up from Florida as well. If you showed up to this game late, good luck finding a seat let alone a view of the game. IMG Academy got the ball first and scored almost immediately on a 38 yard touchdown pass from Sophomore four star recruit Jayden Wade to Osani Gailles. It was a beautiful deep ball dropped right in the bucket. IMG took the 7-0 lead. Winslow got the ball second and started driving, a catch by Sophomore TJ Maddox who had 256 yds 15 rec and 2TDs in his freshman year. Put them in field goal range, but on the next play on an out route that was thrown to Nyquir “Boomer” Helton, who is committed to Boston College, was intercepted and taken all the way back for a pick 6 by Junior Chuck Roberts. Helton was hit hard , but he didn’t stay on the floor, he got up and tried to catch Roberts all the way down the field, showing his tenacity. Winslow got the ball back and had a lackluster drive, giving the ball right back to IMG. IMG kept running the ball at Winslow and they couldn’t do anything about it. Senior Le’ khy Thompkins ran it in for another 6. Winslow was down 21-0 after the first quarter. After the 3rd touchdown the vibes were definitely down on the Winslow side. It had been as if the crowd saw a ghost.
Winslow got the ball back and actually started to drive down the field after a big pass interference on a pass thrown to Nyquir Helton. After the throw. utility man Nakeem Powell (senior) scored a touchdown on a wheel route. This definitely gave Winslow hope and also momentum. They went on to miss the extra point. The score was 21-6. After a stop on defense, Winslow received the ball again and went on another drive. After a pass interference, the Eagles entered the red zone. On a fourth down Junior quarterback Jalen Parker floated over a defender into the endzone for a touchdown. After this, Nakeem Powell converted a 2 point conversion making the score 21-14. At this point all the momentum was with Winslow and you could definitely feel it in the crowd. Heading into halftime things got chippy between both teams with some pushing and shoving between players and coaches. After halftime Winslow went onto the field and it looked promising. A couple good catches were made but the drive ended dramatically as QB Jalen Parker threw an interception to Junior linebacker Amari Irvin. Nothing came of this though as Winslow got a stop on defense and got another chance to tie the game up. Unfortunately the offense couldn’t shake anything up . At this point lots of winslows key players started to cramp up it seemed like every other play a new eagle was down on the field. When IMG received the ball they went to their run game again and started to pound the ball, resulting in QB Jayden Wade scoring a touchdown to make the score 28-14. Winslow got the ball back but IMG’s defensive line proved superior disrupting Jalen Parker causing IMG to receive the ball, at this point the game was in its final stages but IMG didn’t stop scoring Lehky Thompkins scored another touchdown ( a 56 yard rush) and this was basically the end of the game IMG beat Winslow 35-14.
The Eagles definitely fought hard against a top five team in the country. It shows that they are a very good team for sticking with a school that recruits kids to play football and, admittedly, has way more resources. Playing against a school with most if not all of the starters going Division 1 and not getting dog walked is a very big accomplishment and Winslow as a whole should be proud of that. You can even say Winslow had a chance to win this game after the end of the second quarter. The offense just couldn’t show up in the second half which is okay because of the competition and unfortunately issues with cramping. Jalen Parker showed lots of heart in this game along with Tj Maddox, Nyquir Helton, and Nakeem Powell expect all of them to have huge seasons. The defense also played great to start the second half too. This team will not be affected by that loss, it will only make them hungrier and more experienced for their ultimate goal: The State Championship.
