Isaih Pacheco leads Vineland to win days after sister's slaying

Isaih Pacheco will go home sometimes and stare at the pictures and newspaper clippings attached to the mirror above the bureau in his bedroom.

Pacheco is a star quarterback and defensive back for the Vineland High School football team. He has committed to attend Rutgers University, a Big Ten program, on a scholarship.

So the scrapbook-style stuff on the mirror could be action shots of his exploits on the field and write-ups of his sensational performances in leading the resurgence of one of South Jersey's oldest and proudest programs.

But that's not what's under the scotch tape and tucked between the glass and frame.

It's a photograph of his grandmother, who died last year. It's an obituary for his uncle, who also died last year.

It's a newspaper report of his brother's murder in January 2016.

And it's a photograph of his sister, a 25-year-old mother of three who was found murdered in her home in Millville last Wednesday, three days before Pacheco took the field for a game against Egg Harbor Township.

"I say a prayer, and maybe do push-ups to get some anger out," Pacheco said. "I try not to get so mad.

"I say, 'Let God deal with it.' I don't seek revenge. I just want to be here for my mom and family in a positive way."

Pacheco said he accompanied his mother, Felica Cannon, to the home of his sister, Celeste Cannon, soon after a cousin knocked on their door and told them the news. He said the police were still working the crime scene when they arrived.

"I had just helped her move in there, maybe two months ago," Pacheco said. "To go back there for that . . . "

Pacheco said coach Dan Russo asked him if he needed to sit out the game against Egg Harbor Township on Saturday night.

But the athlete that everyone in Vineland knows as "Pop" said there was no way he was missing the game.

"I didn't want to take a break," Pacheco said, sitting in Russo's office at the high school in Cumberland County, about 35 minutes south of Philadelphia. "I wanted to come back on the field to get things off my mind.

"It was hard to play at first. Before game I was real hyped, a lot going through my mind. But after [the first quarter], I was back, I was comfortable."

Russo shakes his head in amazement at Pacheco's performance that steamy night on Egg Harbor Township's turf field. Pacheco carried the football 10 times for 222 yards, including an electrifying 80-yard scoring run, and also threw a touchdown pass in Vineland's 42-6 victory.

"He's not tough," Russo said. "He's the toughest."

Pacheco, who also was a first-team all-South Jersey baseball player last spring as an outfielder who batted .475, has been the driving force in Vineland football's meteoric rise from a soft spot on a lot of schedules to one of South Jersey's most powerful programs.

The Clan are 3-0 this season, ranked No. 4 in South Jersey by the Inquirer. Vineland is 11-2 since the start of the 2016 season; in the previous five seasons, the team was a combined 13-37.

"He's the face of this program," Russo said. "This is a kid, his teammates voted him a captain when he was a freshman."

Pacheco credits his coaches and teammates with providing the support to help him through difficult times.

"I feel like everybody is here for me," Pacheco said. "The support is making me stronger.

"I come here, it takes my mind off things. I get on the field, it lets me get some of my anger out."

Pacheco said he was touched when Russo gave him the game ball following the victory over Egg Harbor Township, requesting that he present it to his mother.

"They didn't have to do that," Pacheco said. "They care about me and my family. Not only that, they understood that's what a family does. They are my family, my football family."

Pacheco said he finds refuge on the football field.

"I just love playing," Pacheco said. "This helps me more than anything, get things off my shoulders, relieve stress."

Celeste Cannon, 25, was found dead of apparent gunshot wounds in her home in Millville, according to a statement from the Cunberland County Prosecutor's Office. The investigation is ongoing.

In January 2016, Pacheco's brother Travoise Cannon, 29, was stabbed to death in a domestic dispute in Bridgeton.

Also in the last year and a half, Pacheco lost his grandmother, his mother's mother, and his uncle, his father's brother, to illness.

"This kid has been through so much," Russo said. "But he's so strong."

Pacheco said he was "real close" with his sister Celeste. He remembers her picking up him at the school bus stop when he was a youngster.

"I was just talking to her the night before it happened," Pacheco said. "I was telling her I was going to come over for dinner but my mom had already cooked so I just stayed home."

In three games, Pacheco has carried the football 32 times for 459 yards (14.3-yard average) and six touchdowns as Vineland has outscored opponents by 130-20. He is projected as a running back at Rutgers by the Scarlet Knights coaches.

Pacheco plans to graduate from Vineland in December and enroll at Rutgers in January. He said recent events have inspired him to move forward with greater purpose.

"My mom, I have to make her proud," Pacheco said. "She's going through a lot. It's time for me to do something about that, get up out of Vineland and make things happen."