Atlantic and Cumberland counties were represented as the Rams celebrated the Super Bowl championship on their homefield Sunday in Los Angeles.
Vineland native Jamil Demby was on the sidelines as his team pulled out a three-point victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The NFL offensive guard was injured early in the season and unable to play, but his parents and new wife were cheering as loudly as anyone, keeping the faith until the end when the Rams pulled out the win.
"I really want to just live it all over again," Demby's mom, Jazmine Demby, told BreakingAC. "It's like your wedding day, it all goes so fast."
She recalled the ups and downs her son has had in his short NFL career. Drafted by the Rams in 2018, he briefly was sent to the Detroit Lions before LA called him back.
"None the less, he's still there, hanging in," the proud mom said.
And that's what his family did as they watched LA take the lead in a late touchdown that ended up clinching the championship.
"It was the most incredible feeling ever," Jazmine Demby said.
"He wasn't even playing and our hearts were still racing," she said. "There was just something in the air telling us we were going to win, to just wait on it."
Starting in Midget League, a young Jamil told his mother he was going to the Super Bowl.
"That's right, baby," she told him. "Whatever you put your heart to, we're going to do this."
But inside she was thinking, "Let's just get through this midget game," she laughed.
By time he got into high school, his dreams were more realistic: getting into a Division I school and playing in college.
Demby played his entire senior year with an injured shoulder so he could keep that dream alive.
He wound up at the University of Maine, and in 2018, was drafted in the sixth round, 192 overall.
When he finally got to play in his first professional game, he told his mother that he felt that was enough, to have played the game he loves on an NFL field.
But the dream wasn't over, it seems. Now, he will have a Super Bowl ring, while the full scope of how far his career will go remains undetermined.
While the Dembys were on the field celebrating the Lombardi, an Atlantic City High School graduate was getting to hoist the trophy himself.
Sports agent David Canter was in a good — if somewhat nerve-racking — position of having clients on both teams.
While he was disappointed for Bengals' safety Vonn Bell, the former Margate resident stood between his two other clients in victory: placekicker Matt Gay and Eric Weddle.
Weddle was somewhat of a fairytale in this year's playoffs.
The six-time Pro Bowl safety came out of retirement last month after the Rams' safety suffered a season-ending injury.
He then played a key role in the postseason. In the championship game, he suffered a torn pec in the second quarter. But he kept playing, taped up, and finished with five tackles.
"I knew the greatness both men had and have in them," Canter wrote of the experience. "Now World Champions, the next stop for Eric is the Hall of Fame, for Matt a new contract and security he and his lovely family so deserve."
“Atlantic City is why — 100 percent — I believe I’m the man I am today,” he said at the time.
Canter grew up in various places, including Miami Beach. Right before eighth grade, he moved to his father's home in Margate, graduating Eugene A. Tighe School in 1986.
But it was at Atlantic High that the self-described privileged kid's arrogance met reality, and he learned real strength.
Now, the Atlantic High Class of 1990 alum has the memories of an amazing Super Bowl with three clients.
"I go to sleep tonight after a long stressful six-week run exuberant over the success of my brothers yet shattered for the loss the team of my client Vonn Bell," he wrote. "There is no tomorrow for these experiences. We won’t ever get to be here at this exact time again but the love, respect and admiration I have for all three men will never wane."
