Barnegat Football Eager for Second Chance at West Deptford

The sound of the clapping bounced off every wall and spilled into the hallway.

“I told the athletic director I wanted the loudest, most echoey gym in the district,” Rob Davis said as his Barnegat football team ran through play after play in the gym at the Joseph T. Donahue Elementary School. “I wanted it loud, like it will be Friday night.”

Friday night, his Bengals will take the field in the sectional semifinals in West Deptford for the second straight year, seeking to advance to the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II title game.

It is a chance at redemption for Barnegat, after being on the short end of a 56-0 drubbing at the hands of the Eagles last year.

That was last year, however. Both Davis and Clyde Folsom, the West Deptford head coach, are expecting a much different game this year.

“We’re a completely different team from last year,” Folsom said. “We graduated 21 seniors from that team.”

But the current crop of players has seemingly not missed a beat, as the Eagles (8-1) have posted six straight shutouts.

Barnegat, too, is a different team. For starters, the Bengals (6-3) have playoff experience under their belts. They also come in battle-tested.

“We’ve been in some pretty hostile environments,” Davis said, “and we’ve won all the close games.”

Barnegat opened the season with two straight losses, to undefeated Rumson and to Manchester. But the Bengals reeled off a string of wins over Central Regional, Lacey, Brick and Red Bank, all part of a schedule that included five teams that reached the state playoffs (Central, Lacey, Matawan, Red Bank and Rumson, the top seed in Central Jersey Group II).

“If you told a lot of people nine years ago (when the Barnegat football program first started) that we’d be going to our second straight semifinal in this short of a time, they’d have said you were crazy,” Davis said. “But we’ve been very consistent.”

By contrast, just three of West Deptford’s regular-season opponents (Haddon Heights, Woodbury and Haddonfield, the top seed in South Jersey Group II) qualified.

“Our players saw them on tape and they respect everything they’ve accomplished,” Folsom said.

“As a kid, you dream about these situations,” Barnegat quarterback Mark McCoy said. “Last year we were just happy to be in the playoffs. Now we want more.”

Last year, the Bengals were hurt by seven turnovers that helped West Deptford score all of its points in the first half.

“It’s the little things,” McCoy said. “You have to pay attention to detail. That’s what wins games.”

“We’ve worked so hard to get here,” center Billy Caffyn said, but added the Bengals can’t let the setting or the importance of the game get them off-kilter. “You have to get the mental part of it canceled out and just play football.”

Davis said the biggest challenge will be dealing with the West Deptford line, which has allowed the Eagles to effectively run the Delaware wing-T to the tune of more than 1,500 yards rushing as well as shutting down the opposition defensively. That group is led by Jamil Pollard, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound senior who’s ranked among the top linemen in the country who is said to be headed to Penn State.

Quarterback Jake Hannan leads West Deptford, but has thrown the ball less all season than McCoy did last week in Barnegat’s win over Point Boro, Folsom said. Sophomore Gerald Towns, 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, has gotten the bulk of the carries in the wing-T, rushing for 978 yards and 16 touchdowns on 99 carries, Folsom said. Junior Josh Cornelius (5-9, 210) and senior Phil Fisher (5-9, 185) also carry the ball, with Cornelius racking up 500 yards and Fisher scoring six touchdowns. Cornelius also serves as the team’s kicker and plays linebacker, Folsom noted.

Barnegat counters with a balanced attack, with McCoy throwing for more than 1,500 yards to a group of receivers that include 6-4, 183-pound senior Jordan Salt, junior Pat Moran (5-10, 177) and senior Ryan Morris, a 6-6, 248-pound tight end who’s headed to Purdue next fall.

“We’re glad to be back and get another chance at them,” Morris said. “We’ve got to be mentally prepared.”

The Bengals’ passing attack is balanced with rushing. Senior David Smithman has been the featured back, with 113 carries for 706 yards, backed up by Matt Schofield. Smithman can catch the ball as well, as he showed against Point Boro with a 32-yard shoestring catch on third-and-14 that set up Barnegat’s winning touchdown.

“The majority of these kids, we were Junior Bengals together,” said Smithman, referring to their days in Pop Warner football. “Moran, McCoy, these kids who are here all stuck together all these years,” a fact they’re reminded of by a photograph of that team that hangs in the Barnegat lockerroom.

“We’ve been in playoff mode since the second week of the season,” said McCoy, “because we needed every win to make the playoffs. We are 48 minutes away from playing for a state title.”

“This is the climax,” Smithman said.

“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Folsom said.

“In the past I’ve always had expectations so high that I didn’t always enjoy things for what they were,” Davis said. “I want the kids to enjoy the moment, because this is special.”

Help send the Bengals off:

The Bengals will be getting a send-off on Friday at the high school, with parents and well-wishers planning to form a tunnel outside the fieldhouse for the players to run through before they board the bus, coach Rob Davis said. Fans and the community are welcome to join in, he said.

The team bus will be leaving Barnegat High School at 3:15 p.m., Davis said.

If you go to the game:

If you’re thinking of going to West Deptford to cheer the Bengals in person, the school is located at 1600 Old Crown Point Rd, Westville, NJ 08093.

Directions, following, are according to Google Maps:

Take Route 72 west to Route 70, then go west on Route 70 through Marlton and Cherry Hill to Interstate 295. Take I-295 south toward the Delaware Memorial Bridge 3.5 miles to exit 22 – Woodbury/Red Bank and turn left on County Route 644 toward Red Bank. Take the second left onto Crown Point Road and the school is on the right.

The game is at 7 p.m. but West Deptford is opening the gates at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 for adults, $2 for students (K-12) ad $2 for seniors.