Schalick holds on

Cougars once again ‘found a way’ to win, turning back late 2-point conversion to edge Pitman, remain undefeated

SALEM COUNTY GAMES
Friday’s game
Schalick 14, Pitman 13
Saturday’s game
Camden at Salem, noon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE — Nobody pays attention to a two-point conversion until it matters. Oh, did it matter Friday night.

Schalick senior safety Jake Siedlecki went over Pitman tight end Stephen Devanney to knock down a go-ahead 2-point try with 1:24 to play to preserve the Cougars’ 14-13 win and unbeaten on the season.

It was 6-foot-1 against 6-2 defending running back Trey Tinges’ jump pass for the lead and Siedlecki, the smaller of the two, went over the top to come out on top. The Panthers set up the potential game-winning play when Tinges pushed in from the 1 after Siedlecki had gotten beaten on a pass to Devanney on fourth-and-15 the play before.

“The play before I messed up, but I was able to make up for it, thank God,” Siedlecki said. “On that last play we were in man coverage and once I saw (Devanney) put his head up I knew it was going to be a pass. I got my hand in front and executed the play.

“I didn’t have my eyes in the backfield, so I honestly don’t know (it was going to be a Tim Tebow jump pass), I just had my eyes on my man and it went in my favor. I’m glad we got the win.”

Earlier in the quarter, in a scenario eerily similar to last week’s game with Gloucester City, the Cougars stopped Pitman quarterback Kyle Kubat on fourth-and-1 from the 4 to maintain a 14-7 lead. R.J. Piernikoski, Reggie Allen and Levi Freeney-Childers led the charge that stopped Kubat about eight inches from the line to gain. A week ago, the defensive line stuffed Gloucester City quarterback Jake Seibert twice from the 1 to keep him the Lions of the end zone.

And just like last week, the Cougars’ offense couldn’t move ball out and Kenai Simmons had to punt from his end zone. This week, he got off a high punt that took a Schalick bounce and set the Panthers up just short of midfield. 

Pitman drove down to score, just like Gloucester City did, to tighten the game, but this time Schalick and Siedlecki denied the extra point, preventing the need for the Cougars to put together a winning drive into the final minute.

Pitman coach Chris Thomas said there was no doubt he was going for the win in that situation. The play was a pass all the way.

“We had something for the situation, something we felt good about and that decision was made a long time ago,” he said. “We knew on the road, against a team that’s very, very good, a playoff team like Schalick, (if) the situation presents itself where we have a chance to win the game with that play with about a minute and a half left, on the road, especially, no question we’re going for that.

“It might not have worked out, (but) I’d still make the call. I need to make a better play call in that situation. You’ve got to give credit to them. They played it very well.”

The conversion try was a bang-bang play in the end zone and neither team’s head coach could say definitively if they thought there was pass interference on it. Siedlecki was behind Devanney in man coverage but said he got his hand in while breaking up the pass.

The Cougars improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2017 with their second nailbiter in as many weeks, but they were far from satisfied with the performance. Even the hero of the night, Siedlecki, agreed “that’s not how we should win a game.”

They put together a flawless 74-yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes to start the game, capped by Kenai Simmons’ 2-yard run to open the scoring, but they didn’t do much else offensively after that. Allen scored on a 2-yard run with 29 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Cougars a 14-7 halftime lead, but in the second half they had only 46 yards of net offense.

Outside of their two scoring drives, they had only 57 more yards. Allen, who did a lot of the heavy lifting on the opening drive, finished with 67 yards rushing. Tinges had 109 yards rushing for Pitman, 82 in the second half, 50 in the fourth quarter.

“We found a way to win, I give the kids credit for that; however, we deserved to lose tonight,” Schalick coach Mike Wilson said. “We did not play well. We were not focused. We had no energy from the get-go. We talked to them all week about it. They laid a duck tonight and I told them. Not happy.

“When we had to dig down deep, we did, but we should have never got to that point … We are our own worst enemies. Like tonight on offense, we stopped ourselves; they never stopped us. And that’s the frustrating part, we can’t put together a complete game. So, we’ve got to do a little searching of souls this week.”

The Cougars might not be happy with the first two games, but there are outside interests that believe, especially after they won the opener, they have a real chance to run the table.

The rest of their schedule appears favorable. Of the seven teams remaining on the schedule, the Cougars beat six of them a year ago and the one they didn’t is 0-2 this season.

They’re not listening.

“In all honesty, I understand from an outside perspective, but I’m a week-to-week guy,” Wilson said. “I only look at scout film for somebody else when the game’s over with. We’ve got to win every week and at the end if you win them all, you win them all, but it’s a week by week thing.”

NOTES: Friday’s game was the closest in the series since 1985, the only other one-point game they’ve played (20-19 Schalick) … Each team had only one possession in the first and third quarters … The Cougars have won 13 of the last 14 games played between the teams … The last time they were 3-0 was 2016, when they started the season 6-0.

Schalick 14, Pitman 13

PIT (13)		SCH (14)
15	1st Downs	11
33-182	Rushes-yds	34-133
6-13-0	Passes	4-5-0
64	Passing yds	61
1-0	Fumbles-lost	0-0
2-32.0	Punts-avg	2-39.0
4-25	Penalties-yds	5-35

Pitman (0-1)	0	7	0	6 –	13
Schalick (2-0)	7	7	0	0 –	14

Scoring plays
S – Kenai Simmons 2 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 3:19 1Q
P – Chase Rollins 2 run (Hudson Rue kick), 9:39 2Q
S – Reggie Allen 2 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 0:29 2Q
P – Trey Tinges 1 run (pass failed), 1:14 4Q