Stepping up

Schalick quarterback Simmons dedicates his play to his injured running back, accounts for 5 TDs in a 38-20 win over Pennsville

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — Schalick was missing the backbone of its football team Friday night, but quarterback Kenai Simmons stepped up to play chiropractor.

With running back Reggie Allen Jr. on the sideline in concussion protocol, the Cougars needed someone to be the emotional and physical leader of the offense.

Simmons answered the call, accounting nearly 300 yards of offense and five touchdowns in a 38-20 win over Pennsville.

The quarterback is the natural choice to assume the mantle, but Simmons took it to another level. The junior rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns and had what he called his “best throwing game” since moving to quarterback in the summer, completing six of 11 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns.

“I really wanted to make Reggie Allen proud,” Simmons said. “Today I did everything for Reggie Allen.

“I told the line before the game Reggie was crying last night, so everything we did tonight was for Reggie Allen, my brother.”

Schalick head coach Mike Wilson called Allen the unsung backbone of the Cougars’ team between back-to-back three-touchdown games against Wildwood and Riverside, but the junior also took a big hit in the Riverside game that put him on the shelf.

Simmons put the offense on his shoulders and ran for touchdowns of 9 and 8 yards. He threw touchdown passes to Jake Siedlecki (on fourth down), Levi Feeney-Childers and Dylan Sheehan.

“I believe Reggie Allen is the heart and soul of this team, but it’s also Kenai’s team and you saw that tonight,” Wilson said. “Kenai and Reggie are boys. They’ve been playing football together since they were little. They look at each other as brothers and Kenai stepped up for his brother tonight.”

Simmons ran for the Cougars’ first touchdown and threw for their second as they went up 17-0 in the first half. The touchdown pass came on fourth-and-19 as the Cougars were trying to recover from a holding penalty and fumble that lost yardage and knocked them out of the red zone.

“After we got that penalty coach was very eager to get in the end zone,” Simmons said. “I told the line we need at least two seconds, that’s all I needed to get the ball out there, and I delivered a dot to Jake Siedlecki.”

The Eagles didn’t back down. Using a no-huddle offense that harkened back to the glory days of former head coach and current OC Ryan Wood, they drew as close as 17-14 midway through the third quarter.

Robbie McDade threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Malik Rehmer in the final minute of the second quarter and Sky Eppes capped the opening drive of the second half with a 5-yard scoring run. But Simmons responded with his 65-yard touchdown pass to Feeney-Childers and the Cougars pulled away for their fifth straight win.

“We’re still taking step in the right direction, (but) they outexecuted us,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “We played a good football team, we made all the mistakes, they didn’t make mistakes and that’s what happens when you play a good football team. We’re able to match up with teams. We’ve just got to be more consistent.”

Schalick came into the game ranked second in the South Jersey Group I power ratings, and with No. 1 Woodstown’s overtime loss to Glassboro has the chance to move into the top spot this week.

“I’m proud what we have done and it’s nice for the players to have the recognition they deserve,” Wilson said.

Wherever the Cougars land in the ratings next week, they’ll get the week off and a free win as Lindenwold intends to forfeit the game. 

Schalick 38, Pennsville 20

SCHAL (38)		PVILLE (20)
17	1st Downs	16
35-237	Rushing	28-131
6-11-0	Passes	9-19-0
152	Passing	111
1-0	Fumbles-lost	1-1
0-0	Punts-avg	1-43.0
4-30	Penalties-yds	3-40

Schalick (5-0)	10	7	7	14 –	38
Pennsville (2-2)	0	7	7	6 –	20

Scoring plays
S – Kenai Simmons 9 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 6:11 1Q
S – Hunter Dragotta 21 FG, 0:00 1Q
S – Jake Siedlecki 24 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 3:22 2Q
P – Malik Rehmer 23 pass from Robbie McDade (Jackson Leino kick), 0:53 2Q
P – Sky Eppes 5 run (Jackson Leino kick), 7:16 3Q
S – Levi Feeney-Childers 65 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 5:15 3Q
S – Dylan Sheehan 18 pass from Kenai Simmons (Hunter Dragotta kick), 10:07 4Q
S – Kenai Simmons 8 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 6:38 4Q
P – Tyree Young 20 pass from Robbie McDade (pass failed), 3:23 4Q