Schalick scores in the closing minutes to outlast a courageous Paulsboro effort that, in the end, just ran out of time
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PAULSBORO – Kevin Leamy admitted he really didn’t know what to expect from the team that was lined up on the other side of the field. The Schalick coach practiced his team all week like they were playing a Paulsboro team at full strength, but truthfully when you’ve facing a team that’s lost almost half the roster and potentially 12 starting positions it’s anybody’s guess what the product will be on game day.
And Paulsboro gave a courageous effort in Saturday’s South Jersey Group I semifinal for the hand it was dealt, missing 16 players suspended after last week’s altercation with Woodbury and losing their lead running to an ankle injury early in the game, but in the end Schalick was able to make adjustments on the fly and pulled out a 35-28 victory to reach the sectional final – against Glassboro – for the third straight year.
“I give (Coach Kevin) Harvey and that Paulsboro group a lot of credit,” Leamy said. “When something happens, like all those kids being suspended, it’s easy to throw in the towel and not give your best effort ,but they came out and played (hard).
“They caught us off guard a little bit in the first half. We didn’t know what to game plan for, we didn’t know what they were going to go do. We didn’t know who was going to play quarterback. They came out in that Wildcat and had us outnumbered at the point of attack a couple times and it took us a while to make an adjustment, but in the second half we made adjustments and was able to shut it down.
“(His team has) built a lot of resiliency this year. They trust that we’re going to have an answer and when push comes to shove we’re going to put them in a position to win. I think they knew we were going to make an adjustment (and) they knew the adjustment was going to work, it just took us a little longer to make that adjustment.”
Six starters were among the 16 players suspended because of the fourth-quarter fight with Woodbury, including starting quarterback Malakhai McKenzie and several all-conference linemen. The Red Raiders took another hit during the game when running back Kyaire Harvey was carried from the field with an ankle injury after a 14-yard gain on the team’s second offensive snap.
That increased the burden of production on Jahsir Johnson, Jeremiah Carr and Zay Mears. Johnson played quarterback when the Red Raiders weren’t running the Wildcat. Carr scored three touchdowns, including the tying score early in the fourth quarter. And Mears had an 80-yard touchdown run after an interception in the end zone to give the Red Raiders a 14-7 lead.
The Cougars said Paulsboro’s personnel problems didn’t affect them during the practice week. They went about their business preparing as if the Red Raiders were going to have everyone available.
“We were ready to play their full roster, the team we played three weeks ago, and we practiced like it all week,” backup quarterback and linebacker Gary Simonini said. “It prepared us for what we did today.”
Schalick quarterback Kenny Bartee scored the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 2:04 to play. It capped a 14-yard drive made short when the Red Raiders interfered with Dylan Sheehan’s fair catch of a punt inside the Paulsboro 30.
Bartee also ran for another touchdown and threw a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes to Ayden Jenkins.
The Red Raiders got the last shot to win it after Bartee’s go-ahead touchdown, but they had to go 67 yards and they most assuredly would have gone for two had they scored. And they went down fighting. They had driven deep into Schalick territory, stopping the clock on occasion with a couple strategic spikes.
The final spike came with 15 seconds to play and the ball at the 23. On what proved to be the final play of the game, Johnson took off towards the Schalick sideline where he was met head on by Sheehan.
Their collision came with about six seconds left and although it ended with Johnson physically out of bounds after contact, the clock kept running and ultimately expired with Paulsboro’s coaches on the field pleading they should have more time. The explanation given was Johnson was knocked sideways by the contact, his forward progress stopped in bounds and it didn’t matter if he ran out, the clock kept moving and it ran out.
“It was just me and him,” Sheehan said. “It was isolated. He had a choice to either run out of bounds or stay in. He decided to try to head-fake me, basically. I knew I could bait him to try it. That was my objective. It worked. He actually sent me out of bounds. He had to make a choice and he chose wrong.”
The season ended for the Red Raiders on the Schalick 17.
“That’s wrong, man,” Paulsboro coach Kevin Harvey said. “We played our ass off today, man. It’s wrong. It’s wrong to give it to them like that. For it to come down to that, something like that. We had our chances, but I’ve never heard of that call.”
“I think it was the right call,” Leamy said.
As for the interference on the punt, Sheehan said he always knew he was going to signal a fair catch.
“As soon as I saw the ball up high and short I threw the fair catch (sign) early because I knew it and their guy made a mistake and hit me,” he said.
The penalty took the ball inside the 15 where the Cougars set off in their heavy package daring the Red Raiders to stop it. Not even a penalty to push them back near the 10 was going to deny the quarterback.
“The last drive with the game on the line, in my head I’m thinking win or go home and we’re not ready to go home yet,” Bartee said. “We made it our goal to get to the sectional championship; that was our goal and we plan on winning it.
“On that last drive I’m just thinking let’s win. Even if I have to go 100 carries, 100 yards, this is for my boys. We’re winning this game.”
Paulsboro tied the game at 28 on Johnson’s 39-yard pass to Carr with 10:41 left in the fourth quarter. But the Red Raiders were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct on the touchdown, which brought the most brilliant coaching decision of the game.
Knowing the Red Raiders didn’t have reliable kicker, Leamy had the penalty assessed on the point after try instead of the kickoff. Now Paulsboro needed to go 18 yards to get the go-ahead points instead of 3 and Sheehan batted away the pass they had to throw keeping the game tied.
“That really helped us,” Leamy said. “I give (assistant coaches) Doug (Volovar) and Henry (Papiano) credit for that.”
“Ultimately Kevin made the decision, I just offered a suggestion; that’s what assistant coaches do,” Volovar said. “Thought the decision was simple. Would have been a terrible way to lose if we took the yardage on the kickoff, they converted (the try) and we lost by 2.”
Top photo: Schalick quarterback Kenny Bartee celebrates with lineman Noah Bermudez. (All photos by Heather Papiano)
Schalick 35, Paulsboro 28
| SCH | PAUL | |
| 15 | 1st Downs | 12 |
| 28-180 | Rushing | 38-258 |
| 10-18-1 | Passing | 6-11-1 |
| 112 | Passing yds | 74 |
| 1-1 | Fum-lost | 1-1 |
| 4-44.0 | Punts-avg | 4-22.0 |
| 9-75 | Penalties | 5-36 |
| Schalick | 7 | 21 | 0 | 7- | 35 |
| Paulsboro | 8 | 14 | 0 | 6- | 28 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-Kenny Bartee 6 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 8:06 1Q
P-Jeremiah Carr 9 run (May Mears run), 4:46 1Q
P-Zay Mears 80 run (run failed), 10:44 2Q
S-Gary Simonini 2 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 7:03 2Q
S-Ayden Jenkins 25 pass from Kenny Bartee (Hunter Dragotta kick), 5:33 2Q
S-Ayden Jenkins 24 pass from Kenny Bartee (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2:10 2Q
P-Jeremiah Carr 3 run (Jeremiah Carr run), 0:20 2Q
P-Jeremiah Carr 41 pass from Jahsir Johnson (pass failed), 10:41 4Q
S-Kenny Bartee 1 run (Hunter Dragotta kick), 2:04 4Q
Riverview Sports News 