Undefeated Schalick puts away Pennsville with punishing running game, clinches at least a share of WJFL Diamond title; Bartee goes over 1,000 for the season
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE — It was the most eventful night so far this year in a season full of eventful nights at Cougar Field.
DezYon Purnell scored on a 65-yard run with the first snap of the game, Kenny Bartee had a career rushing night to become Schalick’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2022 and the Cougars clinched at least a share of the WJFL Diamond Division title in a 41-20 win over Pennsville Friday night.
And it came at Homecoming, to boot.
“It was very eventful,” senior receiver David Stewart said. “There was homecoming, pep rallies, so there’s a lot on their minds, a lot of stuff that could have took your mind off of football, honestly, but it was really just all about staying locked in on the game.
“They picked the homecoming king and queen, all that, there was just a lot of stuff going on. But it just felt really good coming out with the win.”
The game came down to whether Pennsville could contain Schalick’s running attack behind Bartee or the Cougars could contain the Eagles’ passing game behind Jake Layfield. Both teams did their thing, but the homestanding Cougars (8-0) did better at what they do best.
They rushed for 458 yards on 40 carries. They had 111 yards rushing on their first four offensive plays.
Bartee ran for a career-high 228 yards and two touchdowns. He needed 125 yards to become the Cougars’ first 1,000-yard rusher since quarterback Kenai Simmons in 2022 and cleared that hurdle on a 15-yard run from midfield late in the third quarter. He put an exclamation point on his night with an 83-yard touchdown run in the fourth. He now has 1,103 yards rushing for the season.
He also threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Stewart on a fade route both recognized would be open the play before and went over 1,000 career passing yards. The pass to Stewart gave the Cougars a 21-7 halftime lead.
“Growing up seeing a bunch of people do it from when you were younger, it’s very happy, but when it’s you it’s just even better,” Bartee said of the rushing milestone. “But I couldn’t be here without them. My team is my everything. The blocking was great. We executed perfectly. We all believe in each other and just being able to accomplish this with them is the best feeling ever.
“Coming into the game I knew what I needed (for 1,000), but I stuck to the gameplan. I wasn’t a selfish person like coach give me the ball, give me the ball, I wanted to get everyone active. You saw our first play was a great play by DezYon Purnell. It wasn’t just about me. This team is not just about me. It’s about everybody. Get everybody active and then, OK, Pop, go do this. I always want to get my team active because they get me active.”
Layfield completed 21 of-38 passes for 282 yards and touchdowns to Jacob Kimani, Javion Sydnor and Aiden Collazo. CJ Johnson caught seven passes for 125 yards to become the Eagles’ first 900-yard receiver in 10 years.
Layfield was intercepted only once, but it was costly as Stewart stepped in front of Lucas Thomas and brought it back a school-record 94 yards to turn what could have been a game-tying Pennsville touchdown back into a comfortable two-score Schalick lead.
“I kind of like ducked for it because I didn’t expect it, but I was fully up and I just took off,” Stewart said. “Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games and I just made a big play. I’m just happy I could do that for my team. We were going back and forth and it just felt good, like a relief almost, to make it a two-touchdown game.”
There were two other times the Eagles got into the red zone and came away empty. On the other two, Stewart broke up a fourth-down pass for Johnson near the end zone and Aiden Torres sacked Layfield on fourth down from the 3.
“They threatened to get close a couple times,” Schalick coach Kevin Leamy said, “but every time they threatened to get close one of our kids made a play and opened the lead back up.”
“All night we felt we moved the ball well, but not coming up with a score in those three red-zone possessions definitely killed us,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “All night was frustrating, but that pick-six changed the game.”
The Eagles (4-4) answered to get back within a touchdown to make it 28-20, but just as they had all game the Cougars answered on the drive Bartee went over 1,000. Ayden Jenkins got it in the end zone from 13 yards out with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Cougars showed right out of the gate they meant business. Purnell used two stiff-arms to escape a loss in the backfield, worked his way to the corner and threw out another downfield to get into the end zone. It was the first time he can ever remember scoring a touchdown on the first snap of the game.
“I saw two guys in my face and I just kept moving my feet,” Purnell said. “Thankfully I had the ball in my left hand so I was able to get my right hand out and push the one guy into another and then I got around him a little bit and I pushed him, then I broke and stiff-armed another guy and I was free.
“It was a great, surreal feeling just knowing that I set the tone for my boys today. We just kept the foot on the pedal.”
Schalick can clinch the division outright with a win at Overbrook Thursday night.
Schalick 41, Pennsville 20
| PVILLE | SCHAL | |
| 16 | 1st Downs | 19 |
| 14-(-7) | Rushing | 40-458 |
| 21-38-1 | Passes | 3-7-0 |
| 282 | Passing | 54 |
| 0-0 | Fum-Lost | 4-2 |
| 3-48.3 | Punts-Avg | 1-51.0 |
| 4-30 | Penalties | 12-120 |
| Pennsville | 7 | 0 | 13 | 0- | 20 |
| Schalick | 7 | 14 | 13 | 7- | 41 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-DezYon Purnell 65 run (Dash Mayne kick), 11:36 1Q
P-Jacob Kimani 6 pass from Jake Layfield (Dante Cummings kick), 1:59 1Q
S-Jebbt Bartee 3 run (Dash Mayne kick), 11:58 2Q
S-David Stewart 38 pass from Kenny Bartee (Dash Mayne kick), 6:01 2Q
P-Javion Sydnor 10 pass from Jake Layfield (Dante Cummings kick), 10:21 3Q
S-David Stewart 94 interception return (Dash Mayne kick), 7:06 3Q
P-Aiden Collazo 16 pass from Jake Layfield (kick failed), 5:01 3Q
S-Ayden Jenkins 13 run (kick failed), 0:57 3Q
S-Kenny Bartee 83 run (Dash Mayne kick), 6:51 4Q
