Cougars clinch undefeated regular season, Diamond Division outright title and No. 1 seed in South Jersey Group 1 playoffs
PINE HILL – Schalick checked all the boxes in their final regular season game Thursday night.
The Cougars completed an undefeated regular season, clinched the WJFL Diamond Division title outright and sealed up the No. 1 seed in the South Jersey Group 1 playoffs with a 28-16 win over Overbrook.
It’s their first WJFL division title since 2023, when they won the second of back-to-back Horizon Division crowns and the last time they went undefeated in the regular season.
“Me and my teammates are just coming out here to prove we’re the best team in Group 1 and that’s all we’re going to going to continue to do,” quarterback Kenny Bartee said. “Our job’s not done. We’re 0-0 like our coach said and we’re just coming out here to make a statement every day.”
“We won a football game,” coach Kevin Leamy said. “Literally, that’s all we came here to do. This was never the goal. The goal was never to win a conference. It’s cool to say we won a conference championship, but that was never the goal. We’re keeping our eyes on the prize.”
The win wasn’t as easy as it seemed. The Schalick starters were out of their helmets in the fourth quarter and ready to cheer on their backups with a 28-0 lead when the Rams scored twice against the Cougars JVs, prompting Leamy to reinsert the starters for the final 4:17.
Bartee and DezYon Purnell each scored two touchdowns as the Cougars opened a 28-0 lead early in the third quarter. Leamy went with the backups in the fourth to give them some experience and Axcel Bailey scored two touchdowns to raise the temperature. They “probably could have gutted it out” with the backups, Leamy said, but the Rams “didn’t look like they were going to stop trying to come back,” so they had to do something to put the game away.
Bartee and Company re-entered the game after Bartee recovered an onsides kick following Bailey’s second touchdown. They picked up a couple first downs and ran out the clock.
“In my mind I knew we had to (go back in), but in my mind I was like I really don’t want to come back out,” Bartee said. “This team was very annoying because they saw we had our JV in and they kept their varsity in. I understand it was the last game of the season, but we felt disrespected because it was like they were trying to beat up on the little guys.”
“I was watching to make sure the JV was doing their thing, to celebrate with them,” receiver David Stewart said. “I didn’t think (they were going back in) because there was like five minutes left, but then they scored in one play. Going back really wasn’t a big deal. It was just a matter of getting first downs.”
Bartee rushed for 60 yards and passed for 101. Purnell rushed for 44 yards. Ayden Jenkins rushed for 52 yards. David Stewart had all the receiving yards and he made a one-handed interception on a tipped ball on defense. The Cougars (9-0) scored on each of their first four possessions.
Bailey scored on runs of 6 and 83 yards between a Schalick three-and-out. He rushed for 198 yards in the game, but 145 of it came in the fourth against the Schalick reserves.
“That No. 1 is very far from a JV football player,” Leamy said. “Those kids aren’t used to playing someone like that.”
The Cougars may be undefeated heading into the playoffs, but there’s no such thing as a perfect season. It takes a little luck along the way to keep the momentum flowing. Schalick had two pieces of good fortune on the way to their 28-0 lead.
Purnell scored the game’s first touchdown when he fell on a fumble that found its way into the end zone. Ayden Jenkins was headed for a 17-yard touchdown when he lost possession of the ball at the 2, but bounded into the end zone where Purnell was in the right position to grab it after doing his job his job on the play. It’s the second game in a row Purnell has scored the Cougars’ first touchdown of the game.
“Like coach always says, ‘Do your job and good things will happen,’” Purnell said. “I blocked two guys. I pancaked one guy and then I moved onto the second level and I pancaked another guy, and I just saw the ball right next to me in the end zone, so I just picked it up and it was a touchdown. That just reminded me of what my coach always says, make sure you do your job and good things happen.”
The other came on a broken play by Shawn Kelly. What looked like a fake punt was actually a mad dash with a bobbled snap that turned into a 23-yard gain that got the ball across midfield and kept the drive alive. Bartee threw a 41-yard pass to Stewart on the next play, Jenkins took it to the 1 and then Purnell burrowed in for his second touchdown.
“If it’s a fake punt I’m passing, I’m throwing the ball,” Kelly said. “I want to say sorry to my long snapper (Jack Benfer) because that was the perfect snap I’ve ever seen,” Kelly said. “Then I tried to grab the ball and I just couldn’t grab it; my hands were cold. I just took off because I saw the guy coming right from the middle, used my speed and I got, what, 30 yards.”
With the No. 1 seed assured, the Cougars are projected to open the playoffs against Maple Shade, a team they beat 63-3 in their season opener. The cutoff day for power points is Saturday and the seeding for the tournament is Sunday.
Schalick 28, Overbrook 16
| SCHAL | OVER | |
| 14 | 1st Downs | 13 |
| 43-182 | Rushing | 25-210 |
| 3-7-0 | Passes | 10-18-1 |
| 101 | Passing | 63 |
| 2-0 | Fum-Lost | 0-0 |
| 2-41.0 | Punts-Avg | 3-31.3 |
| 3-20 | Penalties | 5-26 |
| Schalick | 7 | 14 | 7 | 0- | 28 |
| Overbrook | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16- | 16 |
SCORING SUMMARY
S-DezYon Purnell fumble recovery in end zone (Shawn Kelly kick), 3:57 1Q
S-Kenny Bartee 1 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 11:57 2Q
S-Kenny Bartee 1 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 1:22 2Q
S-DezYon Purnell 1 run (Shawn Kelly kick), 8:43 3Q
O-Axcel Bailey 6 run (Damien Worrell run), 6:26 4Q
O-Axcel Bailey 83 run (Nicholas Duvall pass from Mark Hailstork), 4:17 4Q