Barnegat Falls to West Deptford

It wasn't the ending the Barnegat Bengals had hoped for.

The Bengals went into West Deptford with hopes of reaching their first state sectional final. The Eagles had other ideas, however, scoring on each of their first three possessions en route to a 49-10 victory in the South Jersey Group II semifinal on Friday night.

Barnegat (6-5) managed a 40-yard field goal by Pat Moran, and David Smithman ran for an 8-yard touchdown, but that was all the offense the Bengals could muster, as the West Deptford defense shut them down at every turn.

Offensively, the Eagles (10-1) dominated the line of scrimmage and ran over Barnegat. Gerald Towns ran for 195 yards and four touchdowns, including an 80-yard score as the Eagles took a 28-3 lead halfway through the second quarter. Phil Fisher rushed for 85 yards, including a 61-yard score, and Josh Cornelius ran for 60 yards and a score to power West Deptford.

"West Deptford is a big, physical smashmouth team," said Barnegat quarterback Mark McCoy, who lost one of his favorite targets, Jordan Salt, to a hip injury in the second quarter. Salt hit the ground hard trying to cover West Deptford receiver Tommy Jakubowski on a pass play that ended up going for a 59-yard score, and did not play the rest of the game.

Barnegat hurt itself, however, with turnovers. McCoy was intercepted late in the first half on the Bengals' first sustained drive of the game, and fumbled inside its own 20 early in the second half, setting up the touchdown by Cornelius.

The Bengals didn't give up, however. Smithman grabbed a kickoff at the Barnegat 18 and ran it back to the West Deptford 25 late in the third quarter. Four plays later he ran in for the score that made it 49-10.

"They're a tough team," Smithman said. But he took heart in the fact that Barnegat had reached the semifinals for the second straight year.

"Hopefully this is a stepping stone for future teams," he said. "If they can win a state title, I'll feel like i was a part of it."

"I told the boys that if this was a video game, I would have pressed reset to start it all over," coach Rob Davis said. "But it's not."

"I'm proud of our kids. This is three years out of six we've made it to the playoffs. There are a lot of other teams that would be happy to make it once," Davis said.

The Bengals still have a title to play for: on Thanksgiving they can win Shore Conference Class B South outright with a victory over Pinelands.

"It was chaotic for a while in conference," Smithman said, "but we can't forget about Pinelands."

"We have to come ready to play on Thursday," McCoy said.