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Schools

Point Boro Falls Just Short of Sectional Semifinals

The Panthers battle heartily but fall short as Barnegat wins 35-31 in South Jersey Group II

For the last three weeks, the Point Boro football team has been treating its games like playoff games, fighting to the end to make sure it advanced.

On Friday night, time ran out. The Panthers (5-4) rallied from an 11-point deficit but weren't able to overcome Barnegat, falling 35-31 in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II sectional playoffs.

"Our kids showed tremendous heart tonight," Point Boro coach Sean Henry said. "We made the big plays when we had to. We just came out on the shorter end of the stick tonight."

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"We knew it was going to be punch for punch," Barnegat coach Rob Davis said. "They are a great football team."

In the end, it was Barnegat (6-3) that landed the final blow, when David Smithman scored from two yards out with 3:40 left in the game. Barnegat  advances to face West Deptford next weekend in West Deptford in a rematch of last year's South Jersey Group II semifinal, a game won by the Eagles 56-7.

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The Panthers (5-4) gave the Bengals a fight from the very start on Friday night,  with quarterback John Dunbar and running back Jack Vitale running almost at will. Dunbar quickly piled up 63 of his 224 rushing yards as Point Boro took a 10-0 lead.

Barnegat initially struggled to get on track, but managed to take the lead courtesy of two big plays by quarterback Mark McCoy: touchdown passes of 76 yards to Pat Moran and 62 yards to Jordan Salt as the Bengals took a 14-10 lead.

But then Point Boro went away from the running of Dunbar and Vitale, which had powered it through so many games in the past, in favor of having Dunbar air it out.

"Barnegat defensively was doing a nice job of bottling us up in the box," Henry said. "At halftime we challenged the offensive line to open things up for us, and they did."

Barnegat opened the second half with McCoy capping a 71-yard drive with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Salt that gave the Bengals a 21-10 lead. McCoy finished with 360 yards passing.

With the offensive line opening holes again, it took two plays for Dunbar to break free down the left side for a 79-yard touchdown of his own that made it 21-17 Barnegat.

"We're an option-oriented offense," Henry noted. "Sometimes we have to take what they give us."

Barnegat drove back, and just as it appeared the Bengals were going to take an 11-point lead again, Point Boro's Chris Falconetti stepped in front of McCoy's screen pass at the goal line but fumbled it. His teammate, Dru Kegreiss, secured the ball to give Point Boro possession.

Barnegat forced Point Boro to punt on that possession, but immediately turned the ball over when the punt squirted free. Dunbar went back to work, and with the Panthers facing fourth-and-inches, pushed through on a quarterback keeper that turned into a 24-yard touchdown that gave Point Boro a 24-21 lead.

Barnegat answered with a 1-yard score by McCoy four plays later, set up by a Smithman's longest carry of the game, a 40-yard spurt that seemed to catch Point Boro off-guard, going back in front 28-24.

Point Boro threw the next punch, scoring two plays later on a 65-yard run by Vitale to make it 31-28 in favor of the Panthers.

Barnegat counterpunched with a drive that took nearly four minutes off the clock, with McCoy using Moran, Salt and Smithman as receivers. Smithman had the biggest reception, grabbing a shoestring pass at the Point 36 and driving to the 4-yard line to set up his eventual winning touchdown.

Point Boro wasn't finished just yet. Chris Oliphant took the kickoff at the Point 9 and surged downfield, with only an open-field tackle by Moran at the Barnegat 46 preventing him from scoring. The Panthers quickly advanced to the Barnegat 28, but the Bengals forced a fumble that Matt Schofield smothered. Two first downs later, the Bengals were celebrating.

"Obviously a loss like this hurts," Henry said. "I hurt for these kids. But I cannot be prouder of John Dunbar, Jack Vitale and the rest of the team, for the way they played."

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