Barlee breaks things open for Episcopal in win over GA

NEWTOWN TWP.— Late in the third quarter, it was evident that Episcopal Academy was the superior team, except where it counted — the scoreboard.

That changed quickly. In the span of five minutes, DeeWil Barlee had two touchdown runs to break open the Churchmen’s eventual 29-7 victory Friday over Germantown Academy. Episcopal is 6-2 overall, 2-1 in the Inter-Ac. It had to earn this one.

Barlee had 151 rushing yards and two interceptions. Quarterback Maurcus McDaniel ran the read option effectively for 117 yards. He added 96 yards passing and had two total touchdowns.

The Churchmen fell behind 7-0. Barlee fumbled inside the Patriots’ 5-yard line. They only led 10-7 at the half. They couldn’t field an onside kick to start the second half. It was fourth-and-five from the Germantown 24 late in the third quarter. All this caused a closer-than-it-should-be kind of contest. Then Barlee happened.

“We stuck to our game plan,” McDaniel said. “We didn’t have that much time on the field in the first half, they kind of were running the clock a lot. When we were able to get into our game plan stuff and get into the flow of things, we were able to get rolling.”

Barlee’s 24-yard scoring run gave Episcopal room to breathe. After a questionable Germantown decision to punt, Barlee and McDaniel shared the load and drove the Churchmen down the field. Barlee finished the drive from 15 yards out. It was 23-7 and the game was in hand.

“We just came back with the mentality (that) we’ve got to play better,” Barlee said of second half adjustments. “Obviously, I let the team down with the fumble. We came back with the aggressive mindset to just go after them and run it down their throat. We’re that type of team.”

All the while, the defense played lights out, after the first drive. There, Germantown scored on a broken play as Matthew Brittingham hit Tayshaun Mack from 14 yards away. The Patriots (6-2, 1-2) did nothing after that. They finished with six more first downs and never got inside the red zone. In all, Episcopal yielded just 137 yards of offense. The coaching staff noticed Germantown was coming out in wider splits than shown on tape. The correction was made.

“Once we saw that, made a little bit of an adjustment, really minor things, let our kids make some plays,” Episcopal coach Todd Fairlie said. “Get off the field on third downs.”

That let the offense do its thing and wear down Germantown. The Churchmen had 312 yards on the ground and never punted. The read option was unstoppable. Said McDaniel: “We watched film too much.”

With Barlee doing a bulk of the work, McDaniel was able to take advantage. He had a four-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to tie the game. He hit Malcolm Folk from 21 yards out to cap the night late in the fourth quarter.

“He made really good decisions,” Fairlie said. “We kept them off balance with some motion and jet (sweeps). Allowed him to keep a few and I think he did an excellent job.”

Episcopal’s chances of winning the Inter-Ac are slim. Undefeated Malvern Prep is unlikely to lose its two remaining games to these Patriots and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. So the Churchmen will simply look to close strong. An impressive Penn Charter team awaits them next week, and rival Haverford School follows. There is work left to do.

“I just want come back with my boy DeeWil,” said McDaniel of the Quakers game. “Just run all over them.”