Barlee leads it on the field for EA in loss to Penn Charter

NEWTOWN TWP. — DeeWil Barlee didn’t want to leave the field. Practically everyone else had dashed for cover in a feeble attempt to try to begin to dry off from the driving rain storm.

But Barlee didn’t notice the field emptying. He didn’t notice the pain throbbing in his left ankle, causing him to walk with a limp. He didn’t notice the he was in, fact, in his own world.

While the rest of the Episcopal seniors hung out on the field for a few extra minutes following their heart-wrenching 27-23 loss to Penn Charter that eliminated then from contention for the Inter-Ac title, sharing hugs and shows of support for saddened players who would never take the field at home again, Barlee made a faint little shimmy shake – as if he was juking out an imaginary defender.

Eventually, he walked off alone. Finally, he removed his helmet, and turned away from a couple family members to quickly wipe his face, hoping the tears rolling down his cheeks would be hidden amidst the rain drops dripping down his face.

Barlee was everything for the Churchmen. Not just this night, but every game. And the emotion of being such a bell cow hit him all at once. Sure, he still has one game to go, but this one hurt. It hurt a lot. Physically. Emotionally.

“It was just a sloppy game,” he said, shaking his head, still a bit shell-shocked at the result. “All around. Offensively, defensively… We played into their hands tonight.”

Barlee certainly wasn’t sloppy. He scored two touchdowns, converted a two-point conversion, played tough defense as a safety and willed himself to continue despite having his ankle rolled up on in what was a spirited and hard-hitting contest against an Inter-Ac rival.

Both teams knew that the winner had a shot at the league title, and the loser did not. It’s why a back and forth game came down to who could make the plays when it counted most. The Quakers did. Episcopal did not.

Penn Charter (7-2, 3-1) jumped out to a 14-0 lead before Episcopal could blink. But, the Churchmen fought back, and really took the game to Penn Charter for much of the middle two quarters.

“We haven’t had good starts all season and we thought we could get out ahead of them with the weather coming in, but we didn’t do a good enough job coaching today,” said coach Todd Fairlie. “We didn’t do the things we usually do as coaches. This loss is on us.”

Barlee scored his first touchdown from four yards out to cut it to 14-6. And then, on the first drive of the second half, Barlee pounded it in from a yard out to give the Churchmen the lead and then followed up with a two-point conversion to boost the score to 17-14.

The two sides then traded touchdowns on the next three possessions.

It seemed like it was going to be who ever had the ball last would have a scoring drive with a chance to win.

It didn’t quite work that way, but Fairlie had one of those coaching decisions he was talking about that proved critical.

With the clock ticking don under five minutes, Episcopal (6-3, 2-2) had a fourth-and-six from their own 40-yard line trailing by four points.

With only two timeouts remaining, Fairlie thought about it, but decided to punt.

The thought process was to pin Penn Charter back, make a stop, get the ball back and score.

The Churchmen never got to be on offense again.

“It was a stupid decision because we didn’t get the ball back,” Fairlie said. “It was stupid. If I had to do it again I absolutely would have gone for it. Punting was the wrong decision.”

It wasn’t a decision that flat out lost the game for Episcopal – after all, there was enough time to get the ball back – but the sting of being eliminated from the league title chase on your home turf without being able to get one final shot at the end zone, well, that was a tough pill to swallow.

Sure, the rivalry game with the Haverford School awaits next week. It’ll be a game all about pride. It’ll be one last game of high school football for Barlee, who will continue playing the sport at Villanova University next year.

“For me, it’s going to be damn easy to play hard in that game,” Barlee said. “For me and the rest of the seniors, the message is simple: ‘It’s our last game and we have to come out and kick butt. There’s no doubt about it. It’s our last chance to do that together.”

One last chance to eradicate the bad taste from a game that he can still envision ending differently than it did.