SPORTS
UPPER DEERFIELD -- The two schools are less than five miles apart. Students often transfer between the two schools when families switch residences within this part of the county. Parents graduated from one school, their children attend the other.
Yet, with all these similarities and proximity to each other, Bridgeton and Cumberland Regional high schools have not faced each other on the football field in almost 14 years.
Until Thursday night.
Once a staple of Thanksgiving morning, the annual football game between the two schools ended after the 2002 meeting when Cumberland’s commitment to the Tri-County Conference forced the change. Since then, almost a generation of students missed out on the backyard rivalry these two schools provided.
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However, thanks to the creation of consolation games and some wisdom of the NJSIAA, these two teams finally me again at Cumberland as part of the regional crossover games.
As the nearly 14-year hiatus ended, Bridgeton’s Markquese Bell decided to use the game to put an exclamation point on a very successful high school career. Bell, considered one of the top players in the state, put on a dominant show, rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns and Revell Williams added two more in a 35-0 victory for the Bulldogs.
Bridgeton ended its season at 2-8. Cumberland, with its Thanksgiving Eve game with Schalick remaining, fell to 1-8.
“In my four years of playing high school football this is the first team I wanted to play badly,” Bell said. “I’ve beaten every other school in the (Cumberland) county (Vineland, Millville), so this was my chance to beat them. They were always talking, saying they can beat us. Now, we can talk smack to them.”
“Part of our week was discussing the history of this game,” Bridgeton coach Dave Ellen, who was the Bulldogs’ coach the last time the two schools met, said. “Part of that game was going to the game when you were three, four, five years old. You took in the pageantry and everything around it as well.”
“Anytime you renew a rivalry it’s always good,” Cumberland first-year coach Dwayne Hendricks, who is familiar a similar rivalry when he played a Millville, said.
Bell wasted no time making a statement in his final regular-season game, taking the ball on the Bulldogs’ first play from scrimmage and running 63 yards for a score. Quarterback Kayonta Crawford connected with Williams for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 and the Bulldogs, who endured a hard-luck season, never looked back.
Bridgeton added scores in the second quarter as Williams scored twice, once on a 34-yard run and the other when Crawford connected with him on a 16-yard pass play. Darion Childers added a score from a yard out as Bridgeton built a 28-0 halftime lead.
As is the case usually with rivalries, Cumberland did not lay down in the second half, despite the deficit. While the Colts did not get on the scoreboard, they played Bridgeton almost to a standstill.
The lone scoring of the second half came midway through the fourth quarter after the Bulldogs blocked a Cumberland punt deep in Colt territory, setting up a 5-yard run by Bell.
With both teams young and looking toward the future, the chance to meet again may come sooner rather than later. At least that is what those involved Thursday evening hope.
“I thought we’d have a chance to play when they let the Cape-Atlantic into West Jersey (Football League),” Ellen said. “It didn’t work out this time, but hopefully the next time they realign the divisions, we will have a chance to face each other. It would be good for everybody.”
Sean Fallon (856) 563-5260; [email protected]
Bridgeton (2-8) 8 20 0 7 -- 35
Cumberland (1-8) 0 0 0 0 -- 0
B: Bell 63 run (R. Williams pass from Crawford)
B: R. Williams 34 run (run failed)
B: Childers 1 run (Bell run)
B: Williams 16 pass from Crawford (kick failed)
B: Bell 5 run (Tribbitt kick)
Individual Statistics
Team stats Bridgeton Cumberland
First downs 16 6
Rushes-yards 45-352 25-60
Passing yards 28 57
Comp.-Att-Int. 2-6-0 4-14-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Sacks-yards lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 7-50 9-55
Individual statistics:
Rushing: Bridgeton -- Bell 24-186, Childers 9-81 , R. Williams 5-42, Crawford 2-25, Byers 5-18; Cumberland -- Jones 14-34 , Thomas 8-31, Russell 1-(-1), Weeks 1-(-2), Saunders 1-(-2) .
Passing: Bridgeton -- Crawford 1-4-0, 16 yards, Bell 1-2-0, 12 yards; Cumberland -- Thomas 4-14-1, 57 yards.
Receiving: Bridgeton -- Williams 1-16, Grandison 1-12 ; Cumberland -- Bryant 1-34, Weeks 2-18, Jones 1-5.