At times, football is a game of missed chances. On Sept. 9, Barnegat was the beneficiary while Pinelands Regional walked away shaking its collective head.

“When you win, you’re happy, right?” Barnegat head coach Paul Covine asked in somewhat rhetorical fashion after his Bengals edged the Wildcats, 7-6. “We’re going to watch the film and see where we made the mistakes on long coverages, and we’ll address it. The goal is to improve every week, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”