Chester’s Kenjai Gatling
PROSPECT PARK, PA — You wouldn’t know Kenjai Gatling has a pulse. The Chester 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior quarterback carries an icy, stoic veneer that nothing seems to penetrate, even a windy, raging rain storm or an undefeated defense on a Friday night.
Gatling, who transferred to Chester from national powerhouse DeMatha Catholic (Md.), scored two touchdowns and threw for another in Chester’s 17th-straight Del-Val League victory, stopping previously undefeated Interboro, 36-14, at Interboro Friday night in a game played under challenging, mucky conditions.
Chester, the four-time defending Del-Val League champions, last lost a Del-Val game on October 30, 2021, to Academy Park. Since then, the undefeated PIAA District 1 Class 5A No. 1-ranked Clippers (6-0) have not lost to a Del-Val team and have gone a combined 51-7 over the last five years.
Twins Jalen and Daron Harris led the last four Chester teams. Gatling is emerging as one of the leaders for this team, along with a very young nucleus led by freshmen tailbacks Sa’Mham Williams and De’von Morton, sophomore Kanif Doward, juniors Ja’siyn Mallory-Granberry, Demir Hatchett and Zahir Clayton and seniors Shane McCalain and Sekai Brown-Murray, who are among only eight seniors on the team.
Friday night was supposed to be a challenge, and it was, compounded by a pounding, fierce storm the teams played through most of the first half.
For one, Interboro coach Pat Fisher has completely turned the Bucs’ program around. The previous two years, the Bucs were 2-9 and 3-9, winning a combined five games. In Fisher’s third year, Interboro equaled that total in the first five games of this season, going 5-0 for the first time since 2009, when hardly any of Fisher’s current team were born.
Midway through the third quarter, the Clippers were holding a 16-8 lead with Interboro driving for a possible tying score after the Bucs recovered a fumble on a kickoff. The Bucs were threatening, when Chester’s defense held at the Clippers’ five.
In two plays, Chester was sitting at the Interboro three, before Williams scored the second of his two touchdowns, solidifying Chester’s lead.
From there, Gatling scored twice nailing down what was a more a competitive game that the final score indicated.
At the helm was Gatling, who has been easing into his position as a team leader on and off the field.
“I don’t regret transferring to DeMatha, which taught me many lessons, I learned many things in a national program, and it took me here, to Chester,” Gatling said. “I didn’t play for two years, but I did learn a lot. I am a lot more comfortable. It comes with more practice and being with my guy. There were bad conditions and this is probably the first time I played in the mud since I was a little kid (laughs). It was fun.
“My first time running the ball, I couldn’t move. It took away from my straight-line speed. I didn’t expect to rain like that. I expected us to run more. We didn’t have a specific plan to run more or pass more, and of course I’m a quarterback, I would make liked to throw more. I wasn’t frustrated when I left DeMatha, but I am better for being there.”
And it seems Chester is better for having Gatling. The Clippers appear heading toward another deep run in a loaded PIAA District 1 Class 5A, where Chester reached the 5A championship in 2025.
“Kenjai is a big, strong kid and we’re learning to emphasize his legs,” Chester coach Dennis Shaw said. “I felt like he showed that tonight. He is brand new to the program and we like where he is going, and we like where this team is going with Kenjai as a leader. We knew Interboro was a tough team, a scrappy team. This was challenging playing in the rain and see how we handled the conditions. Obviously, there are always things to correct.”
Interboro was in the game. The Bucs were slammed by minus-80 yards in high snaps. At halftime, Interboro was minus-35 yards in total offense because of high snaps over the heads of the quarterback and punter.
“We killed ourselves with mistakes you can’t have against a team that good,” Fisher said. “You can’t put yourself in a hole. That was the first time in the last few years when we felt how good of a team we could be. We fumbled the ball three, four times. The conditions didn’t help.
“Moving forward, as bad of a loss as that was, this was a competitive game. We still have a job to do. We are 5-1 and have the rest of the Del-Val to compete against. We have some tough teams to play against.”
Interboro won the PIAA Class 4A championship in 2022, the Bucs last winning season when they went 10-4 led by current Yale star Abu Kamara.
This Bucs team shows some promise to make another deep playoff run.
Scoring Summary
Chester (6-0) 8 8 6 12-36
Interboro (5-1) 0 0 8 6-14
1st Quarter
Ches. – Sa’Mham Williams 4 run (run failed), 6:11
Ches. – Safety (ball kicked out of end zone), 2:07
2nd Quarter
Ches. – Kanif Doward 18 pass from Kenjai Gatling (Sekai Brown-Murray pass from Gatling), :37
3rd Quarter
Int. – Jon McClockey 28 pass from Momodu Rogers (Rogers run), 10:47
Ches. – Williams 3 run (run failed), 3:11
4th Quarter
Ches. – Gatling 1 run (run failed), 9:47
Int. – Roman McCrary 65 pass from Jaxon Porter (kick failed), 3:21
Ches. – Gatling 7 run (run failed), 1:40
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.