West Deptford Ground Out Unbeaten Season
West Deptford concluded its season in a familiar spot—as the South Jersey Group 2 football champion. It was the seventh sectional title in school history, all since 2002. The Eagles put the finishing touches on a 12-0 season with a 19-13 win over Cedar Creek in the South Jersey Group 2 final.
While South Jersey's only other unbeaten team, Timber Creek, was considered the top passing team in South Jersey history, West Deptford was among the top running teams.
The Eagles had two rushing touchdowns in the sectional final, a 21-yard run by Anthony Seas and a 3-yard run by quarterback Pete Orio.
That gave the Eagles 57 rushing touchdowns, an average of 4.75 per game. West Deptford added six passing touchdowns after Pete Orio threw a 33-yard scoring strike to sophomore Kenny Lim in the championship game.
This was also a continuation of what has become a new playoff rivalry between West Deptford and Cedar Creek.
This was only the sixth season Cedar Creek has fielded a football team, yet the Pirates have been to the sectional final three times. All three have been against West Deptford.
Last year Cedar Creek won the championship with a 28-27 victory over the Eagles. In 2012, West Deptford beat Cedar Creek, 42-28 in the championship game.
Under coach Clyde Folsom, West Deptford has enjoyed a sustained excellence. This was the 15th consecutive year that West Deptford has won nine or more games. It was also the fourth 12-0 team for West Deptford since 2003.
The Eagles had a good nucleus returning but were also aided by two transfers from Kingsway, Seas and Orio. This season Seas rushed for more than 1,800 yards and 22 touchdowns. Orio, who wasn't the opening day starter, provided great stability at the position.
Lim, who not only scored on the aforementioned scoring pass against Cedar Creek, but added an interception with under two minutes to play to seal the victory, is a key to the future.
He rushed for more than 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns, one of three West Deptford players to go over 1,000. The other 1,000 yard rusher was Gio Gismonde, who also added 16 touchdowns.
With this type of balance, no wonder West Deptford rushed for more than 4,400 yards this season running the Wing-T attack.
West Deptford was so dominating that the Eagles had just three games that could be deemed competitive. Besides the championship game, West Deptford scored a 14-6 win over Cinnaminson and a 28-14 victory over Collingswood.
During a rematch in the playoffs, West Deptford beat Collingswood, 30-0.
Whether this was the best of West Deptford's four 12-0 teams remains subject to debate, but there is no debating that the Eagles were deserving champion this season.
© SouthJersey.com 2016. All rights reserved. This article or parts thereof may not be reprinted or reproduced by any other party without the express written consent of SouthJersey.com. For more information, please call 856-797-9910.
For more Local Sports features, visit our South Jersey Sports page.
advertisement
Author: Marc Narducci
Archives
More Articles
