West Deptford puts up season-high 58 points, collects nearly 400 yards of offense as Emel gets big win against his alma mater
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WEST DEPTFORD — Coaches try to tell their players that every game carries the same weight, whether it’s a long-time rivalry or some random team in the middle of the schedule, but you know there are some games that are just bigger than others.
On the emotional scale, the games that get West Deptford coach John Emel’s heart racing a little more are, no matter where he’s coaching, the ones he gets to face Salem.
NEXT: Paulsboro, Oct. 18, 7 p.m.
He played there as a high schooler and cut his coaching teeth there before getting his first head coaching job at Penns Grove. On Friday night, for the 13th time as a head coach, he got on that emotional rollercoaster again and this time it was happy reunion as his team rolled over the Rams 58-19.
“I’m a graduate of Salem, my brother’s a graduate of Salem; we bled Salem Blue while we were players and all through college,” Emel said. “Once I went to Penns Grove that was always the most emotional game.
“To tell you the truth, I was a lot more nervous, not necessarily to play Salem, but to play (Rams) coach (Kemp) Carr. Have tremendous respect for him. Coached with him for eight years. Battled against him when he was an assistant coach, but this is the first time we went against each other as head coaches. He’s got passion. He was an assistant coach when I was a player at Salem. We were in the same huddle for eight years trying to get guys ready at Penns Grove.
“Playing him and playing Salem, all those things mean something, so you want to perform well. I know I was ready to go and I feel like I coached a pretty good game on offense.”
Indeed. The Eagles (4-3) scored their most points in a game this season – the most since putting 70 on Sterling in 2022 – and amassed nearly 400 yards of offense. They scored all seven times they possessed the ball and answered the Rams’ first touchdown by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.
But Emel wasn’t the only person on the West Deptford sideline to whom the game meant something special.
Senior running back Bryce Wright went 1-2 against the Rams when he played for Emel at Penns Grove and Friday was his last chance to even the score. He responded by rushing for 122 yards and three touchdowns. Last year, in a different uniform, he went for 118 yards and a touchdown against the Rams.
“Me being down in the rivalry 2-1 just made me go out there and give it my all,” Wright said. “It’s my last year I get to play my rival so I had to go 100 percent. I definitely think I ran harder this game. A lot of the kids on the other side of the ball I know them personally, so roughing up on them is like childhood days.
“Last night (Emel) was like yeah, bud, you know it’s personal for us. Man, we’ve got to go out here and get a big one, four hard quarters of football, and that’s what we gave him.”
NEXT: Woodstown, Oct. 19, noon
The game was entertaining for a while. The Eagles jumped out to a 15-0 first-quarter lead, but the Rams didn’t fold.
One of the biggest faults of the Rams all season had been their ability to move the ball between the 30s but not being able to finish. They went about their business Friday alternating quarterbacks Troy Carey and Quimere Bergen on virtually every snap with an occasional direct snap to Pop Jackson as a change of pace.
“It’s a rhythm thing,” Carr said. “Both of the guys have their talents and their skills so we wanted to try to use them.”
The Rams got into the red zone three times in the first half and Carey got them in the end zone twice. Jackson pushed in from the 2 and Carey threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Kaden Robinson.
“It felt good (getting into the end zone),” Carey said. “Guys were working together, we played together as a team. Everything was working well.”
But the Eagles answered both times – once on an 88-yard kickoff return by Zamir Davis and once on Brady Cobb’s TD pass to Michael Joseph with 29 seconds left in the half.
It was the time the Rams didn’t get in from the red zone, however, that had Carr upset. Jamaal Shockley raced 72 yards with the kickoff after Joseph’s score to set the Rams up at the West Deptford 5. On what amounted to the final play of the half, freshman Isiah Santiago dropped Carey’s pass in the front left corner of the end zone.
The halftime horn sounded shortly after the ball hit the ground, but Carr contended – and his sideline replays confirmed — there should have been time on the clock. That would have been enough to take another shot at the end zone or give Andrew May a shot at a field goal. Instead, they went into the break down 30-13.
“We didn’t get in when we should have gotten in,” Carr said. “You’ve got to score there and that’s the point. I don’t want to talk about us getting it in. I want to talk about we didn’t get it in and we should’ve gotten it in and we had the ball with 1.9 seconds on the clock and they said the time expired. That’s what makes me mad.”
The Rams had high expectations for the second half, but those were quickly dashed when Kaden Robinson mishandled the second half kickoff and Bergen fumbled in the next series while absorbing a 13-yard loss. The Eagles recovered both miscues and converted both times for a 44-13 lead.
“We’ve got to do those things better,” Carr said. “We do those things better and we’re in a different situation. Everybody can see we can play football … It’s like I’ve said: You can’t build a house from the ceiling down. You’ve got to build from the foundation. We saw some good things and we’ll take the good things that we did.”
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
| SAL | WD | |
| 9 | 1st Downs | 19 |
| 24-72 | Rushing | 43-312 |
| 4-9-0 | Passes | 4-7-0 |
| 49 | Passing | 67 |
| 1-1 | Fum-Lost | 0-0 |
| 0 | Punts | 0 |
| 4-24 | Penalties | 3-25 |
| Salem (0-7) | 15 | 15 | 20 | 8- | 58 |
| West Deptford (4-3) | 0 | 13 | 6 | 0- | 19 |
SCORING SUMMARY
WD-Cole Paszkiewicz 41 run (Brady Cobb kick), 9:15 1Q
WD-Bryce Wright 13 run (Zamir Davis run), 2:31 1Q
S-Pop Jackson 2 run (Andrew May kick), 10:17 2Q
WD-Zamir Davis 88 kickoff return (Brady Cobb kick), 10:03 2Q
S-Kaden Robinson 17 pass from Troy Carey (kick blocked), 5:20 2Q
WD-Michael Joseph 10 pass from Brady Cobb (Bryce Wright run), 28.9 2Q
WD-Bryce Wright 6 run (pass failed), 9:10 3Q
WD-Zamir Davis 4 run (Michael Joseph pass from Brady Cobb), 6:05 3Q
WD-Bryce Wright 26 run (kick failed), 8.8 3Q
S-Pop Jackson 84 kickoff return (kick failed), 0:00 3Q
WD-Logan Rivell 2 run (Bryce Wynn run), 1:11 4Q
| WJFL DIAMOND DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| Woodstown (1) | 3-0 | 5-0 |
| Glassboro (5) | 3-0 | 6-0 |
| Schalick (2) | 2-1 | 5-2 |
| Woodbury (14) | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Penns Grove (20) | 0-3 | 1-6 |
| Salem (22) | 0-3 | 0-7 |
NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power ranking through Oct. 7
THURSDAY’S GAME
Glassboro 40, Cinnaminson 10
Delran 38, Penns Grove 8
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Schalick 28, Gloucester City 21
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Willingboro at Woodbury, 11 a.m.
Woodstown at Haddon Heights, 11 a.m.
| WJFL PATRIOT DIVISION | DIV | ALL |
|---|---|---|
| Camden Catholic (NPB-3) | 3-0 | 5-0 |
| Paulsboro (6) | 3-1 | 4-2 |
| West Deptford (G2-15) | 3-1 | 4-3 |
| Pennsville (10) | 2-2 | 3-3 |
| Audubon (17) | 1-3 | 2-3 |
| Collingswood (G2-13) | 1-3 | 3-4 |
| Overbrook (G2-23) | 0-3 | 2-3-1 |
NOTE: Number in parenthesis is South Jersey Group I UPR power rankings through Oct. 7 (G2-Group 2, NPB-Non Public B)
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Audubon 7, Collingswood 0
West Deptford 58, Salem 19
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Camden Catholic at Overbrook, 11 a.m.
Pennsville at Paulsboro, noon
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