Turnovers Prove Costly in Loss to Haddonfield

In a manner of moments, the football team went from being on the verge of going ahead of its heated rival to being behind by 14 points.

And on this night, a comeback never materialized.

Haddonfield forced West Deptford into three second-half turnovers to secure a 31-21 Colonial Conference Liberty Division victory in a rematch of last year’s South Jersey Group II final.

The big blow came when Haddonfield senior Dan Ciemniecki recovered a fumble and returned it 65 yards to give the Bulldawgs a 14-7 lead just one minute, four seconds into the second half.

“I just saw them botch the handoff and then Matt Bhaya kind of scooted out for me and then it was just cruising down to the end zone," Ciemniecki said.

The win moved the Bulldawgs (3-0) into sole possession of first place in the division and makes them favorites to earn their first conference crown in over a decade.

“We haven’t won the conference in 10 years since the Liberty Division divided, so I think that’s really big and it will help propel us for the rest of the season,” Ciemniecki said.

In a manner of less than three minutes, the Bulldawgs turned a 7-7 halftime tie into a commanding 21-7 lead.

On the second play of the third quarter, West Deptford running back Josh Cornelius broke off a 34-yard run, which, combined with a late-hit penalty, moved the ball to the Haddonfield 28-yard line. On the very next play, Cornelius lost the handoff from quarterback Jake Hannan, and Ciemniecki was in the right place to pick it up and return it for the touchdown.

“That was huge,” said Ciemniecki of the fumble recovery. “Without that, I don’t know if we win the game.”

Two plays into the Eagles' next possession, Cornelius fumbled again, giving the Bulldawgs the ball at the West Deptford 19. On second down, Bhaya took a handoff and cut outside for a 19-yard touchdown two minutes, 41 seconds into the third quarter.

“When we get that fumble we just had to capitalize and keep going with it,” said Haddonfield running back Chris Dengler.

The two-touchdown lead was too much for the Eagles to overcome as they never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

“When we fumbled and they took the lead and then the 14-point lead, I felt our kids flattened out a little bit,” West Deptford coach Clyde Folsom said. “I think our kids played for four quarters but I think they started thinking, ‘Hey, we don’t have a chance’ when were down 14 points in the fourth quarter.”

After West Deptford went three and out on offense, Haddonfield stretched the lead to 24-7 on a 32-yard field goal by Bhaya.

West Deptford cut the lead to 24-14 on a Luke Cornelius 5-yard touchdown run early in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, but Dengler made sure the lead would not be threatened as he returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards to the West Deptford 21. A few plays later, Dengler cleared out the West Deptford grandstands when he scored on a 5-yard run to give the Bulldawgs a 31-14 lead with 11:26 left.

West Deptford was able to salvage some pride by getting a 1-yard touchdown run from Connor Smith in the closing seconds on a fourth-and-go play.

Quarterback Jake Hannan finished 8-for-13 with an interception, receiver Tom Jakubowski had five catches for 44 yards, Josh Cornelius rushed for 118 yards and Gerald Towns added 121 yards on the ground.

After the game, Folsom said the loss was the result of a less-than-stellar week of practice.

“The type of week we had isn’t conducive to winning a game of this magnitude,” Folsom said. “We didn’t practice well, had some kids out sick and had some off-the-field injuries.”

Folsom did stress to his team that they will be better as the result of the loss. And while there is still much to be determined before the playoffs arrive, the coach hinted that his team would be ready if a rematch were to occur.

“They are good, physical and tough,” Folsom said. “They deserved the game, obviously. The challenge for us is we need to regroup real fast and get ready for (Haddon) Heights. (We need to) get better every week and hopefully if we are fortunate enough to get in the playoffs, we take advantage of the opportunity if we play them again.”