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Schools

WDHS Football Dominates Sterling in Opener

Josh Cornelius and Phil Fisher rushed for two touchdowns each and the Eagles defense returned a pair of scores as West Deptford defeated Sterling 56-12.

Of all the players who had an impact in the football team's runaway win against Colonial Conference Liberty Division foe Sterling, it was running back Phil Fisher whose day best summed up the night.

Fisher’s final line: two carries, 67 yards, two touchdowns.

It was that kind of night for the Eagles.

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Josh Cornelius had a pair of first-quarter touchdown runs and the defense returned two turnovers for scores as West Deptford rolled to a 56-12 victory over the Knights in the season opener for both teams Friday night.

“I know I don’t get a lot of carries, but I love my role and I got the ball and saw the end zone,” Fisher said.

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A lot of Eagles found the end zone on the night.

After the Eagles’ defense forced the Knights into a 3-and-out in their first possession, feature tailback Josh Cornelius scored from one yard out to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead and cap a six-play, 46-yard drive.

Following another Sterling punt, Cornelius scored on a 24-yard plunge to put the Eagles ahead 14-0 with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

“We lost Vaughn Scott, who was one of the best players to ever come through here, and lost Robbie Fearon and now we got an up-the-middle (game),” said senior receiver Tom Jakubowski. “Nobody knows about Josh’s speed, or (Arrin) Bundy’s speed or Phil Fisher who can get outside and run.”

That lead blossomed to 21-0 less than two minutes later as Alex Hilbmann intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards for the score.

Sterling ended the first quarter with just 14 yards of total offense and one first down.

The West Deptford passing game wasn’t needed much Friday night, but Jakubowski showed why he will be senior quarterback Jake Hannan’s favorite target this season. Jakubowski received a pass and took it 47 yards for a touchdown. Jakubowski also had a 17-yard reception on Hannan’s only other pass of the game.

Gerald Towns added a fumble recovery for a score, and Fisher had the first of two scores late in the second quarter, as the Eagles built a 42-6 halftime lead that was never challenged.

“The whole week we were excited at practice,” Fisher said. “We couldn’t even sleep. I went to Jake’s house last night, talked about the game, and we all woke up ready to go.”

Jakubowski said the team came in expecting a challenge from the Knights, despite knowing the Eagles defeated them 62-3 a year ago.

“We knew they were going to have a lot of kids, because they started a new ROTC program, so we were excited to face a different Sterling,” Jakubowski said. “We came out with a lot of intensity. We come out strong and we want to finish strong.”

West Deptford had plenty of reasons to come out of the gates firing. The team had not played a game since its loss to Haddonfield in last year’s South Jersey Group II championship and were also playing in honor of a fallen alumnus.

The Eagles dedicated the game to football Hall of Famer Nick Brandemarti Jr., who lost his life 10 years ago during the 9/11 attacks.

There was a giant “44” painted at midfield, and head coach Clyde Folsom wore a jersey with Brandemarti’s name and number on the back.

“We came out really fired up because this was the 10-year anniversary of Nicky Brandemarti, and the pregame speech coach Folsom gave us really got us fired up,” Cornelius said. “We came out with the intensity level, especially after losing our last game in the South Jersey championship. Everybody wanted to get revenge and we happened to take it out on Sterling tonight.”

West Deptford will be back home next week when it hosts Audubon at 7 p.m.

NOTE: Josh Cornelius left the game early in the third quarter with an apparent hamstring injury. After the game he said he was feeling fine.

“Just a lot of cramps, but we should be good,” Cornelius said.

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