West Deptford

John Oehler has been named baseball coach at West Deptford, athletic director Tim Cammarota said. Oehler, a former standout catcher at Audubon and Old Dominion, was the head coach at Gloucester during the 2012 season. He spent the previous six seasons as an assistant coach. Oehler, a physical education teacher in the Pennsville school district, replaces Mike Rucci, who resigned after two seasons as West Deptford coach to become the head coach at Gloucester Catholic. "It's a great environment to build a program," Oehler said of West Deptford.

Haddonfield almost pulled off a sensational, come-from-behind victory over visiting West Deptford Friday night in an important Colonial Conference Liberty Division game. However, Ben Cornelius remained calm with 5 seconds left in the game and the score tied, 28-28, to kick an 18-yard field goal that won it for West Deptford, 31-28. Haddonfield had trailed by 28-0 at intermission, but the offense came roaring back and the defense held. Haddonfield senior quarterback Kevin Davis threw four second-half touchdown passes to revive the Bulldogs.

Collingswood scored 23 points in the final 9 minutes of the second period last night and went on to defeat visiting West Deptford, 45-0. Collingswood raised its record to 3-1 overall and in Colonial Conference football. All three Collingswood victories this fall have been shutouts. West Deptford, which has been shut out three straight times, fell to 1-3 overall and in the conference. The Panthers outgained their visitors by a stunning 513 yards to 51. Collingswood gained 307 yards rushing, as Tom McConnell ran for 124 yards on 12 carries, including a 70-yard touchdown run to start the scoring in the first quarter.

West Deptford senior Dan Devine says he wasn't nervous as the young woman on the sideline was counting down the final seconds of the game, the season, and his career. "I just knew I had to make it," Devine said. He heard the timer yelling, "Nine, eight, seven . . . " as he put the ball down just outside the 18-yard line. He had one chance to force overtime in the South Jersey Group 2 boys' soccer championship game. "I knew I had to rush," Devine said. "But I wanted to keep calm.

Gerald Towns has great vision on the football field, but he and his West Deptford teammates weren't able to look too far ahead. The West Deptford coaching staff made sure the team had tunnel vision and was focused solely on Paulsboro and not the greater prize down the road. Then again, for the West Deptford program, few prizes are greater than a win over Paulsboro, the Eagles' annual Thanksgiving weekend rival. So the players and coaches didn't even begin to look toward next weekend and a championship rematch with 11-0 Haddonfield.

Ryan Dougherty, a boys' soccer assistant coach for the past six seasons at West Deptford, has been named the Eagles' head coach. Dougherty will replace Tim Cammarota, who recently resigned to concentrate fully on his duties as West Deptford's athletic director. Like Cammarota, Dougherty played soccer at St. Joseph's University, from where he graduated in 2001. He takes over a team that has won consecutive Colonial Conference Liberty Division titles and went 21-3-1 and captured the South Jersey Group 2 title this past season.

Bill Murray, who had been West Deptford's athletic director since October, resigned recently after taking a job as an assistant principal at Lenape. Murray was replaced by Tim Cammarota, who is the school's fifth athletic director in the last 22 months. Cammarota also will continue to coach the boys' soccer team, at least for this coming season. "I had a great year at West Deptford, but this was just a tremendous opportunity at Lenape," said Murray, who formerly coached girls' basketball at Camden and Woodrow Wilson.

The West Deptford football team's offense is like The Terminator: Methodical, dangerously efficient, a tad robotic, and equal parts scary and punishing. The Eagles don't focus too much on big, flashy plays. And it worked for them Friday night against a Paulsboro team that was thriving on the polar opposite style. West Deptford held the ball for almost 31 of the game's 48 minutes, while holding on for a 28-20 home win. "Controlling the ball is critical," said West Deptford coach Clyde Folsom, whose team extended its area-best winning streak to 19 games.