Phil Anastasia: West Deptford went under radar to grab Group 2 title, 22-14, over Haddonfield

West Deptford has been one of the most accomplished programs in South Jersey over the last 10 or 15 years.

The Eagles don't sneak up on anybody. They've won too many games, too many Colonial Conference titles, and too many sectional titles to be anybody's idea of a surprise team.

But this season was a little different.

Until the South Jersey Group 2 title game, that is.

After losing to rival Haddonfield by 31-21 on Sept. 30, the Eagles dropped out of the conversation with regard to the best teams in South Jersey. And that was fine with coach Clyde Folsom.

"We fell off the radar," Folsom said after his team's 22-14 victory over Haddonfield in the championship game Saturday at Rowan University in Glassboro. "We slowly got better."

Hardly anybody noticed, and Folsom was OK with that, too. West Deptford didn't appear in The Inquirer Top 10 until the middle of November, and that was as much a function of the struggles of some other squads as the Eagles' success.

But something special was happening. West Deptford won five games in a row by shutout. The Eagles gained some confidence, some momentum.

They looked at each other in the huddle. They liked what they saw. They had a secret.

"It was like everybody forgot about us," West Deptford senior two-way lineman Jamil Pollard said.

Haddonfield didn't forget. These teams are fierce rivals, and the Bulldogs knew the Eagles would be open for business in Saturday's final.

Still, things had changed for both programs. Haddonfield was the team that won the regular-season meeting, that won its first 11 games, that rose to No. 6 in the rankings.

That was West Deptford's old role.

The Eagles assumed the Bulldogs' old clothing - and being a little underrated and underappreciated seemed to fit them like a custom-made suit.

"The expectations and standards can be so high," Folsom said. "That puts so much pressure on the kids. We were able to do things a little differently this year. We shortened up practices. We concentrated on getting a little better each and every week."

It was such a twist from previous seasons. In both 2009 and 2010, West Deptford beat Haddonfield in the regular season, and the Bulldogs turned the tables in the tournament.

It's tough to beat a good team twice. It's doubly tough when that team is a division rival.

"It makes you want to play harder in the second game," said West Deptford senior Tom Jakubowski, who had two interceptions Saturday. "You want to fight for every inch."

This was new territory for West Deptford. Haddonfield had grabbed the upper hand in the series, with those two tournament victories as well as that Sept. 30 triumph on the Eagles' field.

"We needed to regain some momentum in this rivalry," Folsom said. "That was critical for our program."

The Eagles were the lower seed in the title game. They were the underdogs.

It was something different, and the Eagles made the most of the new experience.

But maybe watching Folsom, his assistants, and those dedicated players raise another championship trophy shouldn't have been such a surprise.