Marc Narducci: West Deptford wins sectional soccer crown

A year ago, West Deptford won its first conference title in 23 years. Now, the Eagles, who are 20-2-1 and ranked third in South Jersey by The Inquirer, are not only South Jersey champions, but also apparently feel there is unfinished business.

On Tuesday, the Eagles will play Delran, the Central Jersey champion, in a state semifinal at Washington Township.

"They have this mantra that it's their time," West Deptford coach Tim Cammarota said.

Yesterday, the Eagles played as if they didn't want to waste any time. Before the game was eight minutes old, they had jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

"You couldn't have scripted it better," Cammarota said. "There was something about our warm-ups. I felt looking at our players that they were really focused."

What made the early start so impressive was that West Deptford didn't get goals in that span from Kelly or Jake Perry, who entered the game having combined for 54 goals.

Tim Wentz set up the first goal with a cross from the right side that Trevor Fahey tipped in before the game was three minutes old.

A little more than a minute later, Kyle Redrow, on an assist from Fahey, made it 2-0. A few minutes later, it was Wentz scoring on a 25-yard blast.

Despite a windy day on a wet pitch, West Deptford played an impressive possession game. Everybody from the most skilled players in the midfield, like Perry, to the defenders controlled the ball adeptly.

"West Deptford always had a good team, but this year they are a great team," said Haddon Township coach Jim Bonder, whose team finished 18-4-1, with two of the losses to West Deptford. "We wanted to stop Perry and Kelly, and they just showed their depth by having others step up early."

On many teams, somebody such as Wentz would be a featured player. But he is more than happy to do the grunt work in the midfield. Wentz is more known for setting up players than scoring, but on this day he did both while continuing to put pressure on Haddon Township's defense.

"This just feels great," Wentz said. "The last few years we had gotten to the semifinals, and we felt that it was our time."

Kelly, who will continue his education and soccer career at Marshall, obviously felt that way when he came up with his slogan.

"We think we got over the hump our junior year as far as winning the conference, but we were looking for more," Kelly said. "We thought it was our time to win a South Jersey championship."

Haddon Township 0 0 - 0

West Deptford 3 1 - 4

Goals: W-Trevor Fahey, Kyle Redrow, Tim Wentz, Jake Perry. Saves: H-Mickey Skabla 14, W-Kevin Brockway 1.