Haddonfield Stuns Camden to Advance to SJ Group 2 Football Championship

They shocked the world, or at least the part of the world that lives in this section of South Jersey.

Haddonfield's unlikely road to the South Jersey Group 2 championship game went through undefeated, No. 1 seed Camden on Saturday and the Bulldawgs walked away with a decisive 45-19 gridiron victory. 

Junior running back Mike DeFeo led the way with 16 carries for 172 yards and three touchdowns. He also pitched in on defense with two interceptions and five solo tackles.

DeFeo said they felt confident early.

"From the first offensive drive, we knew it was our game," he said. "The feeling we had and the things we could do on offense, we knew we had everything that we needed and it just all came together for us."

Haddonfield came up empty when its first drive stalled on Camden's 12 yard line after 13-plays and 58-yards and they missed a 29-yard field-goal attempt. The Haddons recovered a fumble at the Camden 39 yard line three minutes later and DeFeo got them rolling with a 27-yard run over left tackle to the 7 yard line. Quarterback Mike McLaughlin scored on a 9-yard keeper with 45 seconds to go in the first quarter.

The Bulldawgs scored again at 8:24 of the second quarter when DeFeo capped a 64-yard drive with a 1-yard run. He got them in the redzone with a 47-yard run to the 5. 

Camden got back into the game with a touchdown at 3:23 of the second quarter. They capitalized on a muffed punt attempt that gave them the ball 16 yards from the end zone. 

The Bulldawgs didn't hang their heads. They drove 63 yards to the Camden 4 yard-line before DeFeo showed he was human and fumbled with 39 seconds to go in the half.

He wasted no time redeeming himself at the start of the second half with a 6-yard dash up the middle for a touchdown at 9:20 of the third quarter. It was the start of 31 second-half points for Haddonfield to put the game away.

The Bulldawgs have now won three straight games against undefeated teams on the road to make it to the title game. They'll face undefeated Woodstown on Dec. 7 in the South Jersey Group 2 championship game. 

The game will be played on a neutral field at Rowan University in Glassboro, which might be good news for Woodstown.