Friday, November 23, 2012
Thousands of fans packed in Haddonfield to watch the anual showdown between local rivals.
For the first time in a decade, the Mayor’s Cup is heading down Kings Highway to Haddon Heights High School. Surrounded by a couple of thousand screaming fans, the Haddon Heights football team got the better of Haddonfield, 14-7, in a hard-fought defensive battle. The win snapped their nine-game losing streak against the Bulldawgs in the annual Thanksgiving Day game. “This means everything,” Haddon Heights quarterback Dante Pickney said. “We have all been playing football together since we were real little and we worked our butts off here since summer started.” Fans filled the bleachers and stood four to five rows deep along a yellow rope that stretched from the the bleachers all the way around to the back of the near end zone, on a day …
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Haddonfield and Haddon Heights will meet for the 103rd time Thursday when the Bulldawgs host the Garnets at 11 a.m. for Thanksgiving football.
Few communities have an understanding of just how much the tradition matters. The players from Haddonfield and Haddon Heights won’t just be pulling on their football uniforms for themselves. They'll be doing it for the generations of players before them, and thousands of family members, students and lucky souls in the stands. To Haddonfield head coach Frank DeLano, this tradition goes well beyond a rivalry. “I think there are games that are rivalries and then there are games like this that are just so rich in tradition,” DeLano said. “You sit there and you look in the stands and you see great grandfathers, and grandfathers and fathers and uncles. It’s so hard to link 100 years of anything together, because it’s something so unique, and we …
Saturday, November 10, 2012
These teams have met in the state football championship for the past two seasons.
The Haddonfield loss to West Deptford Friday dealt a serious blow to its playoff hopes.
Haddonfield fought tough, but fell to West Deptford, 25-12.
The Haddonfield Memorial High School football team demonstrated that it could compete with the best Group 2 has to offer when it went toe-to-toe with top-ranked West Deptford on Friday night. But the Bulldawgs came out on the losing end of a 25-12 decision and will likely miss the postseason as a result. Haddonfield got a touchdown run from Mike DeFeo and a touchdown pass from Mike McLaughlin, but couldn’t stop the Eagles’ ground game as West Deptford clinched the Colonial Conference Liberty Division title. West Deptford’s Connor Smith and Gerald Owens combined for more than 375 yards and three touchdowns on the ground as the Bulldawgs fell to 5-3. “I’m just proud of this group,” Haddonfield coach Frank DeLano said. “That’s a very good …
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Freshman Drew Tomlinson connected on an 18-yard field goal with 56 seconds left to give the Bulldawgs a 16-13 win over Sterling on Friday.
Members of the Haddonfield Memorial High School football team run toward and yell at freshman kicker Drew Tomlinson every Thursday. They jump around, shout random things and do just about anything they can think of to distract the young kicker in practice. The ritual is not a form of hazing; instead it is for preparation. That preparation resulted in execution and ultimately victory, Friday night. Tomlinson drilled an 18-yard field goal with 56 seconds remaining to lift Haddonfield to a 16-13 win over Sterling in Colonial Conference action. The kick came after the Bulldawgs were stopped at the half yard-line on third-and-goal. Tomlinson, along with the rest of the field goal team, jogged onto the field and calmly delivered the game winner…
Friday, September 7, 2012
The baton has been passed to a new generation.
When Haddonfield Memorial High School football coach Frank DeLano looks around the field tonight before his season-opening game against Paulsboro, he'll see a few new faces. No longer there are the 13 seniors who graduated last year after leading the team to back-to-back Group 2 title games and a state championship in 2010. The list of departed includes quarterback Dan Ciemniecki, and running backs Chris Dengler and Matthew Bhaya. Yet, even after losing so much talent, DeLano’s mindset and expectations remain the same. Call it, the Haddonfield way. “We are always optimistic and very excited about the way kids are practicing and continuing to get better,” DeLano said. “We were hit hard with graduation, but our goals remain the same and …
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
"He lives his life the right way... I'm just privileged to call him a friend."
From the length of a football field, head coach Frank Delano knew one of his assistant coaches was sitting in the police car that just pulled up. "I can tell it's him," DeLano said on a recent weekday practice as the sun baked his varsity football team. He knew Stu Holloway would stop by when he got a chance, even though he was still clocked in on his day job. It turns out, when Holloway is not breathing the life back into infants or helping to rescue ducklings from storm sewers, he's coaching high school football. "He's working his real job," DeLano said. "He's just moonlighting with us. He knows how to separate the two." Indeed. Holloway stepped out of the patrol car and onto the field, grabbed a football and started coaching up his …
Monday, August 20, 2012
South Jersey, Group 2 under new classifications from the NJSIAA.
When Haddonfield Memorial High School players step on to the gridiron at the start of September, they’ll do so in a revamped Group 2. Gone are former playoff threats like Point Pleasant Boro, Barnegat, Bridgeton and Camden, which all bumped up to Group 3 under the NJSIAA's new five-group system. Some familiar foes—West Deptford, Sterling, Buena, Cinnaminson and Collingswood—remain, and a pair of former Group 1 teams—Cedar Creek, which opened only two years ago, and Maple Shade—both join the retooled Group 2. Sterling and Pemberton, with 727 and 726 students for group classification purposes, were just shy of the cutoff for Group 3, which has three teams—Point Boro, Bridgeton and Barnegat—all within 12 students more in enrollment. The full …
Friday, December 9, 2011
Video highlights of Group 2 championship game West Deptford v. Haddonfield.
A second take on the sights and sounds of the Group 2 football championship between West Deptford and Haddonfield on Dec. 3
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Haddonfield saw its 20-game winning streak end in a 22-14 loss to West Deptford on Saturday. Coach: "It just wasn't our day."
One year ago the Haddonfield Memorial High School football team stepped onto the field against an undefeated West Deptford team and stunned many by upsetting the Eagles in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 2 title game. As the Bulldawgs celebrated, the Eagles watched, defeated, but also still determined. One year later, the script reversed as Haddonfield entered the finals with the No. 1 seed and an undefeated record. And just like last year, it was the underdog team that came away with the title. Gerald Towns rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns and the West Deptford defense forced Haddonfield into four turnovers in a 22-14 win at Rowan University Saturday afternoon. The loss snapped a 20-game winning streak by the Bulldwags (11-0) and …
Lewis Bott
6:42 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I have many fond memories of this game. I'm a Heights grad and played in 3 of these ('50, '51 and '52), winning the last two. But now I'm a long time Haddonfield resident (42 yrs.) and an avid Bulldawg fan. I haven't missed one of these games in over 60 years. more ›