High School Football:
Deptford Survives Challenge From Gloucester Catholic

Saturday, November 28, 1998

By Art Redd
SJSports Staff Writer

The traditional Thanksgiving games for South Jersey high school football continued on Saturday. The Deptford Spartans hosted the Gloucester Catholic Rams in a Tri-County Royal Divisional game. With the Spartans playing next Saturday in the Group 2 finals against Gloucester City, this would be a tune-up game. But, it was not an easy game for them, as the Rams gave the Spartans all they could handle. Deptford broke a 7 all tie late in the fourth quarter to finally defeat the Rams 14-7.

Sam Budesa got things started off quickly by taking the opening kickoff 95-yards for a touchdown. The Rams jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and Deptford had a reason to get motivated. It seemed as if the Spartans were just going through the motions and looking ahead at their Group 2 finals game. But they got an interception to give them good field position and their motivation.

Deptford's Senior quarterback Larry Hardy had trouble holding on to the ball because of an injury to his thumb. The Spartans would recover the ball and continue their drive. After another mishandle by Hardy, the coaching staff decided to put in junior quarterback Jimmer Donapel and rest Hardy until next week. Donapel moved his team to a scoring drive when Justin Love rushed for a 2-yard touchdown to tie the score.

Neither team had much success in the second half with mistakes made by both teams. It wasn't until late in the final quarter that Deptford scored the winning touchdown. Donapel scored on a 1-yard run with 38 seconds remaining in the game. The Spartans found a way to win this meaningless game to them and it was not pretty.

Photos by Art Redd