Haddonfield football loses hard-fought sectional final against Rumson-Fair Haven
RUMSON – This wasn’t how Declan McCarthy envisioned his final playoff run ending.
The senior quarterback for the Haddonfield Memorial High School football team was hoping to capture the South Jersey Group 2 championship on Friday night. Unfortunately for him and his teammates, the Haddons fell to Rumson-Fair Haven 14-7 in the sectional final.
“It’s tough to lose a game like that, especially when you’ve got aspirations to win bigger games,” McCarthy said. “But in the end, you’ve just got to deal with it, and honestly that was one of the best football games I’ve ever been a part of, and one of the most fun games I’ve ever played in my life. We just came out on the wrong side of it and lost the game.”
McCarthy took an interesting road to get where he is today. It’s almost like he was destined to be Haddonfield’s quarterback from an early age.
“Declan’s been a rock for us for years,” Haddonfield coach Frank DeLano said. “He’s a Haddonfield kid who was born and raised on Haddonfield football, he’s tough and he loves his teammates.”
For as long as he can remember, McCarthy has been on the Haddonfield sidelines. With his father being on DeLano’s coaching staff, McCarthy grew up within the program. As a kid, he used to be the team’s ball boy and run water out to the players during timeouts and game-stoppages.
McCarthy said the majority of Haddonfield's 22 seniors have been playing football together since they’ve been 6 years old.
“It’s kind of weird that this is one of my final games that I’ll ever play as a Bulldawg because I’ve been a part of this team for so long – we all have,” McCarthy said. “There’s nothing like the brotherhood we’ve got. You can’t find it anywhere. We all grew up together and we’ve done everything together. This hurts not only for me not being able to play anymore, but not seeing those guys play anymore is tough.”
McCarthy had Haddonfield’s only touchdown on Friday night on a one-yard run in the first quarter. It was the Haddons' first offensive drive of the game and tied the game at 7-7 with 1:39 left in the opening frame.
Rumson’s Kellen Murray then scored the go-ahead touchdown just before halftime on a two-yard run. It turned out to be the game-winner.
“Haddonfield is an incredible football program and coach DeLano is a legend who does an amazing job,” Rumson coach Jeremy Schulte said. “Before the game, he was all compliments about us and it’s the same way I feel about them. That was a great high school football game. It was clean, there were no cheap shots, it was just two teams who came to play football and that’s a team that has the utmost respect in my book.”
While the loss marked the end of Haddonfield’s playoff run this season, the team still has one more game left to play – a Thanksgiving showdown against Haddon Heights.
“We’re just going to have to put everything we have into that game now,” McCarthy said.
What it means
Rumson will go on to face Central Jersey Group 2 champion Willingboro next weekend. The Chimeras defeated Point Pleasant Boro 26-21 in its respective title game. Point Pleasant Boro handed Rumson one of its four losses this season by a final score of 42-28. This is the second year in a row the Bulldogs have captured a sectional title and eighth time overall – all of which have come since 2010.
For Haddonfield, the season is not over. The Bulldawgs will play on Thanksgiving against Haddon Heights. This would have been Haddonfield’s first sectional championship since 2021 and sixth overall.
Game Balls
Jacob Tobias, Rumson: In the game’s final minute, Tobais broke up a fourth-down Haddonfield pass in the end zone to turn the ball over on downs. It originally appeared that Haddonfield had drawn up the perfect play to tie the game, but Tobias wedged his hand into the perfect position and knocked the ball loose to help secure his team’s victory.
Jackson Gallagher, Rumson Gallagher scored the first touchdown of the game on a 13-yard screen pass from Owen O'Toole midway through the first quarter. He caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and bulldozed his way to the end zone, running directly through a Haddonfield defensive back before crossing the goal line and putting his team up 7-0.
Patrick Ryan, Haddonfield: Ryan led the Haddons in receiving and stepped up big in the fourth quarter, hauling in four catches for 43 yards on his team’s final two drives.
Key plays
Haddonfield senior Jack Tardidi recovered a Rumson fumble with 2:32 to go when it appeared that all the Bulldogs had to do was run the clock out to seal the victory. The fumble recovery kept Haddonfield’s hopes temporarily alive and allowed it one last drive to attempt to even the score.
Rumson sophomore Kellen Murray ran for eight yards on third-and-three late in the fourth quarter when Haddonfield was out of timeouts. The first down allowed the Bulldogs to line up in victory formation.
Jacob Tobias’ fourth-down pass deflection sealed the game with one minute left for the Bulldogs. Tobias was in single coverage on Haddonfield’s top receiver (Patrick Ryan) and knocked the ball out of Ryan’s hands in the end zone to help his defense hold strong.
They said it
“I saw the motion out, I was one-on-one with him and he had me beat at first. I was on the ground for a while and I thought he came up with it. But then I looked up, saw the referee signal it was incomplete and saw the ball on the ground. It was great. That’s a drill we work on in practice so it was good to have it pay off. Tonight was a great win, we’re happy to keep moving forward but we’re not done yet.”
– Jacob Tobias, Rumson junior defensive back
“The hurt’s not going to change tonight, and at the end of the day you don’t get these games back. We don’t ever take getting here for granted. I’m really proud of our guys and this thing came down to the wire. We’re not about moral victories, but one thing you’ll never question is our kids' effort, the way they compete and the way they love each other. We’re really proud of that. Credit to Rumson – they’re a really good football team that’s well coached by classy people. It was a great experience coming up here.”
– Frank DeLano, Haddonfield head coach
“He (Jacob Tobias) has been a stud for us the entire year. He’s made big plays in big games for us this year and he’s always fired up with so much energy going. He’s a tough kid and we want to put a player like him in a position to make plays.”
– Jeremy Schulte, Rumson head coach
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Haddonfield football falls to Rumson in South Jersey Group 2 final
