West Deptford Football Finds New Coach in John Emel
More than a decade ago, John Emel spent two seasons as an assistant football at West Deptford, working under one of the great coaches in South Jersey history, Clyde Folsom.
Now Emel is returning to West Deptford, looking to get the Eagles back to their winning ways.
To show how Folsom turned West Deptford around, the school had 19 straight non-winning seasons before his arrival in 1991. During his time, West Deptford won 10 or more games 11 times and captured seven sectional titles.
He resigned after the 2017 season and was replaced by Jason Morrell in 2018. Morrell went 16-5 his first two seasons, but the Eagles failed to have a winning campaign in the past four years, including 3-8 this past season.
“This is an opportunity to take over a program that aside from a couple of recent seasons has been super successful,” Emel said. “There are great kids, it is a great community that is football driven.”
Morrell, who was also West Deptford’s athletic director, resigned both positions to become principal at West Deptford Middle School.
Emel was part of Folsom’s staff in 2012 and 2013. He left to become head coach at Penns Grove, where he enjoyed a successful 10-year run. Emel went 70-41 at Penns Grove and won consecutive South Jersey Group 1 titles in 2018 and 2019.
This past season Emel guided Penns Grove to a 6-6 record. The Red Devils bounced back after losing their first three games and four of the first five. Included was a win over eventual Central Jersey Group 1 champion Glassboro. The Red Devils beat Florence in a playoff game and Emel is pleased that he is leaving the program in a good place.
“Penns Grove has 8-9 starters on each side of the ball, plus an undefeated JV team, so I think things are in good shape,” Emel said.
Emel’s 2018 team became the first in South Jersey history to go 13-0, winning a regional championship. That was before the NJSIAA adopted state championships for public schools. The 2022 season was the first for public school state championships.
Coming back to coach where he was an assistant means a great deal to Emel.
“Coach Folsom was a mentor of mine and the opportunity to go to a program he built and had tremendous success is important to me,” Emel said. “Beyond that, I am going to a great football community.”
At Penns Grove, Emel faced depth problems, something common with Group 1 schools.
West Deptford is a Group 2 school and with such a high interest in football, depth shouldn’t be a problem. Emel says there were 30 freshmen this past season and another expected 25 coming in 2024. Plus, he said there is a strong nucleus from the current sophomore and junior classes.
“I am excited to get started,” he said. “I am so excited to be coaching at West Deptford.”
Photo courtesy of John Emel
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Author: Marc Narducci
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