By Matt Cosentino | For NJ Advance Media

Bill Gore has been craving a head coaching position at the high school level for at least the last decade.

Now that he finally has the chance, he’s going to savor every moment – no matter how crazy his rookie season becomes.

The West Deptford native, a longtime assistant baseball coach, is leading his own program for the first time as the head coach of the Gloucester Catholic boys soccer team. He can also be found around the school during the spring, as he is in his second stint as an assistant for the Rams' baseball program.

“When the job came open they thought it would be a perfect fit since I played soccer at West Deptford and I was somebody they already knew,” Gore said. “It was an easy sell for me. The opportunity to be a head coach is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Gloucester Catholic means something to me now. I’ve had seven years of experience with the school, and outside of my connections in West Deptford, it’s like a second home.”

Gore has also served as an assistant at GCIT, West Deptford, Gateway and Bishop Eustace since starting his coaching career in 2003. He has been a dedicated youth baseball volunteer as well, having filled numerous roles for West Deptford Little League, including president. He formerly was the head coach of the West Deptford American Legion team and was recently elected administrator for District 15 Little League, which covers most of Gloucester County.

He first applied for a head coaching job in 2010 at West Deptford – where he works as a teachers' assistant -- and has been a finalist for several jobs over the years. The journey to the role was sometimes rocky, which has prepared Gore for the obstacles that have been thrown his way in 2020.

First, on his way to the Rams' season opener against Clayton, he was in a car accident near Route 322. He wasn’t injured but his Camaro sustained serious damage and was undrivable, so Gore could not make the game and had to have assistant Chris Kain fill in.

“My very first game as the head coach of a high school sport and that happens,” he said. “I think I was more upset about missing the game than I was about the car. I called the athletic director before I called my own parents.”

On top of that, Gloucester Catholic has been forced to close school and shut down its athletic programs on two separate occasions because of COVID-19 reasons. The Rams are 0-3 and haven’t played since a loss to Wildwood on Oct. 9.

“We were allowed to practice yesterday for the first time in a while and the kids were back in school yesterday,” Gore said. “I think this (second shutdown) hit them a little bit, but they seemed excited to be back yesterday, which was good. We had a good practice and we got a lot accomplished. Of course, it’s always hard for us to practice no matter what’s going on because of the light numbers I have. I only have 12 players.”

One of the missing players is sophomore Ryder Wicken, who led the Rams with 11 goals as a freshman but is sitting out this season to focus on his ice hockey career at Gloucester Catholic. Without him, the Rams are struggling offensively, but Gore is pleased with the play of senior captain and center midfielder Ian Negron, sophomore forward Cole Raudenbush, sophomore center back Nick Polidoro and junior keeper Declan Kearns, who is new to the position but is adapting well.

Gloucester Catholic is scheduled to resume play on Thursday against Pitman. Gore said the Rams might get delayed again until Monday, but whenever they get back on the field, he expects them to continue fighting.

“Up the middle is the strong point on our team, and some of the kids on the outside are doing well and surprising me with their skills,” he said. “We’re competing. The kids haven’t given up and they’re battling through everything that we’ve dealt with as a school and a program. The thing that I talk about every day is battling adversity and we’re doing that.”

ON A ROLL: GCIT took a five-game winning streak into Tuesday’s match at Clearview, with impressive victories over Williamstown and Deptford in that span. The Cheetahs were unbeaten in six straight overall and have bounced back from an 0-2 start to get within one win of last year’s total.

Sophomore Carson Widmer leads GCIT with five goals, while senior Colin Widmer and junior Ryan Lawler each have three. Senior keeper Daniel Olaya has three shutouts during the winning streak.

SWEET REVENGE: Bridgeton has faced off against Cumberland County rival Millville 14 times in the last eight years, losing each of the matchups. The Bulldogs finally got some payback on Monday with a 2-0 win, the program’s first victory over the Thunderbolts since Sept. 24, 2010.

Bridgeton also edged Cumberland, 4-3, last week and is on a three-game winning streak to improve to 4-1 overall. The Bulldogs have allowed just nine goals on the season and are getting strong offensive play from Victor Salas.

SHUT DOWN: Washington Township earned a hard-fought 4-3 win over Eastern last week to improve to 6-1, but the Minutemen will unfortunately have to wait to build on the momentum. The school’s athletic programs have been temporarily shut down due to coronavirus cases, wiping out a highly anticipated matchup against Shawnee this week.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Although the Olympic Conference is not crowning division champions this year because of the pandemic, titles are still up for grabs in the Colonial Conference. An interesting race is shaping up in the Liberty Division, where Haddon Township, Haddonfield, West Deptford and Sterling each seem to be in the mix.

Haddonfield and West Deptford both showed how much the division means to them in their game last week. Haddonfield coach Ryan Nixon summed up the rivalry and the division race well after his team’s 1-0 victory.

“Winning the conference, to us as players and coaches, is very, very important,” he said. “I just think the Liberty Division is a fantastic division for boys soccer. You saw the level of play tonight. At times it might not have been the prettiest brand, but it was two teams that were flat out going after it. There was nothing dirty about the game either; it was just two teams competing really, really hard. It could’ve gone either way and I’m happy that we were the team that found a way through. If you were a spectator it was a great game to be at.”