The Camden Lions continued their road stretch with a win over the 3-A Dyer County Choctaws, 28-14. Dyer County scored first, but the Lions came storming back with a three touchdown second period to round up the victory.
The Black & Gold faithful made the long trip to Newbern on a night that was perfect for football. Hot Chocolate sales were brisk in a beautiful two-year-old stadium with fine accommodations. The Choctaws ran their horse and Indian princess around the field before Jeremy Stokes and Maurice Gastelum met the refs at midfield. The home team guessed right and deferred, so Matthew Chandler and Josh Boyd were deep to receive. Chandler pulled it down and ran behind his blockers to the 20. The Lions offense started with a Josh Boyd run, but Indians were everywhere and he was stopped for a loss of one. Brian Markham’s pass to Zach Brazzell just missed incomplete, 3rd & 11. Boyd drops in behind left guard John Hodge and picks up 8, and with 4th & 3, the Lions are going for it. Markham uses the hard count to perfection, they jump, and it’s a Camden first down at our 32. Two Boyd runs, an incomplete pass to Gastelum, and a holding penalty stalls the drive, and Josh Guajardo bangs the punt away. It’s high and deep and the Lions down it at their 28, great punt!
The Choctaws run around the right end, where Heath Yoder and Ryan Prince make the stop after a pickup of 3. Kyle Moore and Chris Turner meet a run over left tackle and they only get 2. An incomplete pass in the left flat is flagged for interference, and their drive has new life. On the ninth play of their drive, a pass down the right sideline from the 33-yard line is complete, and they score. The kick misses and with 5:02 left in the first, Camden is down by six.
Chandler receives the kick and the ref said he dragged a knee, so the Lions start at the 13. Boyd takes the handoff, cuts left and sprints over the middle to their 48 for a first down. Camden survives a holding call, a quarterback trip after his foot is stepped on, and Guajardo’s punt is away. The DC receiver pulls the ball in at the 22 and is immediately leveled by Bryce Wilbanks. 2:20 left in the 2nd and the Lions defense needs a stop… Their back starts left, but Gastelum is there to sling him down for a one-yard loss. A pitch to the right is surrounded by Lions, the refs add a flag, and it’s 2nd & 21 ‘way back at their 21. Hodge, Chad Horton and Trevor Busby combine for a tackle to make it 4th & 26, and the Choctaws are punting from their endzone!
The punt is left and short and rolls out at their 29! The Lions offense takes over in great field position. Dennis Will and Kyle Moore combine some great blocking to open a hole for Jesse Leonard, as he adds a cut to the middle and sets up a first down at the ten! It’s the end of the first quarter, but after they turn the field around the Lions offense is closing on their first score of the night. Boyd dives up the middle for six yards. Markham pitches it to Boyd around left end and his second effort lands him at the one –foot line, but the refs call it all back with a holding flag. 2nd & 12 on the 12, Brian Markham fakes the handoff to Josh, rolls out to the right, then tucks the ball and scores! The announcers on the Newbern AM station called it a “Nekkid Bootlaig”. Add your own joke here. Heath Yoder snaps it, Markham sets it up, and with 11:04 showing on the clock Clay Carruth bangs it over the horsies head, 7-6 Camden.
The Dyer County returner breaks free and Markham is able to make a stop out at their 36. Moore and Wilbanks combine for a stop after two. The Indian QB rolls left, but Bryce Wilbanks takes the opportunity to introduce himself and makes the sack at the 27! 3rd & 18. Horton stops the center screen play at the 36, and they are punting. Boyd fields the punt at our 30, makes two miss, and pushes out to our 42 where the Lions offense will start it up again with 7:50 left before the break.
Boyd around right end for one. Markham fakes the ball to Boyd and gives to Leonard for one. Markham runs the option play around right end, pitches to Boyd and Josh is finally stopped at their 41, first down! Brian’s hard count is perfect and it is 1st & 5. Boyd follows the blocks of Ricky Schopf, John Hodge, and Josh Beasley over left guard, adds a great cut to the left, and sprints to the 24. First down Lions! Leonard is stopped after a pick up of one on the fifth play of the drive. Markham rolls right looking down field and draws the corner in to cover the run. Brian drills the pass to Matthew Chandler who has gotten behind the safety, and Chandler hauls it in the right corner of the endzone, touchdown Lions! Carruth’s kick is good and with 6:30 left in the 2nd, the score is Camden 14, Dyer County 6.
Josh Guajardo and Heath Yoder stuff the return at the 18, and the Lions defense is pumped! Justin Smith and Chris Turner stop a pitch to the right for a loss of 3. Leonard and Stokes stop a run after only 3 yards, and it it 3rd & 10. The QB drops back to pass, but everyone is covered. Wilbanks beats his man off left end and comes the long way to get the sack! Good job defense! The 4th & 20 punt is away and Boyd takes a fair catch at their 44.
The Lions offense wants to add another one, and Markham delivers a quick pass to Zach Brazzell to the 33 for another first down. 3:50 left, and Boyd digs 4-yards out by making two Choctaws miss. Boyd drops in behind Dennis Will and Kyle Moore then dives for the first. Wait, the refs want to measure, it IS a first down at the 23! DC lines up in the neutral zone and we get five more. Only 2:27 left before the break, and Boyd slants over left tackle. He jumps over one downed Indian, and runs it in for six! The kick is no good but Camden has a 20-6 advantage with just over two minutes left in the half.
Dyer starts at the 20 with 2:01 left. Trevor Busby meets the first down run after four. Heath Yoder leads a pack of Lions for a 2nd down stop after two, 3rd & 6. With 50 seconds left, they get a first down at our 48 and take a time out. Busby chases and drops the Dyer QB, but his throw is called an “incomplete pass”, so it’s 2nd & 10. With 30.4 seconds left in the half, Chad Horton intercepts a deep pass over the middle, and it’s a Lions first down at our 26. The Dyer County radio announcers are sure we will take a knee, but the Lions have a better idea…
Markham takes the snap from Beasley, stands up tall and sells the fake pass over the middle. When he hands it to Boyd, Josh is gone down the left sideline inside their 30! A holding flag brings it back to our 40, but it’s a first down. With 6.1 seconds left, Markham rolls right, tucks it away and runs to their 40 before he is pushed out. The horn sounds and the Lions take a 20-6 lead into the field house.
Both bands perform at the half, and Carruth kicks it to the 10-yard line. The runner makes it to the 28 before Josh Guajardo & Bryce Wilbanks drop him. The Choctaws come out with new life, and the first down run nets four before Yoder pushes him out of bounds. Matthew Chandler leads the tackle of the compete pass into the left flat, but it is enough for a first down at their 47. Desmond Zollicoffer stops a toss sweep around left end after a pick up of 5. Busby leads the Lions defensive front on a stop of the delayed handoff for a loss of 2. A short pass is complete, but it’s 4th & 6 and they are set to punt. It’s low and ugly and it goes out of bounds with no return.
The Lions start one of their best drives of the night at the 19 with 9:17 left in the third. Boyd bangs over left tackle for a gain of 2. Beasley, Will, and Hodge open up a seam, and Boyd is gone out to their 46! Excellent 25-yard first down play! Markham pitches it to Josh steaming around left end, and he is pushed out at their 37. Markham’s hard count works on the right tackle again and it’s a first down at their 32. Boyd carries around right end for 4 and it’s 3rd & 6. Markham zings a pass to Chandler, he stops & let’s one by, and is gone to the 21, first down Black & Gold! Jesse Leonard slants to the left, but a Choctaw jailbreak pushes him back. A pass to Maurice Gastelum is complete, and a desperation foot grab drops him at the 12 to keep him from scoring. Markham delays the handoff to Boyd and a bunch of Indians take the fake. Josh slants left, struggles with a great 2nd effort and makes a first down at the 9! Boyd again, his blockers get him loose on the left edge, he cuts back inside and is hit, but rolls into the endzone for a touchdown! The Lions are going for two, Markham rolls right, looks, looks, run! He jumps over a downed Indian and with 4:43 showing it’s Camden 28, Dyer County 6.
The Lions kick is deep and in the left corner of the field where the returned bounces it once as Yoder, Hodge, and Byron Boyd combine on the tackle at the 17. The Choctaws start a 14-play drive that lands them at the five-yard line with 3rd & goal and 10:50 left in the game. The DC QB rolls to the right, then keeps and runs it in for a score. No wait, a flag on them for holding, so it’s 3rd & goal on the 21. The next play is a pass down the left endzone pylon, and Matthew Chandler comes down with the jump ball! A Camden first down at the 3-yard line! Josh Boyd into the left side of the line for a gain of two. Again, this time Josh drives the pack to the 15 and a first down. The first down play results in a fumble, and it’s a Dyer County ball at the 14.
A pitch around right end works ‘way too good, and Desmond Zollicoffer makes the stop at the 3-yard line. A QB sneak only nets one, thanks to Chris Turner leading the stop. Hodge & Prince meet the dive over right guard after a pick up of another one. The Lions must have heard the play, because the pitch to the right was met by Yoder low, and Horton up top to finish for a loss of five…and the refs contribute a holding call, so it’s their 3rd down at the 13. 6:41 left to play as the QB rolls left and sidearms one over the middle, incomplete and 4th down. They are going for it with a throw to the left pylon…again…and Matthew Chandler comes down with it again! Lions ball at the one! Boyd skirts left end for 4. Josh on the inside trap for a first down at the 19. Another fumble gives it back to Dyer County at the 19, and the defense can’t keep them out this time. The run around right end makes it 28-12, and they are going for two. The Choctaw QB roll left, keeps it, and runs it in for the two-point conversion.
Mr. Clock says 4:52 left in the game, it’s a 28-14 game, and the onside kick is next. It ended up a l o n g onside kick as Josh Boyd covers it at the 32 and the Lions offense trots out to finish the game with a 10-play drive. Boyd starts with a run up the middle thru a huge hole and isn’t even touched until he cuts at the 43. First down Lions! Boyd for three up the middle followed by seven yards of picking his way around left end. The fifth play of the drive is a first down run by Boyd to the Dyer 30. The seventh play is a complete pass to Maurice Gastelum from his left flanker position for a first down at the 19. Jesse Leonard gets one inside before Boyd’s run nets a first down at the 13-yard line. Brian Markham was able to run his favorite play at last, and a “Victory Knee” seals a 28-14 win for the Lions!
Talking with Head Coach Kevin Ward about the win: “I thought we came into the game ready for a split four defense & felt good about our chances to put up some numbers. On our first offensive series, they were in a totally different defense, which we had seen before, a five-three front. I was proud of our guys, they came off the field and were able to tell us what they were doing, and that is a big accomplishment from where we started the season. It used to be “I dunno!”, but now they know what we are trying to do offensively and they could tell us where they were lining up and what they were doing when it was snapped. It took us a couple of series to tell them how we were going to block it, and we just limited our offense until we had it worked out. Once we started to hurt them running it and throwing it, they started mixing it up some. That confused us a little, but they figured it out. We made our adjustments and I feel good about how they reacted.”
About the early drive that Dyer County scored on: “I don’t know about how our kids were looking at this team, but we are not good enough to be able to just show up, play a bad game and still win. We have to play great every time we go out. I don’t know if that was part of it or not. It seemed like after they scored, our kids said “OK, they are better than we thought.” We played a little harder and better. Dyer had played some good teams and stayed with them. We knew this was going to be a hard-fought football game. We wanted them to get it over early. Not a big score, but the physical part of the game done early enough to make them not want to play with us the second half. We did that for about a quarter and a half in the first half. We came out the second half and had a good drive to make it 28-6 and we did a good job of being comfortable with the lead. But our offense gave up another touchdown really, our defense did a great job of holding them out of the endzone.”
About the three defensive stands at the goal line: “I can’t say enough about what our defense did! Most teams with three opportunities like that will at least score twice, but our guys made adjustments and played hard. I thought we tackled a little better there and I was pleased with our results. We held them to under 100 yards rushing and we haven’t done that all year. We came up with some big sacks that contributed, but all said, the defense played a good game.”
Any other plaudits to hand out? “We set a goal for our defensive backs to get three interceptions and our secondary did. Overall defensively we played a good game. Offensively, Josh Boyd had another great night, and I think he finished ten yards shy of 1000 yards for the season. When we have a running game going, we are going. Brian Markham did a great job of checking off, too. He was able to check to some uncovered receivers and he did a great job. He is just like another coach on the field, and he is doing a great job of running our offense. He was 5 of 9 for 50 or 60 yards and a touchdown, but we didn’t have to pass it tonight. We focus on the tailback, but I can’t say enough about our offensive line and our fullback. Jesse Leonard doesn’t touch the football a lot, but he does a lot of things that people don’t see. He is a big reason that we are having success running the football. Jesse understands that when people start loosening up, he will get to run it and had some good runs against Dyer. He is patient with us and knows his time is coming, and he is running it at the right times. We thought he was too small at the start of the season, but as he stepped up we could move Heath Yoder to tight end and we have run the ball better since we went to the tight end set.”
About the health of the team: “Knock on wood, we are going into week 8 with everybody healthy. If we are going to make any headway in the playoffs, you have to have that kind of luck. It’s time that we can cut back on the physical part in practice. If you don’t have it by now, it’s not coming. We can concentrate on the mental part and what we are trying to do on both sides of the ball. Those fresh legs can help get us a win.”
On the long trip to Adamsville next Friday: “They started off not scoring a lot of points, and getting a lot of points scored on them. What they have done is change offenses in the last month and they have won two of their last three. They have a fine Junior running back and had him at quarterback to start the year. He can really run and they run a one-back set to try to spread you out a little bit and make some seams for their playmaker. We have got to zero in on him and make the other kids beat us. Defensively, they run a three-five set very similar to our philosophy, they try to get a lot of people to the football. They are kind of unorthodox, run a lot of different sets. We have to be ready mentally to match them.”
On the fans that made the long haul to Dyer County loading up next week: “I hope we can really pack that place, because if we win this game we are in the playoffs. We told our guys after the game, this IS a playoff game. We know we have to win to get in, so we do have our fate in our own hands. If we win Friday, we can play our next Region game with a chance to finish possibly second or third. All we have to do is take care of business and I would love to have a great crowd down there Friday.”
On upcoming JV games: “We have a game this Thursday night here at 6:30 against Lewis County and the last JV game will be NEXT Monday night (October 20th) we will play Adamsville here. We got a 16-0 win against Riverside here Thursday night, and our kids played hard and shut them out! I thought that was good, it’s our only shut out of the year for JV or Varsity. Our guys got some good experience and I can see them correcting errors they discover during practice.”
Let’s all take the ride to Adamsville to holler for our Lions to make the playoffs! Friday night, 7:30 PM in Adamsville is the Black & Gold place to be!
GO LIONS!
by Tony Dillon