The Camden Lions traveled to Erin and collected their first road win of the 2003 season. The Lions scored early and often as Josh Boyd returned the opening kickoff all the way inside their three-yard line! Boyd took the next handoff and drove into the endzone for the score & the Lions offense was just getting started. Brian Markham scored on a QB keeper, Zach Brazzell and Jesse Leonard both caught TD passes from Markham, and Byron Boyd ran a pitch around the right end to perfection to complete the scoring for Camden.
The Black & Gold faithful made the drive to Erin, Tennessee and saw some fine new facilities at the Houston County High School. The softball and baseball fields are directly behind the school, with ample parking between the baseball field and the stadium. The brick structure at the entrance to the stadium houses the concession stands, both teams lockers, and the football weight room. The bad news for the Fighting Irish is they have yet to win at home. The Lions intended to keep that streak alive…
Justin Smith and Jeremy Stokes were the game captains that met the Fighting Irish captains at midfield. The cheerleaders banner said “Stew the Irish” and the Lions roared thru it ready to do just that! Josh Boyd received the opening kick at the 15 and the Lions blocked every green shirt they saw. A great cut at midfield, and Josh was just barely pushed out of the left sideline at the two and a half-yard line! He caught his wind quickly, and dropped in behind the blocks of Josh Beasley and Rickey Schopf to find his own little pot-o-gold for the score! Heath Yoder snapped, Brian Markham held, Clay Carruth nailed it, and with 11:37 showing Camden was up 7-0!
The Irish returner made their 38 before he was met by Maurice Gastelum, Byron Boyd, and Chris Turner. The Lions defense was pumped, and Josh Guajardo nailed the back after three. Gastelum and Matthew Chandler broke up a pass play and the Lions intercepted! Jesse Leonard banged the middle for one. Josh Boyd slid around left end for 2. Boyd with the pitch around right end, and he picked up four before he was hit hard. Hmmmm…4th & 3…Brian Markham lines up the Lions, dials in the hard count and the Irish jump, first down Camden at their 26! Markham fakes the pitch to Josh, and gives it to Leonard. Jesse drives into the line over John Hodge’s block, and drives to the 13 for a first down! Pitch to Josh works to the 8. Leonard is hit in the backfield, but makes a great recovery to gain one. Boyd follows Leonard’s block, and makes the one-yard line before he is dragged down. Markham keeps, gets low & slides off Josh Beasley’s hammer to score! Carruth sneaks it low and left, but it is good and the Lions are up 14-0 with 5:44 left in the first.
The Black & Gold defense start at their 35 as the Irish mount their only serious offensive drive of the game. The 13-play scoring drive is kept alive by a flag for defensive pass interference just as the quarter ended. It gave them a first down at the five, and two plays later the Irish QB snuck it in for six. They are set to kick the extra point, but the Lions have a huge surge, and Chad Horton flies high for the block! 11:13 on the clock in the 2nd, and Camden leads 14-6.
“Big Mo” might be easing over towards the Green side of the field unless we can come up with a play…Matthew Chandler votes “Yes”! The Houston County kicker remembers Boyd’s big runback and kicks it deep to the left side of the field at the 15. Chandler is there & runs in behind a wall of Black & Gold blockers that has formed at the center of the field. As the wall breaks open, Chandler squirts out, makes one miss, and takes it all the way to the right pylon for six points! Snap, hold, kick, all excellent, and Camden’s up 21-6 with 10:55 left till the break.
The kick returner just barely gets started before Heath Yoder and Byron Boyd pop him at the 27. The Houston County offense isn’t ready to roll over, so Josh Guajardo teams with Maurice Gastelum to break up a first down pass attempt. The ten-play series included a penalty on both teams and three first downs for HCHS. With 7:08 left, Gastelum flushes the Irish QB, and Guajardo slams him down for the sack, 3rd & 10 at our 39! That may have changed his Irish luck on the very next play… The pass was almost perfect, but Brian Markham stretched full length to snatch it out of the air for an interception and a Lions first down at our 39! Great play defense!
Markham displays his marketing skills and sells the play action to everyone in Houston County. Gastelum runs the post route, and Brian delivers for a first down at their 44 and a first down. Byron Boyd in motion, they bite, and Jesse Leonard slams thru an opening and cruises for 17 and another first down. A holding call moves it the wrong way, but Markham lines ‘em up from the shotgun. The gap is there, and he explodes for a ten yard gain. With 3rd & 10 at the 27, Gastelum drags over the center and Markham hits him on stride. Maurice lowers his head and drives all the way to the nine! Markham finishes the seven-play scoring drive with a pass to Zach Brazzell at the two. Zach hangs a left and scores six! Carruth drills the uprights, and with 3:21 left in the second Camden leads 27-6.
The Black & Gold isn’t ready to call it a half, and they line it up at the Green 35. The Houston County QB rolls left looking, but Trevor Busby nails him as he cuts up field. No gain. Trevor, John Hodge, and Chris Turner combine for a loss of 2. Maurice Gastelum and Josh Guajardo drop the running back to make it 4th & 11 at the 34, so the Irish punt it back. Great stop, defense! It’s short and out of bounds and the Lions start at our 47 with 59 seconds before the break.
Two plays later, the Irish find their first bit-o-luck. Markham completes a long pass to Matthew Chandler running along the left sideline, and he is dragged down at the 10. The ball comes out, the Refs don’t make a call, and Houston County has it! A long Irish pass is defended perfectly by Brian Markham, incomplete. Nine ticks left, and the running back is about to make the corner…but John Hodge and Heath Yoder combine for a great tackle at the sideline. It’s halftime, and Camden trots a 28-6 lead into the locker room!
The CHS Marching Band showed off in their full dress uniforms at half time with a great show that both sides of the field enjoyed. Houston County’s band followed, and Jeremy Stokes met the officials at midfield to get instructions before the second half. Carruth kicked it and the returner made the 37 before Chad Horton spun him down. The Lions defense wanted another stop, so Turner and Busby team to stop the tailback after one. Bryce Wilbanks stops the run down the right sideline, but it’s enough for a first down at the 49. Desmond Zollicoffer blanks the runner at our 49 after a pickup of four. Heath Yoder meets a run over the middle, and he slams the back down at the 43. Yoder, Busby, and Turner join forces to drill the runner for no gain…4th & 2. They are going for it, but the Lions are all over an off-tackle dive play with Kyle Moore, Hodge, and Gastelum singing a trio stop, Black & Gold ball at our 32! Great job Defense!
Camden starts the eight play series with a slant pass from Markham to Chandler. Matthew uses some excellent running after the catch to get to the 33, first down! Markham uses the hard count to get to the 24, 3rd & less than a yard. Markham follows Beasley, Hodge, and Stokes to the 21 and it’s another first down. Boyd stops a mad Irishman with a huge block, and Markham is able to make the corner and the 14. A fumble on the next play give Houston County the ball at the 9, but that ain’t all good news…the Lions defense has a stop in mind.
Two runs move it to the 21. Busby & Gastelum drill the runner off tackle after only two. Josh Guajardo stays at home, and when the QB decides to run, Josh drops him at the 28. The dribbles snap gets picked up, but Guajardo and Moore make it 4th & 2 when they meet the Irish signal caller. HCHS lines up to punt it, and the Lions block it! Sixty-one ticks left in the third, and it’s a CHS first down at the 17! Great job special teams!
Markham hands it to Boyd with a little excitement involved, but Josh hits the gas and dives for four. An incomplete pass makes it 3rd & 6. Markham rolls out to the right, thanks his offensive line for lots-o-time, and drills it to Jesse Leonard for a touchdown! The Fighting Irish do some of that, and the officials offer them a hanky for unsportsmanlike conduct. Carruth is true, and Camden has a 35-6 scoreboard saying that there are 8.6 seconds left in the third.
The kick must have hit a shamrock, because the stop out of bounds gave them the ball at the 35 with no sweat involved. The green QB hands it to the tailback, and it’s starting to get ‘way too exciting. Ryan Prince takes his legs out, Bryce Wilbanks finishes and that finishes the 3rd period with 3rd & 5 at their 40. The final quarter starts with a completed pass, but Prince sticks him short of the stick, and it’s 4th & 3! They are going for it again, the hand off goes to the right where Gastelum snags and hangs on to make it a Lions first down at their 41!
Markham double dribbles the snap, but finds the handle before he is drilled for a loss of 7. A long pass “jump ball” to Gastelum is incomplete at the ten. With 9:57 left in the match, Markham pitches it to Byron Boyd and he disappears in traffic. He follows his blocks, pops out the other side, hits the left sideline and is gone for fifty-two yards and six points! The extra point attempt has a bit-o-Irish spin on it and just misses, but Camden is up 41-6!
The kick returner gets swarmed at the 30, and the Fighting Irish aren’t ready to quit yet. A long pass is complete to our 42, first down. An inside trap works for three before Turner and Gastelum get there. The QB starts left & the ball pops out. Lions recover at the 37 and the offense is on the field. The Lions must have been in a giving mood, because Houston County recovers the fumble at the 35. A long green pass play looks like a score, but a flag for an illegal block brings it all back and it’s 1st & 25 at the 50. Another long pass play combines with a defensive interference call to make it an Irish first down at our 14. A handoff over center gains two. A sweep of right end looks like a score, but a holding flag brings it out to the 12. With 5:55 left, the Irish QB gets rushed, rolls right, and hits a receiver slanting from left to right in the endzone. He barely has the ball, and is immediately hit hard by Chad Horton, and the ball pops out incomplete. It takes a minute for him to find his feet, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief when he is helped to the sideline. Jeremy Stokes, Turner, and Wilbanks combine for a sack to make it 4th & 11, and the Irish settle for a field goal to make it 41-9 with 4:20 left.Matthew Chandler fields the kick after one hope & disappears into the wall of blockers. His big cut to the right pushes him thru the line & he scores, no wait, clipping call brings it back to the 20. Garrett Golden takes the handoff from Hunter Palmer for one. Golden again for one. A motion penalty moves it back, and a fumble on the next play gives the ball to HCHS with 2:05 left. They try the big pass down field, but Chad Horton comes down with it and makes a huge run before he is pushed out at their 35. Another flag makes it a Lions first down at the 25. Golden for four, then a loss makes it 3rd & 9. A pitch from Palmer to Golden get Camden to the 18 yard line as time expires on a big 41-9 Lions victory!
Talking with Head Coach Kevin Ward about the win over Houston County: “It was a good win coming off of the thumping we took from McKenzie. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win during that week of practice. We had a great week of practice this past week, I thought our kids were focused, and we came out and executed our offense. We lined up correctly, did a lot of things right, and that allowed us to go make plays. I was proud of them.”
About the success on special teams: “It was execution that made the difference. We stress to our kids that they are giving us the ball, let’s go score. This is an offensive play & we are going to win games on special teams. We have been working hard on blocking punts, and we are going to continue to improve, got one tonight. Overall, a great game for our special teams. The only improvements I can think of is a ball kicked out of bounds and a missed extra point, and those are minor things we can correct easily.”
About injuries sustained from this game: “Kyle Moore will be fine, he will play Friday. Just strained his knee. Dennis Will will miss at least one more week maybe, and that will put us back to 100%.”
About the defense: “We made some changes to put more speed on the field. We moved John Hodge to defensive end, moved Chris Turner to tackle, and moved Maurice Gastelum to inside linebacker with Heath Yoder playing outside linebacker. Josh Guajardo is back, and I guess our staff looks good because it happened to work out! We are going to try to better ourselves anyway we can. It’s not that someone isn’t playing good when we move them, we just have to get everyone to the position they can play best in our system. I think it helped us, we were able to put pressure on the quarterback and reset the line of scrimmage. Hopefully this change helped make that happen.”
About the Houston County facilities: “They have a great place to play a game, and I know they are proud of it. They just haven’t won a game there yet. We talked going in, that’s one record you don’t want your name on, so we knew that they were going to come after us.”
About the fans: “ I thank all of the fans that traveled with us. It was a big crowd, very vocal, and we appreciate their support thru all three games. I hope they will come out and have a standing room only crowd Friday night for Riverside. This is the most important game we’ve played this year and we need to win it to have a great chance to get into the playoffs. Riverside’s game with McNairy was a lot closer than the score. There were some mistakes that were made that gave McNairy two easy scores. Those two things don’t happen, and it is a tight ball game in the fourth quarter and an excellent McNairy team. Riverside is rebuilding, but they have a good football team. We will be challenged this week to win a close football game. We have been in one close one, and on both ends of blowouts, so we have seen all phases. Hopefully that will be to our advantage.”
Camden plays Region 6-AA foe Riverside at Wright Field Friday night, kickoff is at 7:30 PM. The Camden Quarterback Club will be sponsoring the annual Spaghetti Supper from 4 PM on, so come early, eat good, and cheer the Lions on to a victory over Riverside!
GO LIONS!
taken by Tony Dillon