Camden drops Region 6-AA game to Huntingdon, 51-7
Camden suffered a five touchdown second quarter at Huntingdon as the Mustangs cruised to a 51-7 Region 6-2A win over Camden. Matthew Chandler received the opening kick and made the 30-yard line. The Mustang defense was pumped, and three running plays were followed by a Josh Guajardo punt that was downed at their 31. A HHS first down pass fell incomplete with pressure supplied by Maurice Gastelum. They jump, and it’s 2nd & 15. Their back only gains one before Trevor Busby, Kyle Moore, Chad Horton and Chris Turner combine for the stop. The QB rolls out and completes the third down pass for a first, and the ‘Stangs were rolling. Four first downs later, the fourteen-play drive ended with a QB keeper and a score. With 2:59 left, the kick was good and Huntingdon led 7-0.
Josh Boyd handles the kick, and gets to our 27. Josh takes the first down handoff from Brian Markham for a dive over center and gets one. They jump early, and it’s 2nd & 4. Our pass is juggled and Huntingdon comes down with it at their 49, Mustang ball. The Huntingdon first down pass is juggled, but they manage to hang on as Desmond Zollicoffer makes the tackle. Eighty seconds left in the first and John Hodge stops a running back after a pick up of 5. Bryce Wilbanks, Chris Turner, and Heath Yoder nail the back as he starts to his right with 43 seconds showing. Yoder and Chandler smoke out the screen pass play to the left, but that first down ends the quarter. Two plays into the 2nd quarter, the Stangs run it in over right tackle for a touchdown. The kick missed, and with 11:06 left til the break, it’s a 13-0 game.
Josh Boyd handles the kick, and just barely gets tripped as he is breaking it up the middle. Camden starts at the 35-yard line with an option play. Brian Markham starts left with a back trailing, but he carries to the 50-yard line for a first down! Great play! Option left, and Markham carries to the 30, but a holding call makes it 1st & 25. Josh Boyd carries up the middle, slants to the right and gains four. Huntingdon recovers a fumble with 9:20 showing and four plays later the toss sweep goes around left end for a score. They line up for two, and the QB fakes the hand off, rolls right then runs it in to make it a 21-nothing game.
Matthew Chandler takes the kick and carries up the middle of the field to the 32. Jesse Leonard runs the quick dive thru the line, cuts left and makes a great run to their 40, first down Lions! Markham fakes the pitch to Jesse, then gives to Josh up the middle. Boyd drives for six tough yards. The option left turns into a Markham run to the 31 and another first down! Huntingdon calls a time out to talk this option thing over. Afterwards, Boyd carries for one. Leonard dives to the 28-yard line. Jesse again over right guard, and it is 4th down and 6 at their 27. An illegal procedure call on us moves it to the 33, but the Lions are going for it. A pass play from Markham to Gastelum just misses connection down the right sideline, and it’s a Mustang ball. Eight plays later the running back sweeps left end for the score and the kick makes it 28-nothing Huntingdon. A fumbled kick off return is recovered by the Stangs, and the pass play connects for the score. That kick is also good, and it’s 35-nothing with 80 seconds left in the half.
Matthew Chandler returns the deep kick to 18-yard line, and Camden’s first down play ends with a fumble and a Mustang recovery. Four plays later, the screen pass is complete, and the back makes three miss along the right sideline to score. Josh Guajardo blocks the extra point, so with 10.9 seconds left in the half, Huntingdon leads 41-0. Camden fumbles the short kick and they recover at our 39. With 4.3 seconds left, the Mustang QB takes a knee and a 41-point lead into the lockers.
The second half kick from Clay Carruth was fielded at the 15, but the returner was finally stopped at their 45. Four plays later, the HHS QB pitched it right and it was a 48-0 game after the kick. Chandler returned their kick to our 21. Boyd dives for two. Markham faked a pitch to Boyd and gave it to Leonard up the middle for a pick up of 6-yards. Blue jerseys swamped the pitch to Leonard, and Guajardo’s punt just barely got away. We down it at their 36, and the Lions defense is on the field.
The Stang tailback runs thru the middle of the line all the way to our 24 before Zollicoffer can stop him. The Lions defense makes a stand, and 6 plays later, Huntingdon’s 20-yard field goal attempt is good, making it a 51-0 game with 3:05 left in the third. Chandler takes their kick to the 19, where the Camden offense starts their best drive of the night. Boyd drives thru a gap over right guard and makes the 33-yard line before he is stopped. Boyd again for three. Boyd around left end for a pick up of 5, and the last play of the quarter is Byron Boyd over right guard for only one yard, leaving it at 4th & 4.
The 4th quarter started with two straight offside penalties on HHS making it first down and 5! Fake hand off to Josh Boyd, Markham keeps and gets one. Chandler grabs the quick pass from Markham with eleven minutes left in the game and runs down the right sideline to their 25, first down Lions. A gain of one by Leonard and another off sides makes it 2nd & 4. Markham’s pass to Chandler connects and Matthew gets to the one-yard line before he is pushed out. The offensive line pushes them back, and Markham sneaks it in for a score. Carruth’s kick is good and with 8:51 left in the game, the final score is showing, 51-7 Huntingdon. That must have been the magic number, as the Huntingdon second team offense started the next series at their 37. Three plays later, they are set to punt and Josh Boyd returns to our 23. The Camden offense manages a first down at our 35 on a run by Jesse Leonard. Huntingdon recovers a fumble on the next play at our 41, and with 3:57 left, the CHS defense is back at work.
Chad Horton and Dennis Will stop a Mustang runner at our 28. The runner starts left on first down, but Will snags him after three. Jeremy Stokes and Bryce Wilbanks stop a run up the middle after a gain of one. With two minutes left, Jeremy collars the QB as he starts left for a loss of one, 4th & 7. They go for it, but the pass in the left flat falls incomplete and the Lions offense take over on downs. Chad Horton hands off to Byron Boyd, no gain. Wilbanks slants to the right for a first down at our 37, and another run by Bryce ends the game with another first down at our 48, but the clock shows all zeros as the Lions head for the bus after a tough 51-7 loss to Huntingdon.
Talking with Head Football Coach Kevin Ward about the tough game: “Yes it was a tough loss, I thought we were ready to play the game. We had a good week of practice, and I thought our kids were prepared, but it didn’t look like it on the field. We played sloppy, missed tackles, and that is uncharacteristic of what we have been doing. We will work to correct that this week. Huntingdon didn’t do anything we hadn’t prepared for all week, it was just a matter of them coming out and knowing they could win, and we weren’t sure. When they get after you as early as they did, it made us have some doubts, especially with an inexperienced young team like us. They just can’t see that there still is life in the game and we didn’t do that. We turned the ball over six or seven times, and you can’t beat anybody, especially a good football team doing that.”
On what happens next: “We still have life in our season, we addressed that right after the game. We said that if there is anyway possible to forget about this game, do it! We can’t go back and play even one single play over, and we are not even going to look at this tape. Everything that could go wrong did. They had the bounces go their way and you do create your own luck, we teach that. Things are not always going to go our way, it’s a matter of our team learning to overcome; that one play is not going to end the game. A game is won over 48 minutes, and I think our team is starting to believe it, but they aren’t there yet.”
On the 2nd quarter scoring flurry by Huntingdon: “It was wild. As a coaching staff, we were hoping to keep it close at the half, to give ourselves a chance at the end. When you turn it over three times in two minutes, a good team is going to make you pay and Huntingdon did. If we do that this week, we can lose again. We are going to get better and improve.”
On Camden running the option and a few other surprises: “They run an attack defense, and we knew we could get some chances on the perimeter if we could misdirection them a bit. We were hoping to get them moving one way and switch back against their flow. It worked when we executed our offense.”
On any injuries after the game: “We are pretty healthy, Dennis Will is still in a cast, West Williams is wearing a thumb cast, Kyle Moore is gimpy with an ankle and Thomas Dupree is too. I wish that we had been physical enough that it had been a tight game and we had more people sore, but we will have everybody dressed out for Dyer.”
On the Black & Gold fans traveling to Huntingdon: “We had a good crowd. I hope that our fans will make the long trip to Newbern to support us. This is an important game for us. Even though it’s not in the Region, it’s one we need to get back on track before we get back into the Region. Coming off a loss like this, young kids begin to doubt a little bit. We have got to get back to just worrying about what WE do, not everyone else around us. I hope our fans will travel and support us as we work to be the team we can be.”
On next weeks game with Dyer County: “They are right off Highway 51, take the Newbern exit, turn right at the first stop sign and it will take you to the school. They have a brand new school and stadium, I think our fans will enjoy watching a game there. I am familiar with them from when Westview was a 3-A school for a while and they were in our Region. They play a very similar offense to ours, a lot of formations, have a good tailback and a quarterback that throws the ball well. We have blocked this same defense four out of the last six weeks and I think that will be to our advantage. It’s just a matter of us executing our plays and playing physical football, and I think we will be fine.”
Upcoming JV games: “We will have a JV game Thursday night here at 6:30 PM against Riverside. We had to move the game to Thursday, but I hope our fans will come out and yell for these guys that practice so hard.”
Let’s all make the trip to Newbern next Friday night and yell for the Lions to win on the road!
Photo Highlights
by Tony Dillon