Lions defeat Houston County Fighting Irish 42-7 for 2008 Homecoming victory

The CHS Lions took care of business on a rare Thursday night game at Wright Field & defeated a young Houston County team to record their 5th Region 7AA victory for 2008. The Thursday night date was agreed upon by both coaches in order to accommodate the referee crews that were stretched thin in this area covering Friday night games. The Camden High School schedule was also out of the norm with a Thursday & Friday off for fall break, plus it was Homecoming Week, so we needed one thing to remain constant: Camden defeating Houston County!

The pre-game ceremony crowned Ms. Alex Hastings, (Head Football Coach Kevin Ward's daughter), as the 2008 Homecoming queen to start the night off with a "special" air. Photo: L to R: Ross Dudley with Katelin Maden - 2nd Maid | Patrick Hassell with Alex Hastings - Queen | Mark Yarbro with Noelle Henry - 1st Maid.

Camden chose to receive & Houston County (HC) kicked a high short spinner that Ross Dudley handled with a run out to the 38. In one of the strangest plays seen lately, Michael Gaskin fakes the ball to Devon White into the line & then gives it to Andy Travis running wide left. Doesn't sound too strange, right? Problem was the REF's took the fake too! When Devon got tackled, they started doing what refs do: Blow the play dead. Meanwhile back at reality, Andy is loose around left end headed for a big play...but it all stops, & the refs faces are an appropriate shade of red! It all adds up to 2nd down. Gaskin spots Patrick Hassell open down the left side line, pass is complete & it's a Lions 1st down at the HC 46. Dudley is smothered for no gain, but Travis fakes the dive into the right side of the line, cuts outside & sprints down to the 24! Dudley picks his way right for a gain of 2; Devon White dives in behind Davie Miller & Elias Nazi, stretches for the 1st down, but just misses by one. Gaskin fakes the give to White up the middle, fakes the give to Travis slanting the other way & keeps around right end for the touchdown! Great drive, offense! Thomas Pierpoint snaps, Gaskin sets it up so that Danny Kim can drill it into the net! 8:30 on the clock & Camden leads, 7-0.

Brandon Shannon & Trevor Latendresse cover the kick returner at the 27 & the Lions defense is ready to play. Jordan Murphy & Tyler Plant combine for a loss of one. The Fighting Irish can't get a play off in time, the delay of game flag moves them back 5. Nick Ibarra almost has an interception before Jordan nails the dive play for a loss of one. HC to punt. Patrick Hassell handles the fair catch at the Lions 48 & the offense is ready to roll!

How about a one play scoring drive? Sure...

Gaskin has Hassell on the streak pattern, pass is complete, Hassell makes one Green Man miss & he scores! Kim's kick is thru, and with 6:32 left in the 1st quarter, Lions lead 14-0.

Brandon Shannon has the hit on the returner at the 30 & HC is able to string together two first downs before their drive stalls out. Andy Travis & Jordan Murphy almost block the punt, but it gets out & rolls out of bounds at the 15. Camden strings together a 9-play drive the stretches over into the 2nd quarter. At the end of one quarter of play, the Camden fans get to sing "Happy Birthday" to Mrs. Paula Hawkins in an attempt to properly celebrate that event! A holding call moves CHS back & an incomplete 4th down pass gives HC the ball at their own 28 on downs.

The Black & Gold defense delivers a 3 & out with big hits by 57, 85, and Ibarra. The punt is a low line drive that rolls left & the Irish down it at our 26 with 9:23 left before the half time break. The Lions put together a 13-play scoring drive that ends with Ross Dudley diving into the endzone behind Will Latendresse for the score. Danny Kim nails the extra point kick & with 4:24 on the clock, Camden leads 21-0.

Kim kicks it high & left, when the returner hits the pile the ball is ripped out & Travis recovers at the HC 31! Lions ball! White up the middle adds a cut & is spun down after 9. Line it up, time out Irish. Gaskin rolls right, looks downfield, heads downfield & is pushed out at the 15, 1st down! Devon again, pushed ‘em back & has a 1st & goal at the 2! Ross takes the ball from Gaskin, sprints around left end & scores. Kim's kick is good & with just under 3 minutes left before the half, Lions are up 28-0.

Danny kicks the high short spinner to the HC 39 where the returner slides down. Nick Ibarra has the dive play into the line covered after only 3. LJ wraps the runner up over center, no gain...time out Lions with 2:08 left, 3rd & 7. The jump pass is complete, but Jeremy Crawley & Jordan Murphy hammer the receiver at the 48, 1st down Irish. The HC QB heads left, the ball is ripped out & Brandon Shannon grabs it up and scores! Danny nails it for one more point & the Lions are up 35-0 with 1:40 left in the half. The "mercy rule" is in effect & the clock runs continuously as long as the Lions can keep a 35-point lead.

The Irish grind out one first down & get one play without the clock running thanks to a penalty at the horn, but Ross Dudley puts the runner on the ground & both teams head into the lockers for the half. The Irish marching band performs at the half after the CHS Cheerleaders "wow" the Lions fans with a special performance including dances and cheers! Davie Miller is on the field with the Irish captains & Danny Kim drills a low line drive to the 20. The ball is on the ground, Irish recover & Tyler Plant drops the returner at the 27.

The Irish string together enough offense for a first down before the drive stops with a 4th & 10 at the Camden 48. The snap is back to the punter, but so is Nick Ibarra! He blocks the kick, recovers the ball & the Camden offense is on the field at the HC 36! Six minutes on the clock as Devon White dives thru a gap for a gain of 6. White again off right guard, runs thru traffic & speeds all the way to the 4, 1st & goal! Chris Pagal takes the hand off around left end & scores! Kim adds one & with 4:49 left in the 3rd, Camden is up 42-0.

The young lions are on the field to finish the 3rd quarter & the remainder of the game. In the 4th quarter the Irish put together an 11-play score, and with 5:57 left, the final score of 42-7 is on the Wright Field scoreboard. Derek Easley directs a 7-play drive that notches a first down & finally gives the ball up on downs with 32 seconds left. Taylor Ryan nails the ball carrier running up the middle to end it & the Lions have a 2008 Homecoming victory over Houston County, 42-7.

Some stats of interest:
First downs: CHS-16, HC-8
Rushing (Att/Yds): CHS-37/260, HC-35/98
Passing (Comp/Att/Yds/Int): CHS-3/7/71, HC-1/2/0
Fumbles (#/Lost): CHS-0/0, HC-3/3
Penalties (#/Yds): CHS-7/65, HC-3/25

Offensive stats:
Michael Gaskin – 2/7 passing for 64 yards & 1 TD
Patrick Hassell – 2 receptions for 64 yards & 1 TD
Devon White – 10 carries for 104 yards

Defensive stats:
Larry Jamison – 9 tackles, 4 for loss, 2 solo
Tyler Plant – 9 tackles, 1 solo
Jordan Murphy – 8 tackles, 1 solo, 1 caused fumble

Talking with Head Coach Kevin Ward in the field house after the game:
"Kept us undefeated in the Region with two Region games left. Felt like it might have qualified us for the playoffs, will have to look at the numbers to be sure...We are playing pretty well, stopped ourselves a couple times. Strange play to start the game, the refs apologized at halftime, thought the fullback had the ball & felt bad for it! Those things happen. Very proud of this team for taking a mature approach to this game. Played on a short week, Homecoming activities, just a lot to work thru. Now they will get three days off, rest up, hopefully for a run to the playoffs."

On the way this team was able to "put the game away":
"We felt like we could be successful tonight, Houston County did some things we haven't seen before. We made corrections with our play calling, once we did that, we had success. At halftime we made some changes with our younger guys. Sent the 1st team out to get one more drive in & really feel like we had a good night. Got a turnover & punched it in quick. After that, we were able to get our subs in."

On the Friday night schedule for scouting:
"We are going to break our coaches up into three groups, some to Northside, Stewart County, and Waverly. We are going to see first-hand what we have to do to win these three games & head into the playoffs on a positive note. It's going to be fun to watch a game & know that we are not going to have to play the next night!"

On the big crowd tonight:
"I appreciate all of our fans coming out like they did for a Thursday night game! We kind of had the spotlight on Mrs. Paula Hawkins who will be retiring after this year. She has been such a strong supporter of CHS football & a great fan of all of our athletes! We are going to miss her a lot. We gave her a game ball after the game. She mean so much to our students, she will be missed! She kind of took me under her wing when I got here & shared some things with me that I needed to know. She treats everyone of these kids like they are her children. If we had a lot more teachers like her, our school would run better! It will be a loss to our school when she leaves, but we do wish her the best!"

On the crowning of the Homecoming Queen:
"It was a special night for our family. I was very proud of my daughter. It is something that she will always remember. I was out there, it was something that she can always remember. She is a sweet girl & has made her mom & dad very proud!"

On next weeks game against Northside:
"Don't know a whole lot about them this year. They snuck by us last year 17-14 in overtime, they were the best defense we played against last year...probably will be again this year! They play very physical, have size, are fast. It will be Senior night, we should play well. Our younger players have been challenged to step up & play well for our Seniors, we always want to win on Senior night. We want a win against a good football team. They are better than their record, they have had some close losses. We know we can beat good teams & want to this year."

On the "young Lions" finishing up the 3rd & 4th quarter on the field:
"Derek Easley played well, got some yards, Trae White did a good job running our sweeps, Jaron Gibbs played well. We didn't do a great job of blocking, we expect them to know who to block & that may have been part of the problem. Some was physically outmatched, some was paralysis by analysis! We wanted to be able to do this tonight, we didn't get the shutout we wanted, but I am proud of our young guys for going in a battling like they did. It will pay off for us next year."

Let's all make plans to support the Seniors on this team by attending the pregame ceremony next week! We need to support our Lions as they battle the Jackson Northside Indians at Wright Field in the last regular season home game!

GO LIONS!