6 Nov 09
The "brand new" TSSAA playoff scheme landed an old foe on Wright Field looking to ruin the Camden Lions bid at a post-season run. The Lewis County Panthers were fired up and had new life after a tough regular season. They roll into Camden ready to give the 2009 Lions a home defeat behind the play of their two strong running backs and stealth-mode QB. The Lions shook off the sting from their last regular season home game loss and with an open date were ready to fire off the start to THEIR second season with a big home win. Ready? Its Playoff football time in Camden Tennessee!
The Panther cheerleaders unfurled their "run thru" banner that said: "If the Panthers didn't have a chance, we wouldn't be here"! The Camden Senior team captains were at midfield. Meeting the Panther captains and the refs were Michael Gaskin, Patrick Hassell, Dee Dunlap and Dakota Summers. The remainder of the Senior players, Maurice Whitfield, LJ, Shane Wood, Cody Beal, Brian Haggard, Sean Flores, Michael Heck, Jacob Sharum, and Jackson Davidson were backing them at the near-side numbers.
Lewis County wins it and defers, we take the ball and Trae White joins Derek Easley to wait for the kick. Trae fields it cleanly close to the right sideline at the 10, cuts up the middle, puts a move on one Panther, is in the clear with only the kicker to beat...and he is down at the Lewis County (LC) 49! Great return! Derek takes the first handoff from Michael Gaskin, slants left and butts heads with a Panther, gain of one. Gaskin fakes the handoff left, keeps on the dive in behind Jordan Murphy and Ethan Melton's blocks, finds a gap and gains 6. Trae has the ball behind Ethan and John Yarbro, slants right and has the first down at the LC 27! Devon White bangs the middle for a gain of one. LC jumps before Trevor's snap, offsides makes it 2nd and 4 at the 21, thanks. Michael roll right looking down field, pulls it down and has the right sideline at the 19, 3rd and 2. Devon slides off of Trevor's right hip for one, 4th and 1. Coach Ward has them going for it, Michael Gaskin on the keep behind Ethan, Trevor and Jacob...oh yeah it's that good, 1st down Lions at the 16. Michael fakes the handoff to Devon as he levels at Panther, pulls it and gives to Trae White slanting right behind Dakota Summers and Blake Riley's block; 2nd and 1 at the 7 Derek gets pushed back after a gain of one. LC is hearing ghosts of Lions Victories past, they jump, Lions 1st and goal at the 3 yard line! Devon follows Murf slanting left, big push, wait, no signal...finally it's there: Touchdown Lions! Dee Turner snaps the extra point ball back to Michael Gaskin, it's propped up just right and Tanner Hudson bangs it thru the stix, good! Add it up: 5:51 left in the 1st + 10-play scoring drive + Lions lead 7-0 equals One Great Start, Offense!
Dakota bangs a low driving kick deep left so that Devon can stop him down the sideline at the LC 39. The LC offense comes out strong and their dive play up the middle is finally stopped by Sean Flores at our 46, 1st down. They start a run left, but Sean meets him with a host of Lions, loss of 3. LC QB starts right and is met by Kyle Blackburn and Sean after only 2. A Panther power sweep heads around left end looking ‘way too good before Larry "LJ" Jamison drags him down at our 37, 4th and 1. They are going for head, line it up...time out LC. Go again, LJ meets the back as he ducks around right end, but they've got the 1st down at our 31. Trae saves one ‘way down at the 20, 1st down LC. Trevor Latendresse leads Dakota and Jordan on a stop after one, but the refs throw a warning flag on the Camden bench as a sideline infraction. Trevor and Kyle double team the runner for a loss of one, 3rd and 11. The Panthers fake the run left and send the other back right...but Dakota teams with LJ to stop that mess at the 15, 4th and 6. They come out throwing, receiver is in the left corner of the endzone...ball is there...but so is Derek Easley and it falls incomplete! Lions ball at the 15!
Our 3 and out offensive series bridges into the 2nd quarter and a holding call is too much for us to overcome; an incomplete pass is followed by a Michael Gaskin punt to our 44, LC ball with 11:30 showing. The Panthers string together an 8-play score that ends with a run around left end; kick is good and with 7:50 left before the break, we've got us a 7-all tied up ball game.
Trae White fields the high short spinner, cuts across the field and has the ball out to the Camden 49! Maurice Whitfield carries around left end for three. An injury timeout get's a Panther vertical and across the field before play resumes. Michael fakes the handoff into the line, rolls right and spots Derek Easley running behind their backfield. His pass in on the numbers; good catch and Derek scores! Tanner's kick is good and with 6:59 left before the break, Lions are up 14-7!
Dakota sends a low spinning kick down the left side that uses its last roll to get out of bounds, flag, and LC will start at their own 35. The Panthers assemble a 15-play "hurry-up" drive that ends at the half with a pass into the endzone at the right pylon, but Derek is there and the ball falls incomplete. The halftime score stays at Camden 14, Lewis County 7.
The Lewis County band performance is followed by the CHS Marching Band before Patrick Hassell uses his crutches to get him to midfield and tell the refs: Dakota is going to kick it away, they better get ready. The Panthers must not have heard him, because they really weren't ready for the low bouncing kick that banged off of one of the front line men back to Tyler Plant...Lions ball at the LC45! The offense is ready to make them pay as Gaskin takes the shotgun snap from Trevor, keeps up the middle for a gain of 2. Gaskin has the pitch going to Maurice around left end, he jumps over a Panther, cuts to the left side line and is gone! Tanner is in a groove and with 11:05 showing on the 3rd quarter clock, Lions are up 21-7!
Dakota boots a low kick deep, there is no handle on that ball and their back puts his knee on the ground as he picks the ball up, dead at the 24. A run around left end goes for a gain of 10, first down. They sweep left end, 1st down. They pitch it right and gain 7 before LJ and Tyler drop him at our 35. Trevor and Dakota cover the dive up the middle for no gain. The crowd turns up the noise and the fumble under center is covered by Dakota! Lions ball at our 36!
Maurice has the left end edge, cuts back thru a seam for 3. Michael keeps around right end, cuts inside; two Panthers are holding air as he has the sideline spin going on and is finally pushed out at the LC 26! Devon behind Murf and Blake Riley for the 1st down at their 5! Michael fakes it to Maurice then gives it to Devon. He runs it in standing up; Tanner adds one and it's a 28-7 ball game!
Lewis County is shook as Dakota's deep kick left is covered by Cody Beal and Kyle at the LC27. Trae and Tyler stuff the QB for a loss of 3. Trevor and Jordan wait on the back, and then drop him for no gain. Trevor has the delay handoff smothered inside after only one and the Panther punter is a man at work. The refs pitch some laundry for the roughing call, (really?) but the added yardage still has them punting. Derek fields the punt, runs right and is flipped down at our 41, Lions 1st down with 4:12 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Lions are flagged for an illegal shift and start with a 1st and 15 at our 47. Maurice is swamped as he tries the left side, no gain. Michael fakes the handoff left and has the right edge. He is flying down the sideline and is pushed out at the LC29! Gaskin again around the right end where he makes 3 Panthers miss and gains 8. Michael fakes the ball inside, drops back and spots Blake Riley at the goal line. The ball is there, pass complete, Touchdown! Tanner bulges the net just right and the final score of 35-7 is on the Wright Field clock! ...along with 1:12 left in the 3rd...
The Panthers deep back snags Dakota's pass over his head and gets to the 25 before Cody Beal pushes him out. Trevor snags the runner from behind after only one. The misdirection inside doesn't fool Jordan or Tyler, no gain, and it's the end of the 3rd. A pass down the right sideline is complete at the 1st down marker, and the refs add a facemask flag to give the Panthers a first down at the 50. Big stops by Kyle, Trevor, and Dakota stall their drive and the LC punt rolls dead at our 15 with no Lions in the area.
Camden mounts a most-excellent 11-play "kill the clock" drive that includes runs by Maurice, Sean Flores and Jackson Burns and ends down at the 4-yard line where Cody Beal is stopped. They measure, but the ball goes over on downs with 3:38 left to play. Stops by John Yarbro, Cody Beal, and Dee Dunlap have the Panthers punting with 4th and 3 at their own 21. They down it at our 38 with 39.2 seconds showing. Michael runs the victory knee to perfection, the Wright Field clock sports three zeros and the final score is up in lights: Camden 35, Lewis County 7.
Some stats of interest:
First downs (#): CHS-13, LC-11
Rushing (att/yards): CHS-35/259, LC-45/194
Passing (yards): CHS-65, LC-18
Passing (compl/att/int): CHS-2/3/0, LC-2/5/0
Fumbles (#/lost): CHS-0/0, LC-2/2
Penalties (#/yards): CHS-4/40, LC-3/15
Leading Rusher: Devon White – 8 carries for 97 yards, 2 TD's
Leading Receiver: Derek Easley – 1 reception for 43 yards, 1 TD
Leading Tacklers:
Kyle Blackburn 14 total
Larry Jamison 10 total
Dakota Summers 8 total
Talking with Head Football Coach Kevin Ward after the win:
"A good win against a good football team. Very happy with the way we played the 2nd half, kind of played passive in the first, quit believing our keys, weren't physical enough. We made some big plays, had some turnovers in the 2nd half and kind of took the wind out of their sails. It made a difference. We were real close to being in a track meet there for a while in the first half: whoever had the ball at the end would win it! We couldn't really slow them down enough to make a difference. We weren't giving up big plays, we just weren't consistent enough on defense and they keep moving the ball. We only had 17 plays in the first half! That was exactly what they had planned: keep our offense off the field. I have the most respect for Coach Sharp; they had a plan that could have worked."
Was the team "overlooking" Lewis County this week?
"No, I don't think so at all. Our kids are smart enough to watch tape and see the talent on that team. I think the biggest difference was we were out of our rhythm from the week before, open date, had to get up to game speed again. You just can't practice against game speed. It was really a tale of two halves. A couple things go wrong for Lewis, we start to get a little pep in our step and it really was the difference! We still have room for improvement, but a 4 touchdown win isn't too bad for round one! We have just got to get better and go beat a Westview team."
On next weeks home playoff game against Westview:"There are only 16 teams still playing! We have one more at home, but I hope we get a chance to play on the road, that means we are in the 3rd round! We have a lot of things to do. We have got to look at what Westview is doing differently now, they have improved significantly on defense after some defensive changes. Their QB has thrown for over 1000 yards! It's kind of a double headed monster: they can beat you throwing or running! They are playing with a lot of confidence. They could easily be 10-1 like we are. (That 10-1 sounds good, doesn't it?!?) I am glad we are playing Coach Don Coady, we know a lot about their team and program. We will have to see if we can slow them down enough to score a few more points than they do! It should be a huge crowd; everyone left playing this next week should feel like they have a shot to go play for a State Championship."
It's playoff football at Wright Field! The 2009 Lions have a huge 2nd round game against the Westview Chargers at 7 PM next Friday. Load up everyone you know that loves high school football and get on out to CHS early! Let's cheer these Lions on to a playoff win!
GO LIONS!
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lion.news@whitestoneservices.com.