Cameron Dominates In State Football Semifinals
Jarrid McCormick Trending
NAUGATUCK — Cameron executed its game plan to a T on Friday night at No. 1 seed Tug Valley as the No. 4 seeded Dragons dominated both sides of the ball and came away with a 36-0 win in a Class A semifinal at Bob Brewer Stadium.
The win sends the Dragons (12-1) to their first state championship game in school history. They advance to play No. 3 Wahama Friday in a noon kick at UC Stadium at Laidley Field in Charleston. Wahama defeated Tucker County on Saturday.
"I'm still a little bit in shock," Cameron coach Tim Brown said. "I've always been around Cameron. I went to school there, my sons went to school there and my grandson is on this team. I think it means the world to this community. We've been knocking on the door so many times. We've been in the playoffs so many times. But for us to come through with this kind of performance that just says so much about the character of these kids.
"And where do they learn that? From their families. So this community is really doing a great job of raising young men."
The Dragons controlled the pace of the game throughout. They dominated the time of possession, in particular in the first half, as they milked the clock with their bruising ground game and limited Tug Valley to only 13 offensive plays and jumped out to a 22-0 halftime lead.
"It's just preparation," Brown said. "Offensively and defensively, my coaches did a great job of communicating that to the kids and the kids executed well. We were physically and mentally prepared to do this. The kids showed up tonight and just put forth an outstanding effort."
The Dragons gained 362 yards of total offense on the night while holding previously unbeaten Tug Valley to just 101 yards. Of those 362, 330 came on the ground for the Dragons, who were led by star running back Klypsan Wallace. He ran through the Panther defense with 223 yards rushing and two TDs on 33 carries.
"He's been awesome since he came here," Brown said of Wallace. "When he decided to come here and be a student and play ball and be a leader, he brought all kinds of excitement. He fits right in with all these other kids. They are just a special bunch of kids. Character means a lot. And when you have kids with character and ability, like Wallace has, you can go a long way. These kids do it for each other."
Cameron jumped in front on its second drive of the game. The Dragons started on their own 42-yard line and hit paydirt nine plays later when Wallace punched it in from a yard out.
The Dragons lined up for the PAT, but the snap was bobbled and Cameron's two-point pass attempt fell incomplete in the end zone, which kept the score at 6-0 with 10:33 left in the second quarter.
Tug's next drive stalled as a Preston May pass on fourth-and-5 at the Dragon 24-yard line was tipped and fell incomplete.
Cameron went back to the ground and slowly worked its way down into Panther territory. The Tug Valley defense looked to make a big fourth-down stop to give the ball back to its offense as Bryson Elia broke up a fourth-and-9 pass near the goal line, but the Panthers were called for defensive holding on the other side of the field to keep the Cameron drive alive.
On the next play, Dragon QB Kason Angel rumbled in from 9 yards out and Wallace added the two-point try as Cameron took a 14-0 lead with 43 seconds left in the half. After breaking off two runs down to the Tug 33-yard line, Cameron called a timeout for one final play. Angel dropped back and found a streaking Mason Scott for a back-breaking 33-yard touchdown as the buzzer sounded to end the first half. Angel ran in the two-point try as the Dragons took a 22-0 lead into halftime.
Tug Valley got the ball first to start the second half and desperately needed to put points on the board, but instead went three-and-out and was forced to punt. The ensuing punt was blocked by Cameron, which took over at midfield.
The Dragons waltzed down the field as Wallace scored his second TD of the night on a 1-yard plunge. Angel powered in the two-point try as Cameron jumped ahead 30-0 with 5:55 left in the third.
The Cameron defense forced back-to-back turnovers on the next two Tug Valley drives as Talen Brown stripped May and recovered the fumble to prevent a Tug score, and then Slaton Pettit picked off a May pass on the final drive.
Pettit also scored the final touchdown of the night for the Dragons as his 1-yard dive made it 36-0.
The Cameron defense held May, who came into the game with 2,817 yards passing and 37 touchdowns, to just 8-for-15 passing for 60 yards. He was also 19-0 as a starter. Elia, who came into the game with 1,442 rushing yards and 20 TDs on the season, picked up just 36 yards rushing on five carries.
Aside from punts, of which Tug Valley had three on Friday night, the Panthers offense only managed to run 24 plays the entire night as Cameron held the ball for 36 of the 48 minutes.
Pettit and Angel rushed for 55 yards apiece on the ground for the Dragons to create their three-headed running attack.
The loss for Tug Valley ended its dream season, which saw the Panthers set the school record for wins in a season with 12 and produce the first-ever undefeated regular season, with a 12-1 record.