Lions defeat Northside Indians on Senior night 35-6

The Camden Lions stepped out of Region in a big way to take on the Northside Indians at Wright Field for the last regular season home game for the 2008 season. The Indians play in the 4A classification & defeated the Lions last year in overtime, 17-14. The 2008 Lions were ready to wipe that memory away...

All of the Senior members of the team followed the team captains to midfield for the coin toss. The Northside captains win the toss & take the ball. Danny Kim tees it up & sends a spinner down the left side of the field. The runner almost breaks thru, but Sean Flores & Danny put him down, Indians will start at their own 45. They start with a fumble under center – a sign of things to come! – and the running back grabs it up & tries to make a play.

Nick Ibarra cuts him down for a loss of five. The Northside (NS) runner starts left, right where Jordan Murphy was ready to drop him for a loss of 4! LJ has the run over right tackle stuffed & the NS punter is on the field. The Lions mount a huge surge & Dakota Summers has the angle right to block the punt! Out of bounds as the NS 5, Lions ball!

9:36 on the clock & the Indians jump, 1st & goal at the 2-1/2. Will Latendresse snaps it to Michael Gaskin, Michael gives it to Andy Travis running left, but the Indians stop him at the one. Same way to the other side, only Andy gets around the corner & scores! Thomas Pierpoint snaps it, Gaskin holds it & Danny Kim boots it thru, Lions are up 7-0!

Danny spins the kick back to the 15 so that Tyler Plant & Brandon Shannon can knock the returner down at the 36. Nick Ibarra teams with Jeremy Crawley to drop the run around right end after a gain of 2. The Indian QB rolls left & zips a pass into the flat...just high enough that Ross Dudley can jump & grab it out the air with one hand! He tucks the ball away & runs down the right side line to the 18 before the push him out! Great play!

Ross runs the first down play behind Pierpoint & Sean Ellis, fall forward for a gain of 3. Devon White totes it in behind Elias Nazi & Davie Miller all the way to the 9 yard line, 3rd & 1. Gaskin finds a crease that Latendresse & Pierpoint left behind, 1st and goal at the 5! Travis in motion, but the give is to White up the middle, no gain. Gaskin puts on an Academy Award quality presentation, selling the fake give to the first back going right, then gives it to Travis headed left & it's another score! Kim is making those extra points look easy & with 5:44 on the 1st quarter clock, Lions over Indians 14-0.

Danny spins another one to the same spot, but the returner is hearing footsteps, the ball is on the ground, pick it up just in time to get HAMMERED by Sean Flores & NS will start at their 28. The Wright Field turf gets credit for a stop as the back falls down as he heads around left end, loss of 3. A quick pass is complete & the receiver stopped by Dudley & Crawley, 3rd & 5. A quick slant pass hits him in the hands & falls incomplete, so the NS punter is back at work. THIS punt does get out & Patrick Hassel falls on it at the Lions 27.

The Lions drive is smothered by a long incomplete pass, a flag for an illegal man downfield, and an offsides penalty, so Gaskin sends his 1st punt of the night to the NS 42.

Dakota Summers stops a run over left tackle after a gain of 5. A quick dive behind left tackle breaks, a move to the outside & Gaskin has to make the stop at our 35, Indians first-1st down. Yet another fumble under center loses 1, then another fumble under center loses 2 and we get to decline a false start penalty, 3rd & 11...and that ends the quarter. They start the 2nd the same way, (fumble under center), but Summers ALMOST has it this time, 4th & 17 at our 42, & the NS punter is on the field. Sideline warning on us LOOKS like a penalty, but no assessment of yardage, whew. They are going for it, but the shotgun snap is ‘WAY too tall, the QB tries to make a play after scooping it up, but Jordan Murphy has him down at their 47, Lions ball!

The Lions offense revs up an 8-play scoring drive staring with a Dudley run to the right, has the corner, 1st down at NS 36! Travis runs from the tailback position for a gain of 8. White on the dive, and he drags two Injuns for a 1st down at the 25! Flag before the snap, offside NS, 1st & 5 at the 20. Gaskin fakes it inside, carries outside, run out of bounds at the 18, 2nd & 3. Dudley around right end, cut left & go! 1st down at the 10! Gaskin around left end, down at the 5. Travis running down the left side of the line, slides thru a seam, adds a move outside & scores! Kim is perfect & with 7:54 left before the break, Camden is up 21-0.

The Indians start on the 23 after a great solo stop by Ibarra. Two play later, there is another fumble under center, but this time Tyler Plant has the football at the CHS 37! The Lions offense can't get moving and three plays later, Gaskin drills the punt deep into Indian Territory. Nazi & Murphy combine on the stop at the NS 43 with 5 minutes remaining.

A new NS QB completes the snap & runs right, but Dudley has him surrounded at the 45. They try a pass down the left side, but Brandon Shannon grabs the ball, runs the right sideline & beats the last tackler to score! The kick is good & Camden takes a 28 point lead!

The Indians start at the 32 & string together 10 plays that end with an incomplete pass. The ball goes over on downs & the Lions throw in a victory formation to end the half.

The Camden Marching Band performs at half & Davie Miller tells the refs that Camden is expecting to receive the kick. They agree, and Andy Travis fields the ball on the run up the middle of the field, follows his blocks, cuts right & has a 1st down way out at the CHS 49. The Lions offense get 5 plays into the drive before a fumble is recovered by the Indians at their 39 yard line.

The Black & Gold defense hammers out three big plays & the punter is on the field. Summers just misses the punt block & they down it at the CHS 35. Camden's offense strings together a 6-play drive that ends with an incomplete pass & Gaskin's punt is downed at their 23.

Northside can only move it as far as our 47 before another fumble under center ends up just laying there on Wright Field...where Ross Dudley can jump on it! Lions ball! Seven plays later, a big sack ends the drive as the first play of the 4th quarter & Gaskins punt takes a Wright Field roll down to the 13! ANOTHER fumble under center, but they recover. They jump before the snap, 2nd & 15 at the 8. Summers hammers their QB down at the 10. A long pass is complete, but Travis delivers the wood to make him pay, 1st down at their 33. Crawley & Shannon team up in coverage & it's an incomplete pass. A long pass is incomplete down the left sideline, 3rd & 10. A bullet pass down the right side line is tipped by Shannon, Plant, & Derek Easley, but falls incomplete, 4th down. They down the punt at the CHS 31.

The Lions offense mounts one first down on a Gaskin keeper to the 49, but the series stops at the NS 48. Gaskin drills it to the 19 & the CHS defense is back at work with 5:35 left to play. A new NS QB is in the game, & five plays later he completes a short pass in the right flat that goes for a score! They miss the kick & with 3:10 left in the game, the score is Camden 28, Northside 6.

Kendrick Hudson is deep, but the Indians try an onside kick! Ross Dudley is on the good hands team & covers it at the Northside 49! Camden's play selection looks like an attempt to run the clock out, but the Indians have a DIFFERENT idea. Travis up the middle, no gain. Travis again around left end, no gain...and Northside calls a time out with 2:16 left.

Ok.

Travis again around left end for a loss of one & the Indians ask for another time out.

Ok.

Gaskin lines them up to punt. ALL 11 Indians are up close headed in for the punt block... Bad move...

Thomas Pierpoint snaps it to Ross Dudley; he adds one quick move around left end & runs in untouched for the 51-yard score! Danny Kim drills it high into the net & with 1:56 left, it's a 35-6 game.

The last play of the game is a Camden victory knee at the 50 & Camden secures the Senior Night victory over Northside 35-6.

Some stats of interest:
First downs: CHS-8, NS-8
Rushing (Att/yds): CHS-46/170, NS-30/63
Passing (Yards): CHS-0, NS-198
Completions(#/att/int): CHS-0/3/0, NS-10/23/2
Fumbles (#/lost): CHS-1/1, NS-8/2
Penalties (#/yds): CHS-5/27, NS-5/22

Leading CHS Rushers
Ross Dudley: 10 for 95 yards & 1 TD
Andy Travis: 13 for 28 yards & 3 TD's

Leading CHS Tacklers Ross Dudley: 12 total, 2 solo, 1 Int, 1 Fumble recovery
Dakota Summers: 10 total, 4 solo, 1 For loss
Nick Ibarra: 10 total, 5 solo, 1 For loss

Talking with Head Football Coach Kevin Ward after the victory over a 4A school that never quit:
"No, we knew they wouldn't quit. Their coaches do a good job over there & we knew they would play for 4 quarters no matter what the score was! We got some big plays in the 1st half & just kind of sat on the lead all thru the 2nd half. The defense played well! Our offense just got whipped some up front in the last half & that concerns me. We will figure out what we were doing wrong & get it corrected."

On the feeling that we didn't really have it "put away":
"They have big play capabilities. Our secondary did a good job, glad Shannon came up with a pick for a touchdown, but we were concerned all week about getting beat on the deep ball. I was proud of our guys for not letting them get behind them; we were just going to come up if they did complete it & hit them. We knew they were probably going to drop some that they should have caught, maybe even throw one to us...and they did! But we didn't give up a big play, and that was key to this win. The short pass they did run in, we will look at, we were substituting some, but overall, a good effort by our squad."

On the hard hitting:
"We were physical tonight. We told our guys that we did not want to get out hit tonight, the same mindset we had against Huntingdon. I thought we were the most physical team tonight."

On the "cool" night in the stands:
"Beautiful weather! This IS football weather! You can allow the cold to affect your game, but good teams don't. If you don't like to play in this kind of weather, then you need to take up golf, because Championships are won in this weather. I ENJOY playing in this weather!"

On the Senior Night Recognition program before the game:
"Always a special time & a great program & Al Ward did a great job with the ceremony. It is a great time to give recognition to the Cheerleaders, managers, stat girls, photographer's helper, our players, just everyone that is associated with the program! It makes it so special because it is great to know that people WANT to be part of our football program! It is very special to coach something that students and parents want to be part of. It is a great feeling. Anytime you have students that have worked & sacrificed to be part of this team, it is important to recognize their contribution. I do appreciate all of them!"

On the special teams play:
"A good night all the way around tonight. The punt team late, with the fake punt was well executed. We practice that stuff every week, but you just don't know when you might need it. I was proud to see them execute it tonight & score. The kickoff coverage was good; the return team gave us good positions all night. One time we returned to the 50, & that is our goal. The 2nd time, the onside kick, Ross (Dudley) did a good job handling the ball, so that was great! We felt like this was one area of the game that we could win, didn't know what else we might win, offense or defense, but we felt good about special teams."

On next week's game at Stewart County:
"Don't really know anything about them. A few years ago, we must have been following Stewart for some of our opponents, so we got to see a lot of them on tape before we actually had them on the schedule. We haven't seen them this year at all. We know they won tonight, they are 8-1, & we will have our hands full going up there to play. They will have the opportunity to do something that they have never done before: Win a Regional Championship & be able to get to play at home in the playoffs. We can't win a Region Championship this week, but we CAN lose one. We are going to make sure that we are focused & ready to go up there to play a good football team. Their record shows what a good team they have. Well coached, a lot of skilled people, but we have skilled players too, so we will make sure we have it all dotted & crossed before Friday. We know they will have a big crowd, possibility of a Region Championship; they have a lot of fan support. It's not a bad trip, so I hope our fans will come out of the woodwork to make the ride up to Dover & cheer for our team. It's a big game for us."

Dover
FRIDAY
7:30 PM

If you are a Lions football fan, you have got to be there! Let's fill up our side & part of theirs as we yell for our Lions in a big Region 7AA battle!

GO LIONS!