CAMERON — If there were any lingering doubts about how good Cameron is this season, they were squashed Friday night as the Dragons defeated a very good Clay-Battelle squad 44-0 on their home turf. Cameron (7-0) maintains its perfect record this season as the Cee-Bees (6-2) were saddled with just their second loss of the year.
“Our guys rose to the occasion,” Cameron coach Tim Brown said. “We’ve had a couple of good teams come to our field and try to beat us and our guys just keep making plays.”
The game began as you might expect, with the two six-win teams trading punts throughout the first quarter. The Dragons’ first break of the game came as they were punting the ball away on their second possession.
With Cameron punting from inside their own 20-yard line, Clay-Battelle could have had the ball at midfield with a chance to put the first points of the night on the board. Instead, the ball bounced and hit off the Cee-Bees returner and into the arms of a Cameron player. So, it was the Dragons who were gifted a golden opportunity for points and they cashed in, with running back Isaac Ball scoring on a six-yard touchdown a few plays later to go up 8-0.
The Dragons received another gift on C-B’s next drive when Payton Neely intercepted a pass from quarterback Drew Boczek. Ball would score another touchdown on a 23-yard run for a 16-0 lead.
Ball entered Friday’s game just 98 rushing yards away from reaching 1,000 on the season. After his second touchdown, Ball was hovering around 60 yards and put the matter to rest on his very next carry of the night when he ripped off a 42-yard run.
“I was shocked that he got it that early, but our offensive line is just getting better and better,” Brown said. “We had (senior lineman) Clayton Bryan back tonight and just that alone excited the linemen. We’ve got a little bit of depth along the offensive and defensive lines and guys are just getting better and better.”
Cameron QB Colson Wichterman scored on a one-yard sneak later on that drive to make it 24-0.
Ball intercepted a Boczek pass on Clay-Battelle’s next drive and later scored his third touchdown of the night on a 13-yard run just before halftime. All told, Cameron scored 30 points in the second quarter with 22 of them coming off of Clay-Battelle turnovers.
“If you win the turnover game at any level of football, you’ve got a much better chance to win,” Brown said. “If they don’t have any turnovers, that score could be a whole lot different.”
Senior Carlie O’Neil was crowned Cameron’s Homecoming Queen during a halftime ceremony.
Cameron scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter on a Ball four-yard run and an 18-yard Wichterman pass to Cole Burkett. They put the second-stringers in for the fourth quarter and coasted to the 44-0 victory.
“These kids are putting in the time, they’ve put in the conditioning, they listen to what we’re saying and they keep getting better,” Brown said. “I think we’re prepared to take on anybody that comes at us. There are some really good teams out there so we’re not going to get cocky.”
Cameron finished with 332 rushing yards and five touchdowns as a team. Ball actually eclipsed 1,100 rushing yards on the season with his 217-yard, four-touchdown performance. Wichterman added 71 rushing yards and a touchdown of his own and threw for 62 yards and another score.
The Dragon defense dominated all night. In addition to keeping the Cee-Bees off the scoreboard, they held the visitors to just 56 yards of total offense. Consider that Clay-Battelle racked up 44 penalty yards and it was not a good day at the office.
“(Defensive coordinator Derek) Martin is doing such a fantastic job of communicating with these kids,” Brown said. “They’re getting the job done. They’re excited and having fun and the game’s supposed to be fun.”
Clay-Battelle coach Ryan Wilson was succinct with his post-game comments.
“Cameron has a very good ball club,” was all he had to say.
Indeed.
Cameron will close out its home schedule next week against Beallsville and then end the regular season the following week with a trip to Morgantown for a rematch against Trinity. Cameron defeated Trinity 22-13 earlier this month.
“It’s just a great time to be a Dragon,” Brown said. “I think these kids have shown that they’re getting ready to do the best they can throughout the (state) tournament.”
By CODY NESPOR, The Intelligencer
