Snapped: Cameron ends 14-year losing streak
The Cameron High School Dragon Football Team snapped a 14-year losing streak while picking up their first Midland Empire Conference win following a 48-21 victory over Chillicothe Friday night.
“The boys made history. I’m proud of them. They did very, very well. Things did not start out for us very well, but we battened down the hatches and were able to throw the ball, run the ball and do some pretty cool stuff,” Cameron coach Jeff Wallace said. “The kids did so well. This was definitely a team effort tonight. We had seen on film they come off the ball tough and get after it early. If you can tempo them a little bit, like we did on offense, then you get them tired. As the game wore on, they got more and more tired and weren’t coming off the ball as hard.”
Cameron seemed destined to repeat their 2019 loss early with the Hornets running their option rushing attack to near perfection. Following a stalled drive by the Dragon offense, the defense’s three-and-out on the next Chillicothe possession gave Cameron enough momentum to get back in contention. A 69-yard shuttle pass to Ty Speer set up a 2-yard touchdown by senior quarterback Ty Campbell, who racked up three TDs on the ground while passing for four TDs on nine attempts with 279 all-purpose yards.
“The defensive line all had one responsibility. We were just going to kill the fullback every play,” Cameron sophomore defensive tackle Remington Hahn said. “Coach Kenagy told us to keep [Tucker Wagers, Chillicothe senior running back] under 20 yards. He picked up about 50 so I think we did pretty good. The team came together and shut them down.”
With the Dragons keying on the run, the Hornets went to the air, with junior quarterback finding Braxten Johnson on the first of two connections that night. A block by junior defensive tackle Preston Benedict allowed Cameron to eventually take the lead for the first and final time on an 11-yard run by Campbell. A tipped pass by senior cornerback Ian Riley, fell into the hands of senior linebacker Cam Hedgpeth to set Cameron up at the Chillicothe 32-yard line, then Campbell found Riley on a 32-yard pass for a touchdown to put Cameron up 21-6.
“It was a team win. That was how we were going to win this game,” said Hedgpeth, who tallied a team-leading 16 tackles on the night. “We put in a new defense this week, and we struggled with it in the first quarter. In the second quarter, that was when stuff really started to click.”
As Chillicothe’s offense production ground to a halt, Cameron opened up an aerial attack with Campbell hitting receivers Riley, Speer, twin brother Bryson Speer and Kacy Kellerstrass in the end zone and in the process evening Cameron’s MEC record to 1-1 and 3-1 overall. The Dragons will next face Maryville (2-1, 1-1), who comes off a 26-14 loss to St. Pius.
