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Dragons Earns Signature Victory Against Bishops

Cameron silences doubters with 30-20 win against Dohanue

Photo by Josh Strope / Cameron quarterback Colby Brown (9) prepares to throw as Bishop Donahue’s Luke LeMasters (59) and Chris Barry (54) close in during Friday’s game in Cameron.

CAMERON — Despite a 3-0 start and an offense that was scoring at will, there were still some skeptical about just how good Cameron was.

Even Dragons coach Scott Holt wasn’t sure.

For at least one week, those doubters can be silent.

Cameron earned its signature victory, knocking off previously unbeaten Bishop Donahue, 30-20, on Friday at Dragon Stadium. It was the first time in seven years the Dragons were able to defeat their Marshall County rival.

“That is a really good football team our kids were able to overcome,” Holt said. “I am so proud of them. They believe in our game plan. They believe in our coaching staff. They believe in each other. When you put all three of those things together, the amount of talent they have, good things happen.

“I learned we have a resolve. We came back from a couple bad situations. We hadn’t trailed in the first three games and we went down early. We came from behind a couple times so to be able to overcome that and grit it out and grind it out, make the pass when we needed the pass. Make the first down on the ground when we needed it. Big stop when we needed it. We had a lot of fortunate breaks, but after the last seven years of losing to Bishop Donahue, we were probably due a few breaks.”

Those fortunate breaks were seemingly a meltdown by the Bishops (3-1) in the fourth quarter.

Bishop Donahue entered the final 12 minutes with a 20-14 lead as Trey Miller scored from 1-yard out with 38.4 seconds to go in the third quarter. The conversion failed as a bad snap — a common occurrence for the Bishops on the night — to quarterback Jimmy Hull led to the run being stuffed.

Cameron (4-0) answered six plays later as Michael Starcher, who rushed for a game-high 125 yards, found the end zone from 10 yards out. On the conversion, Dragons quarterback Colby Brown faked to Starcher, rolled out on a bootleg and despite looking like he was going to be stopped, cut back inside and dove for the end zone. The ball came loose but the officials said he crossed the goal line first and Cameron had its first lead at 22-20.

Bishop Donahue marched into Dragons territory quickly, but the threat ended when Hull fumbled at the Cameron 44.

Cameron went three-and-out, but Brown executed a perfect punt that pinned the Bishops at their 5. Bishop Donahue couldn’t get anything going — a bad snap on second down put it in a bigger hole — and had to punt out of it is end zone.

Cameron took over in Bishop Donahue territory and scored three plays later, the last on Starcher’s second touchdown run, this time from 13 yards out.

The Bishops used some trickery on the first play of their next possession as Hull completed a pass to Miller, who lateraled to Custer. But just as Custer crossed the Bishops 35, he was stripped and Brown — who else? — fell on the ball. Cameron ran out the last four minutes.

“Colby just seems to be in that place,” Holt said. “For the past seven years, we’ve had a kid in the right place, but now it seems like any given Friday, we seem to have that guy that can find a spot for us. Last week it was somebody different, next week it might be someone different. Colby was everywhere for us. What he does on the stat sheet is great, but what he does off it is even greater.”

For all the joy in the Cameron locker room, Bishop Donahue coach John Durdines is left scratching his head. Three fumbles, multiple bad snaps and 11 penalties for 75 yards were mistakes that proved costly for a team that led on three occasions.

“We had three straight fumbles and the penalties and you can’t do that against good teams,” Durdines said. “We led throughout the whole game. We took the lead, they’d tie it up. We take the lead, they’d tie it up. You have to give them credit. They played a heckuva game and battled back each time, but we were our own worst enemy. Turning the ball over, you can’t do that.”

Hull got the scoring started in the first with a 51-yard touchdown run. Brown tied it up with 21.5 seconds to go before halftime, diving over a Bishops defender for the score.

After a three-and-out to begin the second half for Cameron, Bishop Donahue’s quick-strike offense scored in one play as Hull found JC Custer on a slant route and the senior outran the defense for a 66-yard score to put Donahue up 14-8.

Cameron answered right away, scoring 16 seconds later as Brown lofted a pass down the sideline to Travis Mickey, the Bishops defender fell down, and Mickey scored easily on a 58-yard play to tie the score.

Brown finished with 170 yards passing. Hull was 15 of 21 for 184 yards and a score. He also added 58 yards rushing.

Cameron 30, Bishop Donahue 20

Bishop Donahue    8  0  12    0  —  20

Cameron    0  8    6  14  —  30

B — Hull 51 run (Custer pass from Hull)

C — Brown 10 run (Brown run)

B — Custer 66 pass from Hull (run failed)

C — Mickey 58 pass from Brown (run failed)

B — Miller 1 run (run failed)

C — Starcher 10 run (Brown run)

C — Starcher 13 run (Brown run)

Rushing: Bishop Donahue 33-174-2td (Custer 10- 72, Hull 12-58-td, Whitelach 1-14, Mangino 3-13, Miller 4-11-td, Beyser 2-3, Wilson 1-3);  Cameron 39-161-3td (Starcher 23-125-2td, Brown 12-27-td, Simms 4-9)

Passing: Bishop Donahue 15-21-184-td (all by Hull); Cameron 6-19-170-td-x (all by Brown).

Receiving: Bishop Donahue 15-184-td (Custer 7-107-td, Miller 4-41, Kleeh 3-39, Robbins 1-7); Cameron 6-170-td (Mickey 1-57-td, Scott 2-50, Milliken 1-33, Starcher 1-17, Routt 1-12).

First Downs: Bishop Donahue 12, Cameron 9.

Penalties: Bishop Donahue 11-75, Cameron 5-45.

Fumbles-Lost: Bishop Donahue 4-3, Cameron 0-0.

Clay-Battelle 49, Valley 21

PINE GROVE — Elijah Steele hauled in four touchdowns from quarterback Tanner Burnette for Clay-Battelle as the Cee-Bees rolled to a 49-21 victory over host Valley.

Burnette passed for 214 yards and Steele garnered 78 yards. Christopher Wolf accounted for 99 yards on four catches to lead the Cee-Bees receiving corps. Travis Dille also scored twice on the ground for Clay-Battelle.

Valley was led by quarterback Tyler Kocher who ran for 60 yards and a score and threw for 48 yards and a score.

Levi Streets also reached the endzone for Valley on a five-yard scamper.

Indian Creek 30, St. Clairsville 13

WINTERSVILLE — Robert Koppa ran for three touchdowns and the Creek rushing game supplied 234 yards as the Redskins handled visiting St. Clairsville 30-13 on Friday.

Also finding the endzone for Indian Creek was Gregg Wade from five yards out, while Brandon Hiles drilled a 29-yard field goal.

Wade led the rushing game with 82 yards, while he tossed for 60 yards without an incompletion.

Zach Bigelow threw two touchdowns for the Red Devils and led the passing attack with 194 yards.

Paden City 59, Hundred 0

PADEN CITY — The Wildcats demolished visiting Hundred on Friday. Haden Hiser found the endzone on a 75-yard kickoff return, a 48-yard punt return, a 43-yard reception and a six-yard run.

He also ran for 52 yards and hauled in 43 yards.

Paden City quarterback Aaron Heasley tossed two scores for 110 yards.

Tyler Consolidated 47, Calhoun 0

SISTERSVILLE — Griffin Phillips completed eight of 11 passes for 184 yards, Tyler Anderson caught six passes for 109 yards and Jace Reed ran for 134 yards on seven carries to carry Tyler Consolidated to victory over visiting Calhoun County.

Phillips also threw for four scores in the win, while Reed and Mark Rucker ran in scores for Tyler.

Fort Frye 48, Monroe Central 20

BEVERLY — Casey Lewis dashed for 224 yards on 16 rushes to pace Fort Frye’s victory. Lewis also ran for five touchdowns in the win.

Monroe Central was led by Jarett Hooper, who completed 12 of 20 throws for 170 stripes.

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