Photo by Bill Ferguson Cameron’s Payton Neely (7) sweeps around the end to score the first touchdown in their Friday tilt against Valley.

CAMERON — For the second consecutive week Cameron took a one-score lead into the locker room at the half, this week in a hard-fought battle with West Virginia Class A rival Valley.

But for the second straight week coach Tim Brown’s Dragons came back out on to the field in the third quarter breathing fire and immediately put all doubts of victory to rest.

Junior quarterback Colton Wichterman threw for 195 yards and three touchdowns, two of those to senior standout Cole Burkett in the initial 1:55 of the second half, as Cameron put its foot on the gas and took charge enroute to a convincing 41-6 triumph over the Lumberjacks, helping to celebrate Homecoming and Senior Night Friday at Dragons Stadium.

The victory moves the Dragons to 7-0 on the campaign with a trip to Blacksville to take on Clay-Battelle up next Friday night. It also marked the sixth consecutive contest in which the Cameron defense has allowed just one touchdown or less in a game.

“We don’t have a lot of kids, so it’s tough to run scout team before games which I think might put us in a little bit of a hole in the first half,” Brown said. “But we have a great coaching staff and intelligent kids and when we get into the half and make adjustments, they seem to make a difference. I guess we just have the ability to figure some things out.”

After the Lumberjacks had the first possession of the game stall out in the red zone at the Cameron 18 on downs, the Dragons quickly moved the length of the field to take command. On a second-and-eight from the 31 Payton Neely took a hand-off straight up-the-middle and rambled 59 to the Valley 10. Just two plays later Wichterman rolled into the end zone at the 6:24 mark. The PAT bounced off the upright and the hosts had a 6-0 advantage.

The visitors moved the ball once again on their second try, this time, however, they sealed the deal on the first play of the second quarter. Brigg Anderson’s three-yard burst at 11:56 of the second capped a 14-play, 65-yard march with a failed attempt at a two-point conversion equaling the count at 6-6.

Not to be outdone Cameron quickly embarked on a 14-play drive of its own, moving 61 yards while converting three third-down plays and a fourth down call along the way. On fourth-and-goal from the 10 Wichterman lofted a pass towards the corner of the end zone that senior standout Cole Burkett hauled in with 4:14 showing in the half. The point-after sailed wide but the Dragons were back in front 12-6.

While that closed the scoring for the half it certainly did not close the excitement. The ‘Jacks once again moved deep into Cameron territory and after using their final timeout of the half were sitting at the Dragons’ one-yard line with a third down and 20 seconds to go. The visitors manage to get off a pair of handoffs to Virgil Dorian but could not break the plain, turning the ball over inside the one with under a second showing on the clock.

Cameron scored on both of its possessions in the first half while Valley scored on one of three.

“Not scoring on all those opportunities from the one just before the half really hurt us,” Valley coach Logan Miller admitted. “But giving up a touchdown on fourth down when it looked like we had them stopped in tie game was also a huge point in the game. It just all kind of went downhill from there.

“I’m proud of my kids for playing their best half of football in the first half. But Cameron is a very good football team and they showed that again (Friday).”

The Dragons wasted little time giving themselves some breathing room coming out in the third quarter, taking over at their own 41 and moving to the Valley 34 before Wichterman drilled Burkett with a long scoring pass with 10:15 showing. Burkett took a reverse for the deuce, and it was 20-6.

Things went from bad to worse for the Lumberjacks, who finished off a tough six minutes of football by muffing the ensuing kickoff, which was recovered at the 30. It took just one play, and 10 seconds later, for Wichterman to again find Burkett for six with 10:05 to go in the third. Wichterman took the two-pointer in by himself this time and just like that it was a 28-6 margin.

Brown’s offense added another pair of third period scores with J. Ross going in from a yard out and Neely, who finished with 148 rushing yards, adding a 15-yard scoring burst to cap a 29-point third period run.

“These kids just know how to play fantastic football when they are focused,” Brown added. “And just like Coach Miller told me afterwards, we can be a real scary team if we could put four quarters together. The play at the end of the half was huge for us, stopping them at the one, but that is what this defense has done all season when their backs are against the wall.

“We have three nice wins over good teams the last week weeks, but we still have some big games in front of us, including Clay-Battelle next Friday.”

Burkett finished the night with five grabs for 90 yards and three touchdowns.

CAMERON 41 , VALLEY 6

Valley 0 6 0 0 — 6

Cameron 6 6 29 0 — 41

C-Wichterman 10 run (kick failed), 6:24

V-Anderson 3 run (pass failed), 11:56

C-Burkett 10 pass from Wichterman (kick failed), 4:14

C-Burkett 34 pass from Wichterman (Burkett run), 10:15

C-Burkett 30 pass from Wichterman (Wichterman run), 10:05

C-Ross 1 run (Burkett kick), 3:10

C-Neely 15 run (kick failed), :11

Rushing: Valley 36-119-td (Derby 15-69; Dallison 15-39; Higgenbotham 1-3; Anderson 2-6-td; Dorian 3-2). Cameron 29-242-2 (Neely 10-148-td; Ross 10-37-td; Wichterman 4-16; Lilley 2-1; K.Angel 1-14; Debolt 1-12; Frye 1-14).

Passing: Valley 8-16-158-0-0 (all by Derby). Cameron 10-12-195-3-0 (all by Wichterman).

Receiving: Valley 8-158 (Jerricho 4-100; Barr 1-10; Higgenbotham 3-48). Cameron 10-195-3 (Burkett 5-90-3; Debolt 1-8; Neely 2-59; Ross 2-38).

First Downs: Valley 16; Cameron 19.

Penalties: Valley 4-30; Cameron 6-53.

Fumbles: Valley 2-1; Cameron 0-0.