Cameron’s Payton Neely jumps high for a catch against Madonna last week. Neely and the Dragons play host to the Valley Lumberjacks on Friday. Photo by Bill Ferguson

CAMERON — There is an old adage that defense wins championships. With that saying in mind, coach Tim Brown and his Cameron football team have to feel like they are in a pretty good place heading into the second half of the 2022 high school regular season.

Coming off quality victories over Tyler Consolidated and Madonna, and sitting at 6-0 on the campaign, the Dragons will welcome a third consecutive West Virginia small-school playoff contender to Dragon Stadium Friday night when the 4-2 record Valley Lumberjacks make the trip into the hills of Marshall County.

Brown’s defensive-minded troops used a pair of pick-sixes in the first minute of the second half to take control last week in posting a 46-8 victory over the Blue Dons while coach Logan Miller’s ‘Jacks watched a close game go south in the second game in falling 36-14 at South Harrison that same night.

“We have been playing some pretty good football,” Miller said. “And while people may look at last week’s score and think it wasn’t a very good game the score was actually 22-14 midway through the third quarter, and we were on our way in to score. However, penalties, a couple dropped touchdown passes and not taking advantage of opportunities in the red zone did us in.

“But overall, we have flipped the script from last year when we were 1-5 at this point of the season.”

Valley is led by sophomore do-it-all quarterback Gavin Derby, who collected 106 rushing yards and 123 passing a week ago. Derby averages nearly 145 yards on the ground a game as the Lumberjacks have been scoring at a 33-points a contest clip. Patrick Higginbotham averages close to 100 yards receiving a game for Miller’s squad, who also had a receiving touchdown from Lane Dallison at South Harrison.

“They are a veteran team that has just about everyone back from last year,” Brown commented. “They like to spread you out when they are on offense, and they like to get their quarterback and running backs room to run. But don’t be fooled, they have the ability to throw the ball downfield also.

“But just when you think you might have them figured out, they go back to old-time Valley football sets and just try to pound the ball at you. That’s what they did with us last year and we are expecting that again Friday. On defense they run four and five-man fronts and they like to pressure the quarterback with their big, strong kids.”

While Cameron has the ability to put the ball in the end zone from anywhere on the field it has been the defense that has been paving the way for the Dragons. Since allowing 31 points in a season-opening victory at West Greene the stop-troops have only surrendered 29 points over their last five outings and have been forcing turnovers at a high rate.

“Teams normally don’t score every week on defense, but it sure seems like that is what we have been doing,” Brown added. “It makes a heck of a difference when your defense is scoring touchdowns, or even setting the offense up on short fields. Our defense and special teams have really been helping our offense out. Coach Gibbs Davidson has these kids ready to play every week and it is paying off.

“I can’t say enough about our trainers also. We are a small, Class A school with a limited number of kids, so staying healthy is huge for us and our trainers do a great job keeping everyone on the field and the coaches do an excellent job moving kids around and putting them in positions they may never have played before and excelling. This is a great group of kids and their focus is amazing.

“And the crazy thing is that as good as the defense has played and as well as the offense has moved the ball, we still have not played four good quarters of football in a game yet.”

Cameron has only scored less than 41 points in a contest once this season, that coming in a 21-7 victory over Tyler Consolidated two weeks ago.

Junior quarterback Colton Wichterman leads the way with his main receiving threat senior standout Cole Burkett. J. Ross and Payton Neeley are both quality running backs and each managed to find the end zone last week against Madonna.

“I honestly don’t think that people talk about their defense enough,” Miller said of the Dragons. “They are lights out. Their defense puts so much pressure on you and has the ability to cause turnovers. They just keep coming and they wear on you.

“They have good athletes and they spread you out on offense. Wichterman has a great arm and really good receivers, and this is going to be a huge challenge for us this week.

“This is a big rivalry game, and we know it won’t be easy this week, but every game is a playoff game for us from here on out and we know we need wins. They have had our number for a few years, and we are hoping to get one back Friday night.”

Cameron is currently ranked No. 9 in the latest W.Va. Class A playoff race while Valley is sitting at No. 18.

The Dragons have captured the last six in the series by a combined 240-56 margin, including last year’s 62-8 conquest. The Lumberjacks last tasted victory in 2015 by a 35-13 count.