Cameron’s Cole Burkett (2) breaks free from Doddridge County defenders Seth Richards (1) and Landon Thomas (6) to score the Dragons only touchdown.

CAMERON — Cameron has been cast in the role of David against Goliath for most of the 2022 high school football season. It finally caught up with the Dragons on a snowy Friday night in Marshall County.

No. 11 Doddridge County used an offensive line that averaged 237 pounds per man to lead the way for a pair of running backs to each rush for more than 100 yards in a 21-6 victory over the hosts (11-1) in a West Virginia Class A quarterfinal round game on the snow-covered artificial surface.

“We’ve been waiting on it with all of these teams we’ve been playing outweighing us by 70 pounds per man,” Cameron head coach Tim Brown said. “We’ve been waiting for someone to say ‘hey, we’re going to run it, run it and run it while eating up the clock.’

“We held them to fourth down six times but only stopped them twice,” he continued. “They had a good game plan and were able to execute it.”

All told, the Bulldogs (10-2) lugged the leather an eye-popping 61 times for 268 yards and three touchdowns. Seniors Seth Richards and Bryant McKinney were the recipients of the outmanned front.

Richards ran 32 times for 133 yards and a 4-yard touchdown that opened the scoring. It capped a 15-play, 68-yard march that chewed up nine minutes.

McKinney picked up 112 yards on 23 totes and bounced a fourth-and-5 play outside to the left and scampered 19 yards to paydirt.

That run ended a 11-play, 75-yard drive that took 5:39.

Placekicker John Devinney was good on both conversions for a 14-0 halftime reading.

Doddridge County accumulated 183 yards of total offense in the first half on 38 snaps (36 runs, 2 passes), while Cameron ran just seven plays that netted 13 yards.

“We are down to 18 (healthy) guys. We’ve lost some of our bigger, tougher guys, but the younger, tougher kids stepped up and did a good job. I love these kids,” he stressed. “We started with 21 (players) and one of them was hurt. We’ve never had more than 20 guys dress and we’ve never played a team that wasn’t way bigger than us, but I can’t be more proud of these kids. They went 11-1 and did everything we asked them to do.

“They love to play. They come back from injury to play. They are tough kids and give you everything,” Brown continued. “It took us 12 weeks until we felt the sorrow of this loss. You have to tip your hat to a bunch of kids that refused to lose until the big boys got them.

“We couldn’t slay another giant.”

A 1-yard plunge by Bulldogs’ quarterback Tyler Huffman midway through the fourth quarter capped a 16-play, 80-yard drive that used 10:17 off the clock. Devinney’s placement made it 21-0.

Cameron was able to avert being shut out when Cole Burkett scooped up the game’s lone fumble, despite the adverse weather conditions, and returned it to the Doddridge County 35 with just under two minutes remaining.

It only took the Dragons two plays to go the distance as quarterback Cole Wichterman found Burkett in the right flat. The senior turned the corner and tight-roped his way down the sideline to complete the 35-yard scoring play. The pass for two points was no good.

Cameron was held to minus-8 yards rushing on 12 carries. Wichterman was 6-for-13 for 71 yards and the aforementioned TD. Burkett caught four passes for 61 yards.

The Bulldogs advance to meet the winner of No. 2 Williamstown and No. 10 East Hardy in the semifinals. That game will be played today in Williamstown.