photo by: Bill Ferguson Photography

Cameron’s Mason Scott (1) goes high to intercept a pass intended for Doddridge’s Aidan James (1) last Friday in a W.Va. Class A quarterfinal playoff game. The Dragons won, 28-13, and will travel to Williamson to play Tug Valley this Friday.

CAMERON – There isn’t a player on the Cameron football team to remember the last time the Dragons reached the W.Va. Class A state semifinals in 2000.

It doesn’t matter, though, because they are excited to continue the tradition at the rural Marshall County school.

“People are excited. The younger generation wasn’t around back then, but the old guard that was around for the 1990 and 2000 seasons are also excited,” Cameron head coach Tim Brown said. “We’ve received a lot of support. We’ve had restaurants wanting to feed the kids. We’ve heard from a lot of people that are making the long trip south.”

The No. 4 ranked Dragons (11-1) will make the nearly four-and-a-half hour trip to Williamson to meet top-ranked Tug Valley (12-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Cameron had the choice of playing on Friday night or Saturday afternoon at either 1:30 p.m. or 4. Brown said he chose Friday for two reasons.

“First of all, our kids are accustomed to playing at 7 o’clock on Friday night’s,” he explained. “Secondly, if you look at the weather forecast, the high Friday is supposed to be 33 while the low is expected to drop to around 20. I understand their field is a muddy mess, so I’d rather play on it frozen than let the sun hit it and thaw out the top inch or so and make it slick.”

Whatever the conditions, the Dragons know they have their hands full with the undefeated Panthers.

“They are ranked No. 1 for a reason. They have good talent and a big offensive line allows the quarterback to throw for all of those yards and the running back to run for those yards,” Brown said. “I think they are similar to Doddridge County. We must cover the pass and stop the run.”

The Dragons did that against the Bulldogs, limiting them to under 200 yards (186) in total offense.

“We stopped the run with technique. We got lower than they did,” Brown noted. “We also found out that our pass coverage has gotten better over time.”

While the offense was scoring four touchdowns, the defense forced four turnovers – three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Mason Scott, Slaton Pettit and Carter Paczewski all had thefts via the air, while Wes Starcher pounced on a fumble when Griffen Miller hit the Doddridge County quarterback and forced it.

“I thought we played really well on defense,” Brown added. “The kids really got after them.”

Tug Valley relies on sophomore quarterback Preston May. The 5-9, 155-pounder is 174-285 for 2,817 yards, 37 touchdowns and nine interceptions. In the Panthers’ 49-20 quarterfinal win over No. 8 Petersburg, May threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns on 14 of 20.

He has also run for 387 yards and two TDs on 60 carries. He is 19-0 as a starter.

His main target is 6-0, 160-pound sophomore Cameron Slone who has 70 receptions for 1,304 yards and 14 six-pointers. Senior Ashton Davis checks in with 26 catches for 407 yards and six touchdowns. Junior Bryson Elia is the main rusher with 1,442 yards and 20 touchdowns on 191 carries. He also has caught 31 passes for 382 yards and half-a-dozen touchdowns. Elia lugged the leather 29 times for 247 yards and four TDs against Petersburg.

Cameron’s Kason Angel has passed for 1,194 yards and 20 touchdowns on 58 of 97. He was 5-for-10 for 60 yards and two touchdowns last week. He has only thrown one pick and has also scored four rushing TDs.

Tailback Klypsan Wallace is the workhorse, carrying the ball 187 times for 1,594 yards and 23 touchdowns. He collected 93 yards and scored on an 18-yard run to get the scoring started last week. He also had a two-point run. Pettit is the Dragons’ Swiss Army Knife. He has run for 823 yards and 11 touchdowns; caught 16 passes for just over 400 yards and reached the end zone seven times. Scott leads the team with 21 receptions for 416 yards and 10 TDs.

Freshman Talen Brown is the team’s leading tackler with nearly 100 stops, with 16 of them for lost yardage. He also has three fumble recoveries.

The other semifinal pits No. 3 Wahama (12-0) at No. 2 Tucker County (12-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m. The state championship game is set for Friday, Dec. 13 at noon at UC Stadium at Laidley Field in Charleston.