Photo by Kim North Cameron’s Marshall Holland (1) carries the ball Saturday afternoon against Meadow Bridge in a W.Va. Class A first round playoff game at Dragon Field. Holland, just a junior, ran for 275 yards and two touchdowns as the Dragons blew out Meadow Bridge, 46-8. Looking for a block is Cameron’s Colin Magers (52).

CAMERON – Marshall Holland nearly broke a Cameron playoff record for yards rushing in a game Saturday afternoon, but the hard-running junior had no idea how many he had racked up in the No. 7 Dragons’ 46-8 rout of visiting Meadow Bridge in a W.Va. Class A first-round playoff contest on the artificial surface at windy Dragon Field.

“Wow,” Holland said when informed of his yardage. “We just went out and did our jobs. We don’t play for success, we play for a standard and we just throttled them. Our defense was a little slow to start, but we picked up what they were doing pretty quick.”

The record is 302 yards by Jason Dalesio.

“We prepared hard for these guys. You could see that they like to play ‘bully-ball’ where they could pick up 3 or 4 yards a carry,” Cameron head coach Tim Brown said. “We were concerned about that, but we ended up masking some plays on defense that put them behind the sticks and that allowed our offense to explode.”

Behind Holland’s effort, Cameron ran for 336 yards and five touchdowns on 30 carries. Athletic quarterback Kason Angel ran for two scores (16 and 7) while Gunner Lilley added a 26-yard TD scamper. Of the total, 231 came in the first half when the Dragons broke an 8-all deadlock with 22 points in the second quarter for a 30-8 halftime margin.

“I thought we did a good job of mixing it up. We caught some short passes, but our run game was on,” Brown added. “You’re going to win games in the trenches and I thought our offensive and defensive lines played really well.”

Taking the opening kickoff, which went out of bounds, and a pair of encroachment penalties against the No. 10 Wildcats (7 -4), Cameron started at the Meadow Bridge 48. Seven plays later, Angel scrambled to his left on second-and-10 from the 16. He turned the corner, tip-toed down the near sideline before lowering his head and running over a defender at the goal line. Holland’s two-point run made it 8-0.

Meadow Bridge answered with a 10-play, 75-yard march that ate up more than five minutes. Kaiden Sims plowed in from 2 yards out and the Roles brothers combined for the two-point pass as Trip found Trent in the right corner of the end zone.

However, it was all Dragons from there on as they breathed fire on all three straight possessions in the second quarter.

On the first play of the second quarter, Angel faked to Holland going right and took off around his left end, reaching the end zone standing up. He then found Hayden Bonar for the two-point conversion and a 16-8 lead the hosts would not relinquish.

After Colin Magers recovered a fumble on Meadow Bridge’s next snap, it only took Cameron five plays to go 58 yards as Angel connected with Soier Reed down the near sidelines for a 23-yard TD strike. The two-point attempt failed, but the hosts led 22-8.

Following a punt by the Wildcats that netted just 24 yards, Gunner Lilley took a pitch right around the end, turned the corner and was off to the races for a 26-yard scoring gallop. Holland’s run made it 30-8.

Carter Paczewski intercepted a pass late in the first half, but the Dragons were unable to convert a fourth-and-3.

Meadow Bridge, thanks to a couple 15-yard yellow flags on Cameron, moved the ball to the Dragons’ 21, but a pass in the end zone fell incomplete.

“We moved the ball well, but we had a couple of turnovers there when we were driving that hurt,” Meadow Bridge head coach Brandon Wickline said.

The visitors marched 66 yards on 15 plays with the second-half kickoff, using 8:40 off the clock only to see a fourth down pass fall incomplete.

“That was kind of the story,” Wickline said. “We had some good drives, we just didn’t cap them off.”

Cameron made it hurt as Holland went off right tackle for 22 yards on fourth-and-2 and Owen Whisler booted the point-after as the margin increased to 37-8.

Disaster struck the Wildcats again as the snap from center in punt formation sailed over Trent Roles’ head and out of the end zone for a safety and a 39-8 cushion.

On the ensuing possession after a free kick, Cameron marched 48 yards on three plays. Holland carried for 39 before going around the left end from 9. Whisler was once again perfect to cap the scoring.

Like good running backs do, Holland praised the work of his offensive line, as did Coach Brown.

“If I can stay behind my blockers, lower my shoulder and make a cut here and there, that’s all we need,” Holland said. “They (Meadow Bridge) had a couple big men on the D-line, but I just thought my guys were more physical.”

The offensive front included Paczewski and Brody Hill at tackles; Greyson Bonar and Kaiden Chapman at guards; and Colin Magers at center.

“Marshall is a really good running back,” Brown noted. “He has gotten better and better. His vision once he gets to the second level is outstanding. He just needs to keep getting better from here on.

“My coaches are doing a fantastic job of getting some of these young replacement guys in there,” Brown added. “The young guys have had to play because of all the injuries we’ve had, but the last 3 of 4 games they’ve really stepped up.”

With the victory, Cameron (8-3) heads south to meet No. 2 Wahama (11-0) in a rematch of last winter’s Class A state championship game won by the White Falcons, 29-22.