THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9409300195
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 31 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CAMDEN LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The Camden County football team was out to prove last week that it is for real and is a contender for the state 1A playoffs. A 22-0 win over Northampton West, the team's first conference win since 1990, won over more believers.
The Bruins dominated the first half to down the mistake-ridden Hurricanes. Camden (4-2) had good field position all night thanks to bad punting, numerous penalties, fumbles, and dropped passes by the Hurricanes.
The Bruins opened the scoring on their first possession. After a 15-yard punt by West's Trever Vincent, Camden took over on the Hurricanes 39. Seven plays later, T.J. Thornton took a pitchout from quarterback Arderrick Wiggins and ran six yards to the left for a touchdown with 6:52 to play in the first quarter. Kevin Dodson booted the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Camden scored again on its next possession. The Bruins pushed the ball 65 yards on 10 plays and added another touchdown when Eric Chamblee took a handoff and ran three yards to the right with 11:54 to play in the half. The extra point kick was blocked, keeping the lead at 13-0. The drive was aided by two Northampton West offsides penalties, and an 18-yard connection from Wiggins to Chamblee.
Northampton West (1-4) turned the ball over again at its own 23 when Camden's Ronnie Rose recovered a fumble. On the next play, Thornton ran 19 yards down to the two. Three plays later, Wiggins took it in himself on a one-yard run with 8:35 to play in the half. The extra point run failed and the score remained 19-0.
More Northampton penalties led to another Camden score. The Bruins took over on their own 38 with 2:37 to play in the half. Joel Taylor rushed for 10 yards and 15 more were tacked on for a Northampton facemask penalty. Five plays later, a Northampton offsides penalty on a third and five from the 20 put the Bruins in field goal range. With seven seconds to play in the half, Dodson booted a 34-yard field goal for the 22-0 lead.
The Northampton West defense stiffened in the second half, but Camden still had chances to score. On the opening drive of the second half, Chamblee ran 68 yards to the end zone, but the touchdown was called back on a clipping penalty. Dodson also missed a 35-yard field goal with 3:25 to play in the third quarter.
The epitome of Northampton's poor play came in the third quarter when Trever Vincent snagged a 40-yard pass from Amos Betts and was heading for the end zone when he fumbled at Camden's five yard line. The ball went out of the end zone for a Camden touchback. West also had a golden opportunity to score when it recovered a fumble at Camden's 15 in the fourth quarter. But the Hurricanes could only advance four yards and turned the ball over on downs.
Camden may have been given some breaks, but it's the good teams that take advantage of those breaks. Jones said that his team was ready to play hard after being blown out the previous week by Chocowinity.
``Last week we came out as flat as we could be,'' Jones said. ``We preached on that all week. They just started talking about playing hard and winning and keeping the enthusiasm the entire game. We never dominated a conference game like we did tonight.''
Jones said that the Briuns were out to dominate the game on the line, despite having smaller players.
``We totally dominated both lines of scrimmage,'' he said.
Jones said he is not letting his team get caught up in the playoff hype.
``We're just going to take it week by week now,'' he said. by CNB