Remembering the 2011 Camden County Football Team
With one of the most dominating, yet balanced teams in recent memory, the 2011 edition of Camden County is one of the greatest football teams ever to not win the state championship.
After winning state titles in 2008 and 2009, Jeff Herron had the Wildcats ranked as the preseason No. 1 in 2010. They faced a tough schedule but entered the playoffs having won five in a row. That’s when disaster struck at home against Hillgrove. The top-ranked Camden County Wildcats lost 28-26 in heartbreaking fashion.
Nine months later, the Wildcats were back in action. Led by UGA commit Brice Ramsey, Camden County opened their historic 2011 campaign with a 66-0 thrashing of Savannah, in which they rushed for six touchdowns and racked up 14 tackles for loss. They were tested the following week against Glennville (OH) but still managed to eke out a 23-14 victory. After that, it was smooth sailing.
For the remainder of the regular season, the Wildcats scored no less than 55 points. Even with the stellar offense, the defense found a way to steal the show. They held all regular season opponents to less than 15 points and featured 4-star CB Kalvaraz Bessent and future Detroit Lion LB Jarrad Davis.
Surprisingly, the Wildcats weren’t ranked first in 5A (the highest classification at the time) until Week 9, when top-ranked McEachern lost to ninth-ranked Hillgrove. They wouldn’t lose that top spot for the rest of the regular season.
Entering the playoffs, Camden County was the team to beat. They averaged 54.9 points per game all year long, which put them tied for second all time in points scored in regular season play for Georgia. Ramsey had passed for 1,053 yards and 15 TDs in the regular season, but the story offensively was about the balanced rushing attack, which had totaled almost 3,000 yards on the backs of JJ Green, Kevonn McKenzie, Allen Hopkins, and others. This team would be feared entering the state playoffs.
The first two rounds went as planned. The Wildcats outscored their opponents 82-7 in those couple games, setting up a home matchup with Rush Propst and Colquitt County. The Packers had lost to Valdosta and Warner Robins already, so Camden was projected to be the outright winner.
The Wildcat offense did their job, racking up 361 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The defense didn’t. They didn’t force any interceptions and only sacked Colquitt twice. Camden County fell at home for the second year in a row, this time by 1 point, 32-31.
Don’t let the loss take away from the record-breaking season. Camden’s offense’s average of 50.9 points per game is second all time in the Georgia high school football record books. The Wildcats only allowed 99 points all year and have not allowed under 100 points since. This was one of the most talented and balanced teams to never win a state championship. They should be remembered as such.
Written by: Dhruv Mohan
