ITG-SEGA / September 2016
All of the message boards and sports media had it wrong. Nearly five to one most people picked Camden County as the two-touchdown favorite over host Oakleaf High School. Oakleaf surprised the Wildcats at the Dungeon Aug. 19 at Zaxby’s Field in Orange Park, 27-13.
It was the first of three Friday night trips in a row that Camden County will make to Florida to start the season. Camden will not make it back to the friendly confines of Chris Gilman Stadium in Kingsland until the fourth game against their neighbor to the north, Glynn Academy.
The Wildcats rebounded last year after a dismal 5-5 season in 2014. Last season, the Wildcats went on a nine-game win streak, not losing its first game until game number 10 when the Colquitt County Packers won the region title and eventually the AAAAAA state championship.
Camden is now part of the “Big 44” according to the Georgia High School Association’s last reclassification effort, which placed the Wildcats in the newly created Class AAAAAAA.
After finishing the 2015 campaign, 10-2, the Wildcats were ranked number six in the preseason polls by Georgia High School Football Daily.
As both teams readied for kickoff, the game was delayed by thirty minutes due to lightning and storms in the area.
The real lightning was about to hit, and it wasn’t out of the sky but on the ground in the form of senior quarterback Jordan Johnson, leading an 83-yard drive including a 22-yard rushing touchdown to give Oakleaf the lead in the first quarter. Johnson completely froze the Wildcats and scored his second touchdown when he ran a 14-yard bootleg.
Camden showed some defensive prowess in the first half, but the Wildcats were victims of big plays by Oakleaf that would keep drives alive instead of getting the defense off the field and forcing the Knights to punt.
“Defensively, we have been playing well, but we cannot give up big plays on third down,” Camden County head coach Welton Coffey said. “We must get off the field. Giving teams extra plays gives them more opportunities to score.”
Offensively, Camden was held to only three first downs, 46 yards, and no points in the first half. “It is vitally important for us to do a better job of executing offensively,” Coffey said. “This is at every position on the field”.
Camden added a pair of scores from Devegas Austin and John Jones, but Oakleaf added two more late touchdowns, putting the game out of reach. Senior pony Cole Loden led the Wildcats on the defensive side of the ball with seven tackles.
The Wildcats travel to Venice in Sarasota County and finish the three-game Florida swing with a trip to Columbia.
“Special teams have been pretty solid, but we have got a better job of covering punts,” Coffey said. “We allowed Oakleaf to get field position, so we have to get that fixed this week in practice. One of biggest problems on coverage and defensively was not getting off blocks, and we have to do a better job of that to be successful.”
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Wildcats Upended Early
By John Wood
