Rams have Devil of a time in opener
By John Bassetti
MINERAL RIDGE
If not two firsts, then at least one first that resulted from Campbell Memorial’s 42-28 win over Mineral Ridge Friday night was Mickey Sikora’s first victory in his coaching debut.
“It feels great. It feels great,” Sikora said after 25 years as an assistant at several schools.
The game was also believed to have been the first between the two schools.
“It’s the first time I know of,” said Sikora.
“I couldn’t tell you that we’ve ever played each other,” said Mineral Ridge’s Joe Stevens. “This was a first as far as I know and it was a heck of a battle.”
With the score tied 21-21, junior Ja’les Hughes caught a pass from his brother, senior quarterback Lester Hughes, for a 49-yard gain that took Campbell to Mineral Ridge’s 14. Two plays later, Lester Hughes’ shovel pass to Skevo Zembillas from 18 yards out put the Red Devils ahead for good, 28-21, with 4:05 remaining.
Coupled with two fumble recoveries by linebacker David Benedis, Campbell dominated the second half.
The pass to Ja’les Hughes was a screen.
“It was designed for me because they were supposed to go the other way, but they saw that nobody was out on me, so they just kept swinging to me and it worked,” said the 5-10, 155 tailback who played mostly defense last season.
“We thought the play action was there,” Sikora said of the screen.Of Benedis’ recoveries, Sikora said: “I thought that was the key to the game because we didn’t turn the ball over and they did and that came back to haunt them.”
Zembillas’ 85-yard kickoff return for the game’s final TD was the backbreaker after Ridge pulled within 35-28 with 4:35 remaining. He also had an 82-yard TD run.
Helping keep Ridge in check was Campbell’s defensive line of Dennis Williams, Sean Burnett, Angel Torres, Jose Martinez and David Horvath as an alternate.
Ridge’s Mike Keleman had 181 yards in the first half before Campbell’s adjustment limited the 5-8, 145 senior to 20 in the second half.
“We were misaligned at times because of the first-game jitters,” Sikora said. “Once we settled in, we did a much better job in the second half.”
Of the fumbles, Stevens was more definitive.
“Mistakes will kill you. We played pretty cleanly in the first half, but we then started forcing a couple things. That cost us because a good team will take advantage of that and Campbell did.”
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