Girard vs Campbell

Gallery

Team

Campbell Memorial

Record	Div.	Conf.
3/7	Div. V	All-American Conference Blue Tier

Team

Girard

Record	Div.	Conf.
9/2	Div. IV	All-American Conference Blue Tier

By Jon Moffett

jmoffett@vindy.com

Campbell

There was only one thing junior running back Ja’les Hughes could think about after breaking the Campbell High school record for most rushing yards in a single game: pancakes.

“I’m going out to eat with all the [offensive] linemen for all-you-can-eat pancakes,” he said.

That’s a fitting gesture, since the pancake blocks by his teammates opened up huge holes for Hughes. He ran for 366 yards on 46 carries, and scored three touchdowns to lead the Red Devils in an important AAC Blue Tier game.

“They said we were going to run a lot, but I didn’t know it was going to be that much,” Hughes said. “But it was good for me. I like it.”

The win assured the Red Devils (7-1, 3-0 AAC Blue) of at least a tie for the tier championship.

First-year coach Mickey Sikora, who has guided his team to a 7-1 start, said he saw some things on game tape and felt his team could overmatch the Girard defensive line.

It worked so well, in fact, that the Red Devils had one passing attempt — that’s right, one . That pass would have been a touchdown, but Girard’s Landon Smith made a nice play on the ball in the end zone for the incompletion.

“We just felt that would could out-physical them a little bit,” Sikora said. “We felt comfortable with our offensive line. Really, we had a lot of packages to throw out of that formation we use. But we were just comfortable running the ball.”

And Hughes stole the show early and often. He scored the first points of the game on a four-yard run in the first quarter. He also had scoring runs of 13 and 30 yards.

“Our offensive line did a fantastic job,” Sikora said. “I said earlier this year that we can be a power team, or we can be a speed team. We’re dangerous because of that.”

Hughes admitted that he’s not the biggest running back (he’s listed at 5-foot-10, 155 pounds) but he can pack a punch. He also prefers to run away from tacklers instead of through them.

“I just try to run hard, and that makes me stronger. And I’m fast,” he said with a big grin while tending to his mohawk.

While Hughes and the offense seemed to run at will, it was the Red Devil defense that helped keep the game close to the vest.

The vaunted Indians offense, led by junior quarterback Dan Graziano and standout receiver Smith, had issues early on. Graziano was sacked five times, including the first two plays of the game.

Senior linebacker John Sikora had two sacks a recovered a fumble. He also acted as a blocking back for Hughes.

The defense was able to hold the Indians (5-3, 2-1) at their own end of the field for most of the game.

Smith was held in check for most of the game, but hauled in a 59-yard touchdown pass from Graziano in the fourth quarter. Smith finished with two catches for 68 yards.

Sikora said the game plan was to try and eliminate Smith and force Graziano to rush his throws.

“I give a lot of credit to our secondary coaches getting that secondary ready, along with our defensive coordinator for coming up with a great game plan.”

Hughes hopes he’ll continue to be a focal point in the offense. He said he wouldn’t even mind more carries.

“Hopefully they get some knowledge off of this and I get 60 carries next week,” he said.