By Ryan Jones

sports@vindy.com

NEWTON FALLS

Outside the Campbell locker room, Dave Guidos’ broad grin overwhelmed his scruffy red beard.

Most of the time that’s not an easy task, but on a night when the Red Devils defeated Newton Falls 28-9 to clinch the AAC Blue Tier title outright, the 5-foot-11, 255-pound center couldn’t help but smile.

“This feels great,” Guidos said. “This was one of our major goals this season. In every practice the last rep of every drill has always been about doing it for the championship and here we are having reached that goal. It’s pretty special — this is our school’s first league title in 19 years.”

Campbell got strong performances from tailback Ja’les Hughes and fullback John Sikora, who rushed for two touchdowns each as the Red Devils racked up 208 yards on the ground.

Hughes, who tallied 155 yards on 20 carries, scored on a 3-yard plunge in the first quarter and his 6-yard TD run in the second quarter put the Red Devils up 21-0 with 7:27 remaining.

Guidos said it’s easy to find motivation to block for Hughes and Sikora.

“It’s exciting because on every play they could break it the distance,” he said. “Both guys are dynamic runners and only need a little seam to break it. As an offensive line, we try to give them the biggest seam we can.”

Trailing 21-0 in the second quarter, Newton Falls’ Brian Moser capped off a 70-yard drive when he took a wide receiver screen pass from quarterback Matt Brazin and scored from 23 yards out.

Newton Falls coach Greg Lazzari thought the touchdown took some momentum away from Campbell.

“And to start the second half we had a good defensive stand, but on our next possession we fumbled and they capitalized on it. When you play a team that’s as well-coached as Campbell you can’t have those types of mistakes and win.”

Sikora helped the Red Devils turn the Tigers’ fumble into points when he scored on a 3-yard run to make the score 28-6.

Campbell’s defensive line, specifically defensive tackles Quincy Little and Sean Burnett, made life miserable on Brazin, who made his first start at quarterback since being injured earlier in the season.

Little had two sacks and two tackles for loss and Burnett added a sack of his own.

“Little and Burnett are two tackles that really complement each other,” coach Mickey Sikora said. “Their combination of size and speed really pose problems for offensive lines.”

Campbell was led by Lester Hughes, who completed 10-of-19 passes for 137 yards, and Anthony Rushton grabbed three of those passes for a team-high 64 yards.

Brazin was Newton Falls’ top performer, hitting on 7-of-13 passes for 67 yards and a TD.

The Red Devils will battle rival Struthers to close out the regular season next week.

“We have a lot to work on,” Guidos said. “We can’t be satisfied. We have a huge game against Struthers and then we are looking forward to the playoffs. It’s getting to the point where the next game we play could be our last, and as a senior you don’t want that day to come.”