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Undermanned Campbell finds a way
By ERIC FORTUNE
campbell
On paper, the Campbell High football team shouldn’t have won Friday’s game against Jefferson.
Six players were already suspended or kicked off the team and the Red Devils dressed just 26 players.
Add in an 0-3 record, and the fact that they’d scored just 19 points this season, and things were looking bleak.
But Campbell made plays when it mattered most, overcoming Jefferson’s 308 rushing yards to escape with a 20-19 victory in an All-American Conference National Division game.
“It was very exciting,” Campbell coach Mickey Sikora said. “We had some unforeseen things that happened in the past couple of weeks. I’m just very proud the way our kids stuck in there and fought through it.”
The Red Devils (1-3, 1-0 AAC) got on the scoreboard quickly after Stephan Elash’s 1-yard run made it 7-0 less than eight minutes into the game.
The Falcons (1-3, 0-2 AAC) spent much of the first half in Red Devil territory only to see their drives stall or end in a turnover.
No turnover was costlier than Jermiah Knight’s fumble at his own 35-yard line just before halftime. Campbell’s Adrien Brown scooped it up and returned it for a touchdown, giving the Red Devils a 14-0 lead with 1:09 left in the second quarter.
“Our defense was very opportunistic,” Sikora said. “We kept on battling till the end.
“We played better in the first half, but they started hitting us on that off-tackle [play].”
Those runs from Knight (225 yards) and Justin Butler (83 yards) were effective all night as the Falcons got within a point twice at 14-13 and 20-19 in the second half. But they couldn’t overcome a missed PAT and a failed two-point conversion.
“I wanted to get the lead,” Jefferson coach Jimmy Henson said. “We talked about it and I made the decision. The way we were moving the ball, I thought we could run it in and get the lead and we would be in control.
“It didn’t work out that way.”