East Palestine Campbell

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East Palestine Campbell

Bulldogs’ Sherry scores four TDs

By Brian Dzenis

bdzenis@vindy.com

CAMPBELL

East Palestine took its winless angst out on Campbell in a 53-26 victory Friday night.

The Bulldogs (1-2) started the season by taking a 34-28 loss to Salem. Then there was last week’s 65-12 rout against Perry. Friday, East Palestine needed to do something drastic to get back in the win column.

Photo Gallery: East Palestine V. Campbell

Enter the muddle huddle, the Bulldogs’ bizarre two-point conversion scheme.

“Our plan was to win. Our offensive coordinator put in some two-point conversion plays in practice on Wednesday and we still have to work on it a little bit,” East Palestine quarterback Parker Sherry said. “Being aggressive was obviously what we were going for.”

The muddle huddle is an odd alignment where four to six players bunch up near the side line while Sherry, his center and a couple other players line up normal. Some teams will line up that way and then revert to a normal formation before the ball is snapped, but on Friday, the Bulldogs didn’t do that. Sherry would take the snap and fire off a quick pass or run it himself. The scheme worked on five out of six attempts.

“It’s something different for a defense to prepare for. We’ve been having issues with consistency on our extra points,” Bulldogs coach Tony Foster said. “To make us feel better, we figured if we could make every other one, we’d still be on a good track.”

The bold plays didn’t just stop there. The Bulldogs tried two unsuccessful onside kicks, including one to open the game.

“That surprised us. Those two-point conversions and the onside kicks,” Campbell coach Ed Rozum said. “We should still know how to defend against that and we didn’t do that very well.”

When it came to straight-up football, East Palestine was really good. Sherry was effective from the opening drive as he rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns and by air, he was 15-for-20 for 252 yards and two more scores. Brandon Kemp was his top target, hauling in six passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns.

“It’s our offensive line. I get to sit back in the pocket for two or three seconds and I get the ball out and let the receivers make plays,” Sherry said. “Sometimes I have to scramble and I have to pick up some [linebackers] which is my responsibility.

“Our receivers are running great routes. Joey Monteleone, Dominic Posey, Dominick Kathers and Brandon were doing a great job. Another guy doing an awesome job is Vincent Delaroza. I know from film [Campbell] is going to shoot a linebacker through and he picks them up every single down. He’s my man right there.”

Campbell fell into a 16-0 hole and didn’t break the shutout until Campbell quarterback Darion Jones threw a 14-yard touchdown strike to Malachi Barnarn with 40 seconds left in the half. The Red Devils then stuffed Sherry at the goal line as time expired. Campbell got the ball back to start the second half and Brandon Liggins long kickoff return set up Christian Stores’ 36-yard TD run to put the Red Devils (1-2) within three points of tying the game. Campbell got no closer.

The Bulldog offense showed it had more going on in than Sherry in the second half. Posey ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns. Liggins led Campbell with 171 rushing yards.