BLACKSVILLE — It is week eight of the high school football season, and both Clay-Battelle and Cameron are fighting to solidify a playoff ranking for Class A.
Each team enters the day with a 5-1 record as No. 9-ranked Cameron plays host to the No. 11 Cee-Bees on Oct. 13.
Cameron blanked Conotton Valley, 58-0, last week while C-B rolled past Paden City, 34-7.
Going back 11 years, Clay-Battelle owns nine wins against the Dragons, but the last two years have been wins for Cameron, including 48-19 a year ago.
The Dragons are led by standout senior quarterback back Colby Brown, who is close to eclipsing the 1,000-yard passing mark this season with 963 yards and 43 completions in 75 attempts. Brown has thrown for 17 touchdowns against three interceptions.
Travis Mickey leads in receiving, after catching three passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns last week.
“He is a really good quarterback and is surrounded by really good ball players,” C-B head coach Ryan Wilson said of Brown. “We know they are going to make plays — they are too good of a ball club not to. Our thing is trying to slow them down, disrupt the timing and throw some different looks at them. We can’t just sit there and do the same thing every time.”
While the air raid will be a threat, the Dragons also have team-leading rusher Andrew Ritchea and his 447 yards.
Cameron must prepare for play-maker running back Travis Dille, who has rushed for 807 yards and nine TDs and averages over 100 yards per game. Running back Logan Forquer brings the speed, as he’s added five TDs and 377 yards on 35 carries.
Quarterback Seth Casino completes 79 percent of his passes, with a key target being Gunner Brummage, who had two receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown last week.
There are a couple factors that the Cameron defense brings that stand out to Wilson and will force his offense to improvise.
“They really swarm to the football,” Wilson said. “And all of them run fast and they tackle very well too. So we have to find something we can take advantage of. They are very aggressive. So we have to take advantage and execute what can work for us.”
Defensively for Cameron, Trey Scott intercepted four passes, returning two for scores, last week.
The Dragons average 44.3 points per game while allowing 12. C-B puts up similar numbers: 38.5 points per game vs. 16.3.
Wilson believes the game will come down to who can score one more point.
“You never know in a game like this if it is going to be a defensive struggle or both will get a lot of points on the scoreboard,” Wilson said. “You have to adapt as you go along and at the end of the night look at the scoreboard and hope we have one more point than Cameron.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.