William Campbell survives shootout at Chatham

CHATHAM — A high scoring first half turned into a defensive battle as William Campbell (3-4, 2-2) defeated host Chatham (0-6, 0-2) 34-32 in Dogwood District football action Friday night.

Chatham scored on its first possession after the Generals from Naruna fumbled the opening kickoff. Chatham took an 8-0 lead on a Cameron McClellan 21-yard quarterback sneak with Brandon Walker running in the two-point conversion. Chatham’s defense held William Campbell on its next possession and McClellan scored again, this time an 8-yard run. Wesley East caught the McClellan pass for the two-point conversion, giving Chatham a 16-0 lead with 3:52 left in the first quarter.

William Campbell would answer with a 71-yard drive led by the feet and arm of quarterback BeBe Adams. Adams had a 31-yard run and 33-yard pass to Terrance Younger on the drive. In the words of William Campbell coach Dwayne Hamlette, Chatham would “smack us in the mouth” again on its third drive in scoring on its first play from scrimmage. McClellan again did the damage on the ground. This time he broke a quarterback sneak for 65 yards and ran in the conversion to give Chatham a 24-6 lead.

Chatham fans were ecstatic but little did they know their team would only score one more time in the remaining three quarters. Hamlette credited his team’s early deficit to his team “having a bunch of young kids” but he was sure to admit that “Chatham’s a good football team with some good athletes.” To finish up the first quarter scoring the Generals’ Adams ran for a 51-yard touchdown to make it a 24-14 game. Chatham would be forced to punt on its next possession and William Campbell took advantage of having the ball again. An incomplete pass and sack were the way Chatham wanted its opponent’s drive to start. A 67-yard screen pass for touchdown from Adams to Devante Easley was how William Campbell wanted it to end.

Chatham fumbled away its next possession but a strong defensive stand got the ball back when the Generals went for it on fourth down. Chatham was able to drive the ball down the field again, most of the yardage coming this time on a 47-yard pass from McClellan to Will Adams. McClellan would score once more, his fourth of the night, on a quarterback sneak. East ran in the conversion to make the score 32-20 in favor of the Cavaliers.

William Campbell’s Easley returned the kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to take the momentum away from Chatham and close the gap to six points, 32-26. Chatham coach Malon Dalton acknowledged that they “gave up too many big plays” with that kickoff return being the biggest. His team did a great job at “controlling the tempo” but every time they had the momentum William Campbell would “make a big play and take (away the momentum).” At the end of the half Justin Adams gave Chatham great field position after picking off a BeBe Adams pass but the clock ran out on Chatham and they took their 32-26 advantage into halftime.

Chatham received the second half kickoff but fumbled the ball away on its fifth play from scrimmage. A defensive battle would ensue as neither team was able to finish a drive in the second half until William Campbell scored on an Adams to Younger pass and converted the try after in similar fashion. This scoring drive was kept alive by a few Chatham penalties, something that has “killed Chatham all year,” being especially costly was a facemask on fourth down stop that would have ended the drive and given Chatham the ball with 3:17 left on the clock. William Campbell kicked off to Chatham but again a turnover stopped Chatham as McClellan fumbled the first snap of the drive and William Campbell recovered. The Generals went on to run out the clock and win with a final score of 34-32.

Looking back over the game Dalton said that he was “proud of how different guys stepped up” and singled out Wesley East for being a “tough runner” and Brandon Walker who has been “running great the past few games.” It is tough to “play so hard and take a loss” but he had to “hand it to William Campbell” for being a great team and “making plays when they had to.”