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Campbell County head coach Troy Styer didn’t have to remind his players of the Camels six-game losing streak to county-rival Newport Central Catholic. Instead, he had a different motivation to lead Campbell County to a 21-17 win against the Thoroughbreds Friday night at Newport Stadium.
One week after receiver Andrew Eshman broke the navicular bone in his foot and on the day middle linebacker and left tackle Zak Koeninger had knee surgery, Styer challenged the rest of his young team to step up in place of its senior leaders.
“That’s what we talked about during the week,” Styer said. “It’s time for somebody to rise to the occasion. How you’re going to respond to adversity, that’s what life’s all about.”
Stepping up most prominently was junior quarterback Michael Kremer, who completed 22 of 32 passes for 308 yards and had a hand in all three Campbell County touchdowns.
Without Eshman, who ranked second on the team with 16 catches and 175 receiving yards entering the game, Kremer spread the ball to a variety of targets.
Junior Nate Geiman had six catches for 97 yards, junior Matt Smith had five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, senior Erich Sinclair had five catches for 34 yards, junior Corey Cox had four catches for 31 yards, and senior Austin Johnson had two catches for 55 yards, including a 49-yard screen pass for a touchdown that helped turn the game in Campbell County’s favor.
Campbell County took a 7-0 lead on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Kremer to Smith on fourth down with 1:08 remaining in the first quarter, but much of the next two quarters belonged to the Thoroughbreds.
While Campbell County did nearly all of its damage through the air, picking up 308 passing yards against minus-10 rushing yards, NewCath controlled the clock by running 50 times for 249 yards, picking up only 47 yards on 5 of 10 passing as a team.
“We think that (rushing) is our strength, and we felt like we could run it,” NewCath head coach Bob Schneider said.
NewCath used its running game to score on a pair of 12-play drives in the second quarter, first with a 37-yard Andy Miller field goal and later on a 1-yard Chris Kelly run. Meanwhile the Camels ran just three plays in the second quarter.
“Their run game did an excellent job of ball control and keeping it out of our hands,” Styer said.
Kelly continued to batter Campbell County after halftime, amassing over 100 yards rushing in that quarter alone on his way to a 34-carry, 197-yard game. His 3-yard touchdown run with 1:50 remaining in the quarter gave NewCath a 17-7 lead.
At that point, Campbell County’s offense had run just six plays since the first quarter, but Kremer converted a third-down with a 20-yard pass to Geiman, and the game changed on the Camels next third-down play.
On third-and-six from the NewCath 49, Johnson slipped out of the backfield for a screen pass in the middle of the field and wove his way through the NewCath defense, diving into the corner of the end zone for a touchdown 8.2 seconds before the end of the quarter.
“That was huge,” Styer said. “It was a good time to make that call. We had been dinking and dunking and throwing and spreading it out and people forget about him (Johnson). You get him out in space and he’s dangerous, as you saw.”
Cory Hodge recovered a fumble at midfield on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Camels again struck quickly to take the lead.
Kremer found Smith for a 45-yard pass on Campbell County’s first play, and on the next, Kremer sprinted to the corner of the end zone to put the Camels ahead, 21-17, with 11:18 remaining.
NewCath was able to reach Campbell County’s 35 on its final drive, but Hodge intercepted a pass at the 15 with 1:28 remaining.
That gave a Campbell County team that had struggled to a 1-2 start a boost as it heads into district play with a game against Boone County next week.
“It gives us plenty of morale to just keep working hard,” Kremer said. “This is a great feeling.”
CAMPBELL CO. 7-0-7-7—21
at NEWCATH 0-10-7-0—17
C-Smith 24 pass from Kremer (Malicoat kick)
N-Miller 37 FG
N-Kelly 1 run (Miller kick)
N-Kelly 3 run (Miller kick)
C-Johnson 49 pass from Kremer (Malicoat kick)
C-Kremer 5 run (Malicoat kick)
Records: Campbell County 2-2, Newport Central Catholic 1-4.
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