Madonna looks to tame the Dragons
Trending
WEIRTON -- Next up for the 13th-ranked Madonna Blue Dons is Cameron.
The Dragons, a playoff team the last three years, will invade Jimmy Carey Stadium Friday evening with a new coach and a young, but talented team. The opening kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
The Blue Dons are fresh off a big win over Mathews last week. In the 34-0 victory, coach Darrin Hicks let it be known that when a team attempts to shut down his run game, he can turn to sophomore Santino Arlia, who can get the job done pretty well through the air.
"He did a nice job for us, and our wide receivers did a nice job with the man coverage," said Hicks, whose 3-1 squad ran the ball only 13 times for 32 yards. "I commend our offensive coaches for recognizing early that Mathews had six and seven players in the box. Also, the kids responded to it well."
Going to the air, Madonna passed the football 43 times, with Arlia throwing 42 of them. He completed 28 for 364 yards and all five Blue Don touchdowns, enough to propel him to second place among quarterbacks in the Herald-Star/Daily Times coverage area. Tops in passing in terms of yardage is Oak Glen's Nick Chaney, as he was a year ago, but Arlia trails him by just 2 yards (814 to 812).
Cameron took it on the chin last week in a 33-20 loss to undefeated Frontier. That dropped the Dragons into a tie for 21st place in the state rankings. Madonna and Frontier are in a virtual tie for the top spot in the OVAC 1A division.
"Cameron is a good football team," Hicks said. "They're going to throw the football a bit more than what we've seen so far this season, but they run the ball extremely well, too. They use mostly a spread offense, using a tight end every once in awhile. Defensively, they play the 3-3 stack and are very blitz-oriented. Cameron is solid on special teams. They don't do anything spectacular, but they don't make mistakes either."
The Dragons had a great three-year run, going 10-0 in 2016 and 2018, winning 29 of their 30 regular season games during that span. They, of course, were in the state playoffs all three years and won the OVAC 1A title twice.
"I'm taking over a program that has a lot of success," new head coach Tim Brown, who is a graduate of Cameron High School, said before the season started. "I've been part of some of that. Some of that, I was an athletic director and an assistant coach."
Cameron lost 15 seniors from the unbeaten 2018 team, and Brown has been forced to use a lot of untested players. There are only three seniors on the Dragon roster.
Even with the youth, the Dragons have posted wins over Hundred (59-6) and Valley (34-6), while losing to West Greene, Pa., 61-20 and Frontier.
"The films show that Cameron is well coached. The kids play hard and they come from a winning tradition, so it will be a tall order for us," Hicks said.
Senior Jessop Broughton (6-foot-0, 160 pounds) is the starting quarterback for the Dragons. Another senior, Noah Neely, and sophomore Cole O'Neil have caught Hicks' eye as the wide receivers. The third senior on the squad, Garrett Scott (6-0, 175), is the running back.
The Dragons beat Madonna 46-0 a year ago.
Brennan Secrist has caught 22 of Arlia's aerials and leads all area wide receivers. He has five touchdown catches. Senior Roman Baird is the leading Blue Don rusher with 54 carries for 211 yards and two scores.