Madonna unable to slay the Dragons in 36-0 loss
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CAMERON -- After a week off, Cameron showed no signs of rust Friday night in running past visiting Madonna, 36-0, on Homecoming at Dragon Field.
Tailback Klypsan Wallace ran the ball 31 times for 163 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Colson Wichterman added 142 stripes and four touchdowns on 16 carries, while passing for another 144 yards on 8-of-13 accuracy.
"We came out ready to play. After being off last week, the kids were hungry to play, and it showed," Cameron head coach Tim Brown said. "We scored right away and the defense got us the ball back, and we scored again. That was important."
Cameron (4-1) was ranked 11th in the latest WVSSAC poll.
The Dragons took the opening kickoff and marched 54 yards on seven plays as Wichterman went around his left end from 14 yards. He then threw a laser to Kasun Angel for the two points and a quick 8-0 lead. A 38-yard dash by Wichterman sparked the drive.
Madonna, which only managed 59 yards of offense, tried a fake punt on fourth-and-4 from its own 41, but Cameron's Wallace, Trey Estel and Ashton Hoge stopped Koleton Grishkevich two yards shy of the sticks.
Using another 7-play series, Wichterman kept right and cut to his left at the line of scrimmage before going 25 yards to make it 14-0. Wallace upped the count to 16-0 with the two-point run with 2:55 left in the first quarter.
The Blue Dons (2-3) couldn't get any type of movement from their offense as they were limited to 22 total yards in the first half and didn't earn their initial first down until midway through the fourth quarter when quarterback Chase Littleton ran for 30 yards. That marked only the second time Madonna crossed midfield, the other coming on the second half kickoff when Grishkevich returned it 35 yards to the Dragons' 46.
Madonna finished with two first downs, the first coming on a Cameron penalty in the first quarter.
"We got beat. That's it. I don't know what to say other than I didn't have the kids ready to play," first-year Madonna head coach Troy Fetty said. "It's on me. We've got to try and figure out how to turn this around. We'll get it."
Wallace, a hard-running transfer from John Marshall, found the end zone from 2 yards out to cap a 10-play 51-yard drive that made it 22-0 after the two-point try failed. Keying the series was a 28-yard pass from Wichterman to Slaton Pettit on third-and-8 in which Wichterman rolled and spotted Pettit alone in the middle of the field.
Madonna went for it on fourth-and-7 from the Cameron 34 but the pass fell harmlessly to the turf with 3:39 remaining before halftime. That was long enough for the Dragons to add to their advantage as Wichterman found Mason Scott for 41 yards and Soier Reed for 22. On second-and-goal from the 3, Wichterman was looking to pass but saw a seam up the middle and waltzed into the end zone. The 4-play, 66-yard march took just 53 seconds and bumped the count to 28-0 after the two-point pass failed.
The Dragons actually had another chance to score when Wes Starcher recovered a Madonna fumble near midfield with 2:32 showing. However, after reaching the Blue Dons' 3, a 17-yard loss stalled the drive as Noah Kimberland came up with the big play. He also recovered a fumble, as did Logan Fedak.
Brown was quick to credit his offensive line of Thad Dempwewolf, Ryder Stern, Starcher, Hunter Wright and Hoge.
"When you run for that many yards as a team, something must be going right up front," Brown said. "Those guys did a phenomenal job tonight."
Madonna ran for 52 yards on 21 carries and completed 1-of-6 passes for 7 yards. It's longest play was an 8-yard scamper by Littleton until he broke the 30-yarder.
Cameron travels to Pine Grove next Friday to meet Valley (4-2) which dropped its second in a row last night to South Harrison, 36-26. Madonna, meanwhile, returns to Jimmy Carey Stadium to host Beallsville, which lost 49-39 at Bridgeport.