For the week of  October 24 - 30, 2001

Not in our house, Mushers say to Carey

Camas holds off Panthers 20-18 
for North title

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By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

It took a few minutes for Camas County football coach Randy Jewett to join the celebration in the middle of the Fairfield gridiron Friday.

Camas County coach Randy Jewett is hoisted aloft by his players after Friday’s big win. Express photo by Willy Cook

After 48 minutes of hard-fought football that produced a 20-18 Sawtooth Conference eight-man grid victory over Carey, it seemed like the entire town of Fairfield surrounded the Musher players in a scene of happy, mosh-pit Americana.

Jewett sank to his knees along the Camas sideline before slowly making his way to the handshake line and the subsequent Musher hoopla.

He recalled, "I was physically exhausted, but also overcome with emotion. It was a fabulous moment. I think I wanted that win as bad as any I’ve ever coached. And I was just super proud of the boys."

With the two-point win before a wildly enthusiastic home crowd, Camas County (7-1, 4-1 North) captured the North Division title and earned a home playoff game against two-time defending Sawtooth Conference king Castleford (7-0) on Friday, Oct. 26 at 3:30 p.m.

Coach Lane Kirkland’s Carey Panthers (6-1, 4-1) lost for the first time and settled for a third-place playoff game at Murtaugh (3-5, 3-2 South Division) Friday at 7 p.m. to determine the Sawtooth’s third and final berth to the State 1A eight-man tournament.

The star of Friday’s 20-18 Musher win was senior Eric McGuire. He rushed 28 times for 143 yards and 2 TD, made 12 tackles and stopped two Carey conversions. Express photo by Willy Cook

Leading the Musher boys was senior running back and linebacker Eric McGuire, who rushed 28 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns along with making 12 tackles. McGuire also singlehandedly stopped two Carey conversion attempts.

Two other Mushers played big roles—senior quarterback Brandon Blodgett, who steered Camas County’s offense to a 371-yard afternoon and made 16 tackles on defense, and speedy junior Jesse Lemons, whose 85-yard kickoff return was the game’s turning point.

But the emotion of eighth-year coach Jewett was equally important. From the opening kickoff, Jewett exhorted the Mushers to remember where they were playing. "This is our house!" he yelled repeatedly.

"I wanted my boys to stay fired up," said Jewett, a Hill City resident who works in construction when he isn’t coaching the Mushers. "I wanted all 16 people on the field, their team and ours, to know I was in the game."

The Mushers responded. Carey never led, and the 14 Camas points in the first half equalled the total number of points Carey had surrendered in the first half of six previous games this season.

 

The Musher house

The keys to Friday’s game were field position, the Musher defense, two big turnovers and Camas County’s edge in senior leadership.

In addition, Camas County used the experience of its 52-44 home win over Clark County the week before to turn its defense around.

Jewett said, "I didn’t think we tackled well against Clark County. We went back to the fundamentals and tackling drills early in the week."

Favorable field position tends to put an extra pop into your tackling.

All game, Camas County was starting out on offense around midfield, while Carey’s initial attack was stuck back at its 20-yard-line.

Carey’s running offense, averaging 6.0 yards and 264 yards a game, was cut in half to 3.3 and 138 by the 4-3 Musher defense that played heads up on the ends and took away the sweep and swing pass.

"The first time we played the 4-3 was in 1997 when we won the playoff game at Carey," said Jewett. "We can do it because we’ve got a pretty solid front, even though they’re young (freshman Adam Pullin and sophomore Kelly Webb)."

Carey coach Kirkland said, "Our game plan in the first half was to run over them. We couldn’t because Randy made some good adjustments, like putting Webb in the middle."

After stopping Carey cold on its first possession, Camas struck first when track star Lemons ran the left end for 30 yards and McGuire carried it three times for 26 yards including a 14-yard TD dive.

Carey’s defense led by the tackling of junior Robbie Ellsworth (a game-high 20 tackles) also played well with its backs to the wall, stopping the Mushers five times in the red zone during the game.

"Guys like Kole Peck and Bryson Ellsworth just left it all on the field," said Kirkland. "Our kids played as hard as they could, but I think Camas’ running game was stronger than we thought it would be."

Late in the first quarter, with Carey still trailing 6-0, Stephen Jurgensmeier’s sack of Blodgett rattled the ball loose and Shawn Hennefer made the first of his two fumble recoveries at the Carey 26.

Carey embarked on a four-minute, 14-play, 74-yard TD drive with QB Sean Cenarrusa (14-for-31, 120 yards) completing four passes. The big completion was thrown by end John Saili, a floater to Destry Simpson out of punt formation for an eight-yard gain on fourth and four.

Hennefer followed Simpson’s block around right end for a five-yard TD gallop. But McGuire came up big for Camas on the two-point conversion try, making the stick on Simpson’s pass reception just short of the goal line to keep the score 6-6.

That score didn’t last long.

Lemons caught the kickoff at the Musher 15 and pierced a huge hole on the right side for an 85-yard kickoff return.

Jewett said, "It’s tough to kick deep to us because we have Brandon back there and he has returned several. That was the first runback for Jesse. There’s no better way to come back from a touchdown."

With Carey’s defense stunned and winded, McGuire easily ran for the only two-point conversion of the game and a 14-6 Camas lead.

McGuire took control of the game in the second half, rushing for 93 of his 143 yards as the Musher ground game out-gained Carey 137-48.

Jewett said, "Eric has decent speed, but he’s probably the best after-contact runner I’ve ever had. He’s just a hard runner, hard to tackle."

Panther coach Kirkland added, "McGuire probably had the game of his life."

After a Lemons interception, McGuire gave Camas its final touchdown early in the fourth. He made a deft outside move for a 32-yard gainer, then busted through a Bryson Ellsworth tackle for an eight-yard TD run and a 20-12 lead.

Carey had an answer.

Cenarrusa completed six passes for 58 yards on a 13-play, 65-yard TD drive, the biggest a rollout-left, 29-yard aerial to Hennefer on third-and-22.

Then, Cenarrusa hit Hennefer on a little one-yard out for Carey’s final touchdown with 5:34 left to play.

On the conversion attempt, Cenarrusa went to the air again, but McGuire smelled it out and knocked down a pass intended for Robbie Ellsworth in the corner of the end zone. The game-saving play preserved the 20-18 Camas lead.

"Eric told me later, he could look into Carey’s eyes and see what play was coming," Jewett said. "We’ve got real good senior leadership, really mature kids. And Eric played a smart game for us at linebacker."

Does Camas (42.5 ppg offense) have a shot at beating Castleford (58.6 ppg) Friday in a game that carries one huge incentive—the winner avoids having to play unbeaten Horseshoe Bend (8-0, outscoring foes 428-24) in the first round of the 1A playoffs?

Jewett said, "We’ll emphasize coming out with the high emotion and effort we had against Carey. We’ve played some tough games. We had to win in overtime at Shoshone, then we let one slip away at Dietrich.

"Castleford hasn’t played a whole game all year, but our kids have that heart. Compared to the other teams I’ve had, I’d put them at the top as far as going out and going after it."

They’ll have motivation. Castleford walloped Camas 48-0 last fall and 68-18 in Fairfield in 1999. The last Camas win over Castleford was 52-6 in 1998, and the last Musher home win over the Wolves was 48-44 in 1997.

Carey coach Kirkland said the close games Camas has played probably helped the Mushers Friday. He said, "It was Camas’ fourth tight game and we had never been in one. But our kids fought hard and made it a two-point game."

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SAWTOOTH NOTES—Coach Jewett, a 1978 Camas graduate who made All-State in football in 1977, will be taking his third Musher team to the state playoffs. In his eight seasons at the helm, Camas County has a 53-21 (.716) winning percentage with only one losing season. Three of the last four Camas games against Carey in Fairfield have been particularly close, settled by a grand total of 10 points.

Castleford is 27-2 the last three seasons, having lost only to eventual state champ Salmon River in the playoffs at Riggins in 1999, and to state runner-up Idaho City 52-34 last fall….Friday’s loss was the first for rookie Carey head coach Kirkland.

Carey’s playoff opponent Murtaugh (36.0 ppg) won its final two regular-season games then outscored Rockland and Hansen in Monday’s Oklahoma-style playoff at Declo. This is Murtaugh’s first season playing eight-man football after years in the 11-man ranks. Carey last played Murtaugh in 1991, the Red Devils winning 27-24 in Carey.

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