FOOTBALL: Bombers survive fiery clash with CAM

 Adair-Casey prevails 55-40, Plowman rushes for 241 yards and three TDs

 By Drew Herron - NT Sports Editor / Aug. 23, 2013

ADAIR – If Friday night’s Week Zero clash between Adair-Casey and CAM is any precursor to what will constitute the 2013 football season, 8-Man Football in these parts might be in for quite a pageant.

Adair-Casey survived a four-quarter brawl with rival Cumberland-Anita-Massena, seizing victory in the “White Pole Road Rivalry” via a 55-40 final that drug on for over three hours and included 29 total penalties.

Bombers’ All-State running back Clayton Plowman carried the ball 35 times for 241 yards and three touchdowns, and newly-minted quarterback Traeton Jensen ran for 106 yards on 18 carries to lift AC past a resilient CAM team that refused to be put away.

“It’s a Week Zero game, and we played a very good team,” Adair-Casey head coach Wade Anderson said afterwards. “We learned a lot about ourselves. We are not quite in tip-top shape, and we need to work on that, we need to fix a lot of things. But fortunately, we were able to scratch out a win here, and now we are 1-0.”

After AC struck first, a little more than four minutes into the first quarter, the Bombers held on to the lead the rest of the way, though CAM never submitted to being put away. The Bombers’ lead swelled to 18 points, then waned to two, but victory for AC was never certain until the final minute when junior Emmitt Wheatley ended CAM’s final push with an interception.

First game wrinkles surfaced early and often, as 15 penalties slowed the Bombers and 14 afflicted CAM. Both sides spent the better part of four quarter hammering on each other at the line of scrimmage, and the heat and humidity took its toll as well.

What AC lacks in numbers this fall (the Bombers have just 18 players on their roster), they seem intent on making up for with a dynamic offense intended to take the pressure off of Plowman, who has carried a target on his back for four years now.

Wheatley, Jensen, and junior running back Charlie Terry all became viable weapons for the Bombers, who creatively ran multiple sets like the I-formation and the wild cat, while also showing a firm willingness to throw the ball.

CAM, for its part, also showed a bit for variety and flash on offense, interchanging quarterbacks, and displaying an almost equal desire to throw the ball to Dylan Amdor, as they are to hand it off to him.

Amdor scored four touchdowns for the Cougars, and had a fifth TD nullified in the final two minutes on a holding call that erased ostensibly a 28-yard touchdown reception.

CAM found itself trailing 24-6 in the first half before fighting back to draw within two points at 24-22 early in the second half.
When AC’s rolling thunder ground attack threatened to take CAM out of the game late in the third quarter, after Plowman scored on a 12-yard run inside of three minutes to go, the Bombers went ahead by three scores again (40-22). Still, the Cougars refused to go quietly and answered in kind.

“I’m proud of the effort,” CAM head coach Joe Wollum says. “For putting in a new offense and being where we are, I think we are a little ahead of schedule, even for where I hoped we would be. Our guys fought.”

After falling behind 47-28 with 9:57 left in regulation, CAM would score the next two touchdowns, one set up by a long kick return from Brady Runyan that he nearly took to the house, and another on a 59-yard strike through the air from QB Trace Ticknor to Amdor with 6:10 remaining. That drew the Cougars to within a touchdown at 47-40.

After Amdor’s final touchdown, the Cougars recovered a fumble on the return that set them up at the AC 15-yard-line. However, the Bombers forced a turnover on downs, and as they went about killing the clock, Plowman shed two tackles and broke loose for a 28-yard touchdown run.

This time, CAM could not answer.

“That’s one thing we can hang our hat on right now,” coach Anderson said of the late stand. “We did have our backs against the wall (up by seven points) with them inside our 10 yard line. But we showed a little resiliency by putting a stop to them and then taking it downfield to score. That’s the kind of effort it’s going to take all year long.”

Both sides agree, Friday night’s season opener lived up to the hype, and both teams will walk away with a better idea of its identity.

“A game like this is good for us, it’s a good trial run before Districts,” coach Anderson said. “And it’s always a fun atmosphere when we play against CAM, no matter who is the better team. Those guys played their tails of, and they played a great game. I expect them to make a lot of noise over in (District 8); they’re going to be one of the favorites. And who knows…maybe we will see them again later on at the Dome.”

Coach Wollum agrees.

“Playing in front of a big crowd like this in a playoff-like atmosphere is going to help our team in the long run.”

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