Published October 04, 2008 12:27 am - CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — The Cambridge Springs football club has never been accused of being flashy. The same can be said for this year’s team. Yet, Cambridge Springs has always been known as a squad that gets the job done. And again, the same goes for this year.
Devils deliver in key win
By Pete Chiodo
October 4, 2008
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CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — The Cambridge Springs football club has never been accused of being flashy. The same can be said for this year’s team. Yet, Cambridge Springs has always been known as a squad that gets the job done. And again, the same goes for this year.
The 2008 Blue Devils kept a firm hold on a playoff spot and remained in the hunt in Region 2 after knocking off visiting Eisenhower 21-12 during homecoming festivities at Baird Field on Friday night.
“It was a good win,” said Cambridge coach Walt Nottingham, whose team is 4-2 overall and 3-1 in Region 2, “an important win.”
And it all started on the first drive. The Blue Devils received the opening kickoff and set up shop on their own 33. And on 10 plays and just over 4:30, they covered all 67 yards to put the first points on the board.
“We haven’t had a good first drive all year,” Nottingham said. “We said before the game that we wanted to come out and have a good first drive. And we did. We went right down and scored.”
Matt Brown — who led the Spa with 91 rush yards on 25 carries — scored on a 4-yard trot off-tackle. A couple plays earlier, Brown had also set Cambridge up in scoring position by snapping off a 27-yard run to Eisenhower’s 7 .
It was an snappy drive — eight rushes, two passes, an average of nearly seven yards a down. But then Cambridge just sort of stalled on offense for the rest of the first half.
“After we scored that first touchdown it seemed like we weren’t that motivated,” Brown said. “We thought it was going to be easy but it wasn’t.”
Cambridge gained just 39 more yards in the first half, and didn’t get another first down.
That left the door open for Eisenhower. And midway through the second quarter the Knights capitalized.
Facing 2nd-and-13 well into their own territory, a facemask penalty gave the Knights their second first down of the night. That seemed to get Ike moving forward.
After the penalty, running back Ben Wilston broke off an 18-yard rush to the Cambridge 37. And right after that, Knights quarterback Cody Crosby delivered a beauty of a pass into the hands of receiver Lucas Schwanke along the sidelines. Schwanke strode into the end zone, completing a 37-yard scoring strike.
One of Cambridge’s defenders got a hand in front of the ensuing extra point try. Cambridge had missed its PAT attempt earlier in the game. And that’s how the half would end — 6-6.
“I think our kids relaxed (after the first drive),” Nottingham said. “Then we gave up a big play.
“We told them at halftime, ‘It’s time to pick it up.’”