Devils deliver in key win

By Pete Chiodo

October 4, 2008 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.
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.’”
The talk did the trick.
“We went into the locker room at halftime, got all fired up, came back out and did what we had to do,” Brown said.
Eisenhower went three-and-out on its first possession. Then Cambridge pieced together another nice series of plays to take the lead. This drive went 41 yards on 10 snaps. It featured one fourth-down conversion by James Tobin and ended on an 8-yard touchdown run by Brown.
Steven Kargol hit James Tobin for the 2-pointer, making it 14-6 Spa.
Again, Eisenhower went three-and-out. And once again Cambridge got the ball back and took it in for a score.
This drive lasted just two plays as Kargol broke off a show-stopping 57-yard touchdown run on second down.
Kargol faked two hand-offs, then headed for the right corner. Eisenhower’s defense met him there. But the junior quarterback spun off a tackle and cut left, reversing course on Eisenhower’s hapless attackers. Kargol broke free of the pack and made a nice move around the Knights’ safety. He then powered through another tackle near the end zone before diving in for the touchdown.
“It was a play designed to go to the right side,” Kargol said. “Everybody pursued it well on defense. And I read that if I could just juke one tackle I would be off to the left side and open. I made the play, and that’s what happened.”
Kargol finished the game with 84 yards on six carries. In the air he was 6-for-7 for 39 yards.
“Steven had a very good game,” Nottingham said. “He’s starting to play like I knew he could. He’s getting more consistent. He’s seeing the field much better than he has in the past. He’s doing a good job.”
Colton Spaid had two catches for 17 yards. Nate Delycure had 14 yards on three catches.
Eisenhower was led on the ground by Ben Wilston. He had 53 yards on 10 carries. Dustin Huntoon followed with 23 yards on nine carries. In the fourth quarter, Huntoon rushed for a 5-yard touchdown that put the final points on the board.
Ike quarterback Cody Crosby was 7-for-20 passing and was picked off once by Colton Spaid. Yet, when Crosby was on target, he hit big, gaining 104 yards on those seven completions. Schwanke had all 104 yards, catching six passes.