High School Football:
Camden Catholic Moves Into First Place

By Gary Steiner
SJSports Staff Writer

On a bright Saturday afternoon, the Edgewood Eagles visited the Camden Catholic Fighting Irish at Camden's Farnham Park.

Both teams struggled early, until 6:27 in the 1st quarter, when Camden Catholic scored on a 12 yard run by #28 James Howard. The extra point was blocked to make it 6-0.

Edgewood tried a fake punt which gave them a 20 yard play, but the Irish defense held on 4th and 4 on the 5 yard line to keep the Eagles from scoring.

In the 2nd quarter, after 30 yard pass to #88 Gene Sigmund, the Irish scored on a 2 yard touchdown run, again by James Howard. This time they tried a 2 point conversion, a pass from quarterback #11 Keenan Wright to #6 Matt Cassano to make the score 14-0.

The Eagles were driving late in the 2nd quarter, when quarterback #16 Christopher Catania threw an interception while under heavy pressure from the Irish line. The Irish quickly capitalized with a 45 yard touchdown screen pass to James Howard. After a delay of game 5 yard penalty, David Madden's kick was good. The Eagles went in at half time down 21-0.

In the 3rd quarter, the only scoring came after another great kick from Eagles punter #55 Brian Grubb. On the Irish's possession, the Eagles' #9 Kevin Kinnel grabbed an interception and ran it in 35 yards for a touchdown. After losing 5 yards on equipment penalty, Brian Grubb's extra point was wide left.

After a fumble by the Irish on the Edgewood 25, recovered by #4 Maurice Rimes, the Eagles had another chance. But despite some solid runs by #34 Nana Gillett-Spio, Edgewood could not punch it in to the end zone.

In the 4th quarter, the Irish put the final nail in with a 33 yard touchdown pass from Wright to #25 Rhan Roach. Madden's kick was good, making the score 28-6.

The Eagles had another chance late after a booming 67 yard punt by #55 Brian Grubb, but the Irish were able to run out the clock.

With this win, Camden Catholic moved into a first place tie in the Olympic National Division with Woodrow Wilson, both at 3-1. Edgewood dropped to 0-4, tied with Paul VI for last place.