Darlington Falcons shutout by Camden
By: Don Gearhart
The Camden Bulldogs invaded the Falcon Nest and left little doubt who the front runner was in the Region with a 51-0 whitewash of the host team.
Darlington received the opening kick-off and ran off seven plays to midfield before punting to the Bulldogs. They then held a very potent offense to a 3-and-out which generated delight from the Falcon faithful. However, the ensuing punt resulted in a fumble and Camden recovered on their own 45-yard line. It only took one play to strike paydirt at the 5:41 mark of the first quarter. After a successful PAT kick, the visitors held an early 7-0 lead.
Darlington mounted a six- play drive marred by penalties but gave up an interception from Camden’s 32-yard line to end that drive. This was a close as the Falcons would get to a score and spent most of the night on their own side of the midfield stripe. Camden then mounted a 10-play drive that culminated on a 15-yard quarterback draw. They ran the same play for the two- point conversion to make the score 15-0 at 9:19 left in the second quarter.
After Darlington failed to convert a first down, Camden struck one again and only used five plays to score on a 1-yard run with 5:52 on the clock. The two-point conversion put the score at 23-0. Once again, the Falcon offense failed to move the sticks and a 53-yard pass completion put the Bulldogs in the red zone again. A nine-yard pass for the touchdown and PAT kick made the score 30-0 with 3:01 to play in the half.
Camden received the second half kickoff and marched for another score in just under three minutes. With 9:44 on the scoreboard, the PAT kick increased the Bulldog lead to 37-0. On Darlington’s second play from scrimmage, a high snap resulted in a lost fumble at the ten-yard line. It only took Camden one play to score again with 8:57 left in the quarter. The PAT kick was good and with a 44-0 lead, the mercy rule was in effect and a running clock for the rest of the game.
Darlington could not sustain any offensive progress and the final score was a result of three successive pass plays that resulted in another Bulldog touchdown with just 2:20 left in the game. The PAT kick set the final score at 51-0.