By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
DUKE CENTER, PA – For years, Otto-Eldred and Cameron County have been rivals.
Across all sports and all seasons, the matchups between the Terrors and Red Raiders seem to come with a little more weight, a little more intensity and a little more chippiness. In recent years, O-E’s star-studded class have been a thorn in Cam Co’s side, always the hill that the Red Raiders can’t find a way to climb.
But with that group graduating this past spring, a window opened and in the first meeting between the Blue-and-Gold and the Red-and-White, the Red Raiders seized their opportunity. In the first meeting of the year, Cam Co earned some long-awaited revenge in the form of a 41-16 blowout win that potentially erased the Terrors’ hopes of a playoff berth.
Ahead of their Week 7 meeting with Cam Co, O-E was in a bind. Finding several players on the injury reserve list and standing at 2-4, they only had four games left to boost their positioning in Region 4 in an attempt to secure a postseason appearance.
“(Cameron County) is a pretty talented team. They’re going to be a tough test for us,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Eric Rees at Wednesday’s practice. “They’re one of the top teams in our region and this game is a big one for us for our playoff aspirations and for our regional championship aspirations. We’re going to have to take care of business.”
After installing Ryan Schenfield at quarterback two weeks ago when their starter went down for the season, the Terrors had gone over their notes in practice and fine tuned their offense, ready to take the final stretch of the season head on. However, things began to sour sooner rather than later.
On the second play of the night, following a successful reception from Schenfield to Dawson Welch, O-E chose to test out their ground game. Taking the ball out of the pocket, Michael Eaton turned up field and began to stretch his legs, but a massive hit would not only stunt his run, but also force the ball loose. As Cam Co’s Michael Snyder was quick to pick it up, the Red Raiders had quickly stolen the momentum.
Although the Terrors would come up with a big stop immediately after, forcing a Red Raiders turnover on fourth-and-four at their own 16-yard line, O-E’s offense couldn’t find a spark. Eventually crossing midfield with a 20-yard carry from Schenfield, three consecutive incompletions would force the first punt of the night. Luckily, their defense would hold strong, forcing a Cam Co punt in retaliation.
However, their embargo around the endzone would only last so long. Continuously leaning on their running backs, either bashing their way up the middle or streaking down the sideline with pitches out wide, the Red Raiders began to find momentum. Making it to the redzone at the end of the first quarter, Cam Co opened the second by tossing the ball to their halfback, Boden Pearsall, who found Taylon Tucker down range for a 28-yard touchdown.
At first, it seemed as if the Terrors were ripe to respond, with Wyatt Blendinger picking up 20 yards on the ground followed by a 11-yard run from Schenfield. But then, catastrophe struck again. A bad snap soared over Schenfield’s head which tumbled and rolled until the Red Raiders recovered it. Cam Co would take the ball 49 yards down the field for another touchdown before the Terrors would suffer their third turnover of the night on yet another errant snap.
“We felt we had a good gameplan and in the first half, we absolutely shot ourselves in the foot. Every time we got something positive going, we had a big penalty or we fumbled the ball. We just couldn’t get out of our own way,” said Rees. “I told my kids at halftime, there were three things that were killing us: our own mistakes, not being good at our execution and poor tackling. Those have been issues of ours all season long and we’ve got to get better at it but I can’t knock the kids’ effort. They gave it everything they had to me.”
Although the lead was still within reach to open the second half, with O-E looking up at a slim 12-0 deficit, Cam Co was quick to push on the gas. With their starting quarterback injured, the Red Raiders put Malakai Zucal under center and while he typically garnered yards on the ground, a 20-yard toss to Kamden Fragale would result in a 66-yard score on just the third snap of the half.
Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Terrors as another turnover, this time an interception, on their first drive would ultimately produce another long touchdown for the Red Raiders – Zucal connected with Pearsall for a 91 yard score and subsequent 2-point conversion.
Desperate for answers, the Terrors then put their offense in Blendinger’s hands. Going to the Wildcat, Blendinger took the ball and led O-E to Cam Co’s 23.
(Blendinger) is an athletic kid. He’s a ball player and that’s why we put that package in there for him. We had talked about it before Shane (Magee) went down and then when he did, we decided we needed another wrinkle,” said Rees of the sophomore. “We put that package in because Wyatt might be our best athlete and we wanted to make sure we put the ball in his hands.”
However, the drive would meet a quick end as a sack in the backfield gave up eight yards and the entirety of any momentum. The Terrors would turn the ball over on downs on the next snap, then giving up three more consecutive turnovers as the Red Raiders’ lead swelled to 41-0.
In the final eight minutes of the game, O-E found some symbolic life. Marching down the field with a 38-yard gain from Welch, Eaton broke the stalemate with a five-yard touchdown with just over seven minutes remaining. Forcing a Cam Co fumble, their first of the night, the Terrors repeated the feat, with Schenfield calling his own number on first-and-goal and crossing six yards and into the endzone.
Looking to turn the screws just a little bit more, the Red Raiders capped off the night with one last touchdown, a 23-yard run from Kenneth Miller that produced the final 31-point advantage.
Schenfield finished his third game at quarterback with 98 yards, completing 10 of his 25 shots downfield and throwing two interceptions. He also led the team in rushing yards with 66 while Blendinger finished with 54 rushing yards on seven carries. Being the recipiant of six catches on the night, Welch tallied 79 receiving yards.
The immediate road for the Terrors does not get any easier. Next Saturday, they face the 6-0 Port Allegany Gators in hostile territory. But beyond that, O-E will face fellow Region 4 member Smethport (2-6) before closing out their season at home against Ridgway.
“We showed some new things today and we’ll continue to build off that stuff. We have three more tough gets to get through so we’ll see what happens with the rest of the season,” said Rees. “We’re still kind of young. A lot of guys we have are underclassmen and still pretty young. We have a bright future ahead of us, we just have to continue to grow and continue to get better at what we’re doing and just hope that we can right the ship.”
