Foxes fall to Bulldogs in opener

CAMDEN – The Hartsville Red Foxes opened the 2008 football season with a 26-14 loss to the Camden Bulldogs Friday night in one of South Carolina’s oldest prep football match ups.

Although the Foxes’ play featured several mistakes and miscues throughout the game, they managed to keep the game close. However, those miscues kept them from being able to close the gap.

In the first half, the Red Foxes’ defense had trouble containing Camden quarterback Josh Council. Council was 5-11 for more than 100 yards passing and three touchdowns and led the Bulldogs to an 18-7 lead at the half.

The Foxes were in position and had good play at times, but they were caught out of position and Camden capitalized. Hartsville gave up a 69-yard touchdown pass from Council to Alvonta Jenkins on the opening drive. The 2-point conversion was no good.

Hartsville’s first drive stalled after an attempt on fourth and two. Quarterback Jody Lyles looked to have difficulty making some handoffs and tripped a few times coming from under center during the game.

Hartsville’s defense then tightened and the score was 6-0 after one quarter.

The Bulldogs managed another scoring drive at the beginning of the second quarter on a four-yard pass from Council to Trevor Jefferson. The 2-point conversion was once again stopped by the Hartsville defense, and the score was 12-0 with 10:06 remaining in the half.

The Foxes were unable to establish any offensive rhythm during the game, but scored with 6:25 remaining in the second quarter when Dre Scott peeled off a 50-yard touchdown run on an inside trap play. Scott ran well on the night and finished with 107 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. Running back Ronnie Jackson finished with 56 yards on 11 carries. Eric Williams also carried the ball well for the Foxes, managing runs of 10, 11 and 12 yards throughout the game in limited duty.

Hartsville’s defense had trouble containing Council when he scrambled, but allowed a 17-yard touchdown pass from Council to Jonathan Marshall that capped a 14-play drive and left the Foxes down 18-7 with 43 seconds remaining in the first half.

Camden went with a conservative approach on offense in the second half and on defense attempted to force Hartsville to pass to score.
The Foxes offense continued to struggle, including one drive in which the Foxes had back-to-back delay of game penalties. Hartsville managed to move the ball at times, but small mistakes killed any drive opportunities.

Camden’s Savonn Wingate scored on a six-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and added the 2-point conversion to increase the lead to 26-7.

Hartsville managed another touchdown drive in the final stanza that was capped off by Jackson’s six-yard touchdown run with 2:27 remaining in the game.

The Foxes recovered the onside kick, but were unable to score again.

On defense, Seth Lowe and Lee Cable, who had seven tackles each, led the Foxes. Damien Blakney, Donovan Malloy and Ryan Simon added five tackles each. Damien Dixon and Jamie Davis also made some big plays in the secondary.

After the game, Camden head coach Jimmy Neal said this game was one of the best the Bulldogs have played in a while. “Some of the stuff we were off on, like everybody,” the coach said. “But we didn’t have any major mistakes, I didn’t think.”

Neal said he was very pleased with a victory over a team like Hartsville in the first game of the season.

Hartsville’s head coach Jeff Calabrese was disappointed after the game. “We got our tails cut. Camden was very aggressive, and they made the plays. We just did not perform very well,” he said.

After Calabrese and the coaching staff were able to watch the film of the game, he felt slightly better about the mistakes. “Offensively, we are just missing on some things,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to not miss on those things. We had several opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on.”

The coach added there were several mental and physical breakdowns during the game that kept Hartsville from establishing rhythm and putting more points on the board. “We’ve got to work on things and make some adjustments,” Calabrese said. “We’re going to try to get better and get ready for Darlington.”

The Foxes have 16 first-time starters, and that may have been a reason for the miscues. However, Calabrese feels as if that’s an easy excuse. “It’s easy to say it’s inexperience, and maybe it is,” he said. “But we don’t have the luxury of that excuse. We have to perform, and we have to do better.”

The running of Hartsville running backs encouraged Calabrese. He was also encouraged by the offensive line play at times as well as the coverage on kickoffs. The coach also liked the hitting and aggressive nature of the defense.

He was not, however, discouraged by the loss. “These (mistakes) are certainly fixable things. It’s not like we watch film and say ‘we can’t fix these things.’ We can. The problem is, can we fix them in the amount of time we have?”

The Foxes(0-1) will play host to Darlington High School on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the newly renovated Kelleytown Stadium. The game is Darlington County’s biggest rivalry and will be the opening game for the Falcons.