Camden Hills football to host spaghetti supper, reflect on season
ROCKPORT — Though the Camden Hills varsity football team’s season is over, the Windjammers are still keeping busy as a program.
The team is inviting the public to the Rockport Masonic Center on Saturday, Nov. 16 for a spaghetti supper being hosted by the players from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The cost is $8 per person.
Raffle tickets will be available to win a handmade quilt by seamstress Carrie Connors that honors the youth and high school football programs of Five Town Football and Camden Hills Regional High School.
Season Finale Recap
One can be forgiven for believing the Saturday, Oct. 26 season finale at Don Palmer Field was going to be a repeat of the prior week's setback to Lisbon as Freeport all-star back Tre Morris took the first offensive play from scrimmage to the house a 51 yard catch and run knifing through the Jammers defense for an early 6-0 lead.
Displaying an inspired, yet fun and loose spirit, Camden Hills junior wide receiver Ben Craft returned the favor on the home team's opening drive taking the slant pass from senior quarterback and co-captain Aedan Kehoe, dodging through would-be tacklers, and out-sprinting the Falcons en route to a 68 yard score himself.
With the successful two-point conversion run in by sophomore Hunter Norton, the Windjammers had their first lead in weeks at 8-6.
The play inspired the Camden Hills sideline and set doubt into the minds of the visiting Freeport fans.
However, the Falcons would end the first quarter up 12-8.
In the second quarter with Camden Hills prepping for a return drive, Freeport picked up on a slow out pattern and ran back the interception making the score 18-8.
The half would not end on that note.
A series of penalties by Freeport aided the Windjammers to set up at the Falcons 30 yard line at which time sophomore quarterback Ryan Clifford converted a slip screen to Norton who used a sea of blockers in the home red jerseys to find the end zone once again and make the score 18-14 with less than 30 seconds to go in the half.
Those 29 seconds on the clock ticking towards the end of the first half quite possibly determined the outcome of the game.
The Freeport quarterback evaded pressure from his right, showing heads up awareness before hitting the line of scrimmage to launch a dart of a pass over the outstretched hands of Craft and into the Falcon receiver for a shocking 52 yard touchdown with nine seconds remaining and a 24-14 halftime lead. It was the type of sequence that has come to haunt Camden Hills a few times this season.
"Twice this year we have been in a place to finish the half in great position and twice we have made crucial mistakes with little to no time on the clock, which has prevented us from being a position to win coming into the second half," said Camden Hills head coach Jeremy Marks. "The boys played a competitive half of football against a very strong team in Freeport. However we are a young program and still learning how to win which is one of the most difficult things to accomplish."
The remainder of the game became academic once Freeport took total control of the scoreboard, going up 40-14.
A late touchdown pass from Kehoe to junior tight end Will Thorn and successful Kehoe two-point conversion brought the game to its final score of 40-22.
Throughout the entire contest the Windjammers displayed a fighting spirit that did not go unnoticed by Marks.
Following the contest, Marks could only find praise for his team and the thankfulness he has towards senior Kehoe (6-of-13, 96 yards, two touchdowns), linebacker Brady Hedstrom (three solo tackles, four assisted tackles), lineman Braden Moulton, tight end Stuart McNaughton, defensive lineman Ben MacWilliams, center Hayden Christie, and defensive lineman Kai Sassa.
"This group of Seniors is a special group,” said Marks. “They were the first class to come into the high school after the program was eliminated in the fall of 2014. They were the ones on which all the work to bring this program back has been laid on. I am so very proud of these young men."
The Windjammers finished its season with a record of 2-6. While graduating six seniors, the team looks forward to the addition of up to a dozen players rising up from Five Town Football next season, who just recently finishing a successful season of their own.
Reach the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.
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