Camden County’s Herron grounded in wing-T offense

Kingsland — To run the wing-T offense, a football coach needs the faith and patience of an alligator in the Camden County marshland.

Jeff Herron, head gator in these parts, admits that he thought about passing in the fourth quarter Friday night when his team trailed Northside-Warner Robins 20-14.

But he didn’t give in. There’s no truth to the idea that the new century is any different than the previous one about what powers a good offense — the running game.

“We had some passes in our pocket, but we weren’t going to act like we were panicking,” Herron said.

So Camden ran 17 running plays in the final quarter, scored two touchdowns and beat Northside 28-20 in a game between nationally ranked, run-minded powerhouses.

If a passing teams wins Class AAAAA this season, it will be an upset.

Four of the past five state champions — Camden in 2003 and Lowndes in 2004, 2005 and 2007 — have been wing-T teams. Lowndes is ranked No. 1 this season. Camden is No. 2.

Newnan is perhaps the only pure passing team left in Class AAAAA. There has not been a team known for passing to win the highest class since Quincy Carter and Southwest DeKalb in 1995.

Against Northside, Camden stayed true to the wing-T — 52 attempts, 280 yards — and beat what Herron called “one of the best defenses I’ve ever seen.”

Northside has two AJC Super 11 players on defense — defensive lineman Abry Jones (who is committed to Georgia) and linebacker Eric Fields (Clemson).

“It’s not what offense you run, but the fact they believe in that offense and get kids to believe in it and run it every year,” Herron said.

Daniel Valdez, the halfback who scored Camden’s final touchdown, was convinced that it was the wing-T that wore Northside down.

“We found their weakness, and once we found we could run down [into the middle of Northside’s defense] and pound it in, then we set them up,” he said.

Northside was just as intent on running the ball, but with the focus on one back, Xavier Bacon. The senior rushed for 161 yards. But while he had 23 attempts, no other running back carried the ball.

Camden had eight ball-carriers. Greg Baker led the way with 121 yards on 20 carries.

Camden did complete one pass — a 71-yard touchdown.

Northside has lost only two of its last 42 games, and that’s the only completion in the two losses.

Some wonder if Camden would be better if Baker were the feature back. Lowndes is asked the same question about Greg Reid, the Super 11 running back who gets only a dozen carries a game but is considered by many the state’s most dangerous player.

“If Greg Reid were playing tailback, it would be easier to stop them,” Herron said. “If you’re an I-formation team and you’ve got Knowshon Moreno, everybody in the stadium knows he’s going to get the football. The beauty of the wing-T is that any of the four backs can carry the ball.

You’ve got to defend all four corners of the field.”