Grayson upends defending champ Camden County

By Jeff Haws

For the AJC

Once again, the Grayson defense had come up with a big stop. And this time, the offense wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.

On the ensuing drive after the defense’s big stand, the Rams went 41 yards on four plays. It was capped off by an Ean Pemberton touchdown run from 3 yards out with 6:16 left to give No. 2 Grayson the winning score in a 14-10 victory over No. 4 Camden County, the defending Class AAAAA champs, at the Georgia Dome.

All 10 of Camden’s points came as a result of special-teams miscues by Grayson, the first a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and the second a fumble on a kickoff return that led to a field goal. As a result, despite outgaining Camden 284-108, the Rams still trailed 10-7 as the clock approached seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

But the Rams defense stopped the Wildcats on a fourth-and-1 play, and 41 yards stood between a productive but nearly scoreless Grayson offense and a Week 1 victory.

It was time to post a few more points on the board.

“That’s just it, we needed to put it in,” said Grayson coach Mickey Conn, whose team advanced to the state semifinals last season. “We had about half a field, and that’s the type of football we play. Take the game, keep it close and give yourselves a chance to win the game.”

When they did, the ball went to Pemberton. The senior carried the ball all four plays, gaining 41 of his game-high 133 yards to pick up where he left off last season after nearly eclipsing 2,000 yards.

His running at the end helped make the stout Grayson defensive effort count. The Rams gave up just 45 total rushing yards — Grayson had three players outrush Camden by themselves — and no Camden player rushed for more than 23 yards.

It was a dominant effort on the line of scrimmage, and 6-foot, 260-pound linebacker Terry Williams was right in the middle of the fight.

He said playing the defending champs was a chance for the Grayson defense to show that it could be state-championship caliber itself this season.

“We felt like we wanted to show everybody that we have a better defense than last year; we proved it,” Williams said. “We’ve got a lot of players back. The players that are here worked hard this summer. We showed it off tonight.”

And the team showed it can play against one of the state’s best programs, one that hasn’t lost more than one regular-season game since 2000. The Rams got the chance to make that No. 2 ranking — the highest in school history — stand up.

“Any time you play at the Dome, you want to put your best foot forward,” Conn said. “It’s a statement game for us because we’ve never beaten Camden.”

Camden    0    0    10    0 — 10

Grayson    0    7    0    7 — 14

G — Patrick Santry 1 run (Austin Clark kick)

C — Nate Haymon 45 punt block return (Matt Ehaz kick)

C — Matt Ehaz 35 FG

G — Ean Pemberton 3 run (Clark kick)