By Stan Beall
The Star Herald
FRENCH CAMP —
French Camp began Region 2 play last Friday night and came away with a hard fought victory, 16-14, over the visiting Shaw Hawks.
French Camp is now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in region play.
Shaw got on the board early in the first quarter on an eight-yard touchdown run from Hawk quarterback Andre Pruitt.
Pruitt then added the PAT and Shaw held an early 7-0 lead at the 8:29 mark of the first quarter.
French Camp responded with 6:51 left in the first quarter when Sam Gould kicked a field goal cutting into the Hawks lead, 7-3.
Gould split the uprights once again with 1:15 left in the first quarter to get pulled within one point of Shaw, 7-6.
Both offenses were held scoreless in the second quarter and the Hawks took the 7-6 lead into the half.
The Panthers found the end zone in the third quarter on a Jaylon Clemons three-yard touchdown run, Gould PAT good, to pull ahead of the Hawks 13-7.
The Panther defense held the Hawks scoreless in the third, but less than three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Hawks found the end zone once again.
Pruitt found a seam in the Panther defense and raced 85 yards for a touchdown, PAT good, to pull ahead of the Panthers 14-13 with 9:23 left in the fourth quarter.
Six minutes later, Gould kicked what would be the decisive field goal for the Panthers with 3:23 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The field goal gave the Panthers a 16-14 lead, which they would not relinquish and held on for the Region 2-1A victory.
The offensive leaders for the Panthers were quarterback Jesse Hosket who was 2-8 passing for 30 yards with one interception.
He also carried the ball nine times for 15 yards.
Jaylon Clemons rushed the ball 22 times for 81 yards and a touchdown and Hagan Box had 11 rushes for 25 yards.
Ben Hosket and Cole Henson had one reception each for 15 yards.
Gould kicked three field goals and connected on one PAT.
Clemons and Douglas Hughes were each credited with four pancake blocks on the night as well, with a team total of 13.
The defensive leaders for the Panthers were Daniel Hughes who recorded 14 tackles, Ben Hosket with 12 tackles, Cortez Johnson with 10 tackles and Dylan Dickey with nine tackles.
Cortez Johnson had one sack for a five-yard loss to round out the defensive highlights for the Panthers.
French Camp will host Region 2 foe Ray Brooks Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
