Green Sea Floyds defense keys victory over Camden Military
Akil Gause ran for 160 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Green Sea Floyds overcame a bevy of fumbles to knock off Camden Military 26-0 on Friday at Luther Enzor Memorial Stadium.
The Trojans fumbled the ball 10 times in the game, including turning the ball over four times deep in Spartan territory.
But the team was dominant on defense, stopping Camden Military on every possession and holding the private school to less than 50 yards of offense.
A Camden Military player was seriously injured in the third quarter of the game, and was taken from the field on a back board with his helmet still on and taped down.
An update on the player’s condition was not immediately available.
“I never prayed so hard in my life for anything else,” Gause said. “I really got emotional, because that could be anybody. My prayers go out to him and his family, just praying that he has a speedy recovery.”
Green Sea Floyds coach Tony Sullivan said the serious injury served as a reminder to his team.
“I make sure that our guys understand that football is just a game. . . . and that life is a lot more important than this game,” Sullivan said.
The Trojans forced the Spartans into a three-and-out on their first two possessions, then drove down the field, but fumbles on back-to-back Green Sea Floyds possessions – both were recovered at the 12-yard line – helped keep the game scoreless through the first quarter.
“The only thing that did look good was fumbles. We were pretty good at that tonight,” Sullivan said. “We moved the ball up and down the field fairly well, but we’d get down toward the end zone and fumble it away.”
Another chance at a score was wiped away by a penalty in the second quarter before the Trojans were finally able to get on the board when Mahammud Graham scored from 34 yards out on a fourth-and-4 play with 27.7 seconds left in the first half.
Gause scored his first touchdown of the game in the third quarter on a 31-yard run and Riley Lovett ran the conversion in for a 14-0 Green Sea Floyds lead.
Green Sea Floyds fumbled the ball away again on its next possession, this time on the Camden Military 3.
“We continued to stay heavily motivated,” Gause said. “The coaches were like, ‘We just got to get after it, put it drive and go get it.’ It’s anybody’s game.”
Gause scored for the second time with 6:11 to play in the game on a 13-yard run, and backup quarterback Cole Powell picked up a fumble and went 2 yards for the score with 1:35 left, capping an 11-play, 80-yard drive keyed mostly by big gains from J.C. Huggins, who was one of 10 different players to carry the ball for Green Sea Floyds.
“A win is a win,” Sullivan said. “We’ll celebrate it, then we’ll go home this weekend, do some soul checking and get ready for the region. We’ve got a tough game against Lake View and if we don’t do better than we did this week, it’ll be a long night for us.”
Green Sea Floyds (3-2) enters region play with a winning record for the first time in Sullivan’s five seasons as the Trojans’ coach.
“We’ve got a great opportunity in the region if we play like we have in the past, minus this week right here, I think we’ve got a chance,” Sullivan said. “We’ll just see how this week goes and how our guys come out Monday prepared and see where our minds are at.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2016 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Green Sea Floyds defense keys victory over Camden Military."