By: Michael Spiers

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2024 football season came to an end for the Camden County Wildcats recently.

New head coach Travis Roland finished his first year in Kingsland with a 7-4 overall record following a 28-7 loss to North Cobb High School in the first round of the GHSA 6A state playoffs.

Coach Roland brought a new attitude and a new playing style to Camden. Offensive Coordinator Grant Alford, also in his first season with the Wildcats, installed a new pro-style offense and in infusion of RPO (run-pass option) schemes.

Second-year starting quarterback Parks Riendeau, a junior, took to the new offense enthusiastically and posted stats not seen by a Camden quarterback since Brice Ramsey in 2013.

Riendeau finished the season with 131 completions on 224 attempts, tossing 21 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions.

Reindeau’s top target, senior tight end/wide receiver Elyiss Williams, put up dominating performances all season and displayed all of the talent you would expect from an athlete committed to play at the next level for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. Williams hauled in 54 passes for 789 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Wildcats cruised through their non-region schedule and found themselves at 5-0, averaging 54.4 points and 420 yards of offense per contest.

Those five contests included victories over Brunswick 51-41; East Lake (Tarpon Springs, FL) 60-15; West Broward (Pembroke Pines, FL) 52-29; Ribault (Jacksonville) 62-6; and Spruce Creek (Port Orange, FL) 47-20.

As expected, things got much tougher when Camden began region play.

The first Region 1-6A contest was delayed due to Hurricane Helene and required the Wildcats to travel to Bazemore-Hyder Stadium on a Saturday to tangle with the Valdosta Wildcats. Camden was sent home with a 56-37 loss.

The Blue Wildcats returned home the following week and rebounded by playing their most complete game of the season, a 28-10 victory against Richmond Hill. Camden County pushed their overall record to 6-1, but found themselves just 1-1 in Region 1-6A.

Another trip to Valdosta followed in week 8, but this time it was on to the Concrete Palace to face the Lowndes Vikings, which resulted in a 33-7 loss.

The next week the Wildcats returned home again, and suffered their second straight region loss, this time to Colquitt County by a score of 54-41.

Camden County was now 6-3 overall and 1-3 in region play, needing a victory in the final week against Tift County AND a Colquitt victory over Richmond Hill just to make the playoffs.

As fate would have it, Camden beat Tift 38-28, and Colquitt took care of Richmond Hill, which earned the Wildcats the fourth seed out of Region 1.

This set the stage for the matchup with the North Cobb Warriors, the top seed out of Region 5.

The Region 5 champion Warriors (11-0) capitalized on mistakes by the Wildcats (7-4), securing a 28-7 victory in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.

All of North Cobb’s scoring occurred in the second and third quarters, with two Camden turnovers turning into points.

Senior RB Jordan Hardy finished the season with 997 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns.

Camden County had multiple players recognized as all-region standouts for their efforts this season, including Elyiss Williams, who was named the Region 1-6A Offensive Player of the Year, and junior cornerback/wideout/return specialist David Coleman, who was named the Region 1-6A Athlete of the Year.

All-region first team offensive nods were given to junior QB Parks Riendeu, senior OL and University of Cincinnati commit Zack Taylor, and sophomore wideout Sean Green.

All-region first team defensive selections from Camden included junior inside linebacker Xavier Brown, senior outside linebacker Wayne Austell, and senior safety Ja’maric Daley.