By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Camden County Wildcats, in my mind, are a blue blood program in South Georgia.

The Wildcats have won three State titles (2003, 2008, and 2009) this century.

Camden finished the 2019 season with an 8-3 record losing to eventual champion Marietta in the first round.

Bob Sphire is one of the better high school football head coaches in the business, and enters his 4^th season as the head coach.

Sphire took over a football program in 2017 that had sunk pretty low from what Jeff Herron built at Camden.

Slowly Sphire has rebuilt this program the right way. His first two seasons he played a lot of young kids, who had to gain their experience in Region 1-AAAAAAA, which I refer to as the SEC of Georgia High School football. The roster has a lot of good quality players that can compete in the highest level in the State.

Micah Morris is the highest ranked recruit on the roster. The 4- star offensive tackle committed to the University of Georgia in April. Morris is 6-4 and 320 pounds and the future looks bright for Morris.

The schedule is brutal with not one cupcake to be found. Can Camden get back to that team that goes 3 rounds or deeper in the playoffs in 2020?

Region Game */ Schedule/My Predictions

8/21 Columbia: Long bus ride to Chris Gillman Stadium spells doom for the visitors historically. I don’t see Columbia pulling off an upset here. The Cats go to 1-0 on the season with a 44-18 win over Columbia.

8/28 Glynn Academy: The Terrors make the 30-minute ride down I-95 South and run into an angry bunch of Wildcats.

Glynn will be a good football team in 2020, but not Camden County good. Camden goes to 2-0 on the season with a 28-10 win over Glynn Academy.

9/04 @ Ribault High School (Florida): Ribault will always have dangerous athletes that could cause some problems, but they won’t have the depth to compete for 4 quarters.

Ribault hits a few big plays on offense, but they will lay a big egg on defense and get drilled by Camden 42-20. Camden goes to 3-0.

9/11 Marietta: Who scheduled this non-region game? This is about as brutal as they come.

The defending state champs travel to Chris Gillman Stadium, which could be factoring in Atlanta traffic a 7-hour bus ride.

Marietta lost a lot, and I’m banking on the bus trip taking its toll on the Blue Devils. Camden finds a way to win 28-24 to go to 4-0 on the season.

9/18 @ Oakleaf High School (Florida): Could this be a trap game? Maybe but if you beat Marietta you will not lose to Oakleaf. The Wildcats go to 5-0 with a 49-14 win.

9/25 Coffee: Remember the brutal schedule comment? Look at these next two games. Coffee drops to 5-A this year and should make some serious noise in football. They will not beat Camden in Kingsland, however. Cats go to 6-0 with a 21-13 win over Coffee.

10/02 @ Warner Robins: Playing at Warner Robins is no picnic. Warner Robins will compete for a state title in 5-A. I see Camden slipping by this one by the skin of their teeth 21-20 to go into region play at 7-0.

10/16 @ Colquitt County *: A win here would be considered an upset at the state level. This schedule takes its toll on the Wildcats and they fall to the Packers 27-20 to drop to 7-1 and 0-1

10/23 Tift County *: You never know what you are going to get with Tift County. Camden wins this region contest 33-21 to go 8-1 and 1-1.

10/30 @ Lowndes *: Can Camden win this one on the road to secure a home playoff game? You have to be special to win at Lowndes these days.

Camden falls short 28-16 to finish 8-2 and 1-2 for the regular season.

Solid playoff team battle tested by a brutal schedule gets them into the second or possibly third round of state playoffs.