By: Michael Spiers

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The high school football regular season has come to an end for the Camden County Wildcats but hope springs eternal as they prepare to travel to Kennesaw to begin the Georgia 6-A playoffs on Friday, November 15th.

It has been a year of big change for the Columbia-blue Cats.  We saw the retirement of legendary football coach Jeff Herron not long after Camden’s unlikely run to the final four of the playoffs last year.

That was followed by the hiring of new head man, Travis Roland, out of Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, where his Buccaneers had just won the Florida 3S state championship.

Coach Roland immediately hired Grant Alford out of Florida’s Lake Minneola High School to be the Wildcats new Offensive Coordinator, and the change from Jeff Herron’s vaunted Wing-T, power running offense was converted to a more modern, pro-style attack.

The players enthusiastically took to the new schemes and produced scoring averages and statistics that would be surprising to any longtime follower of Camden County High School football.

During the five non-region matchups to start the season, the Wildcats averaged 54.4 points and 420 yards of offense per game.

Camden’s average of 213 passing yards each week during that span is probably what surprised folks the most. You read that correctly. Camden County High School is passing the football.

Those first five contests, in order, 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.

In the non-region games, Camden’s junior quarterback, Parks Riendeau, was an impressive 67/94 passing, with 1,030 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and only one interception.

Senior tight end, Elyiss Williams, who is committed to the University of Georgia, had six receiving touchdowns during that span while senior running back Jordan Hardy contributed and eye-popping 13 rushing touchdowns.

Once October arrived, so did the tough competition of GHSA Region 1-6A. But even before the region play could even begin, Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on the schedule.

Camden ended up traveling to face the Valdosta Wildcats on a Saturday and was sent back home with 56-37 loss.

The Wildcats returned home to Chris Gillman Stadium the next week and rebounded with a 28-10 victory over the Richmond Hill Wildcats.

Camden then lost two consecutive region games, a 33-7 loss to Lowndes and a 51-41 loss to Colquitt County.

After such a promising start to the season, Camden County found itself with a 1-3 region record heading into the final contest of the year, a home matchup against Tift County High School.

In order to reach the playoffs, the Wildcats had to beat the Blue Devils and hope for a Colquitt County victory over Richmond Hill.

Camden beat Tift 38-28, and Colquitt County took care of its business. As a result, Camden County earned the fourth spot in Region 1-6A, and a trip to Kennesaw to face the 10-0 North Cobb Warriors is round one of the playoffs. These Wildcats are ready for another magical playoff run.

QB Parks Riendeau finished the regular season by completing 121 of 204 pass attempts for 1,732 yards, with 20 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

Elyiss Williams had 52 catches for 764 yards and 11 touchdowns, while sophomore wideout Sean Green finished the regular season with 41 receptions for 500 yards and four touchdowns.

Senior running back Jordan Hardy ended up with 128 carries for 831 and 17 rushing touchdowns while playing in just nine games.

Junior David ‘DC’ Coleman finished with 20 kickoff returns for 583 yards and 3 touchdowns, while adding one additional punt return for a touchdown.

On defense, Camden County was led by junior linebacker Xavier Brown with 116 total tackles, including 8 tackles for loss and a quarterback sack.

Senior outside linebacker Wayne Austell contributed 91 total tackles including six tackles for loss and two quarterback sacks.

Sophomore weakside linebacker Kingston Melton recorded 53 total tackles with six tackles for loss, in addition to a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown.