Congratulations Camden County Wildcats — AAAAA State Champions!

Posted on December 15, 2008 
Filed Under General

They did it! The Camden County Wildcats brought home the Georgia AAAAA State Championship trophy Saturday night in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta! What an exciting game between two awesome teams — The Undefeated Camden Wildcats and the Peachtree Ridge Lions! It was a classic championship match-up; and it could have gone either way! It was a nail-biting, cliff-hanger of a game; and the Cats kept battling until the very end! The Lions were driving with a chance to tie the game — or win — with a minute and a half left in the game, until Ty Booth intercepted the ball allowing the Wildcats to run out the clock and bring home the trophy! I actually coached Ty, his brother Jeremiah (a Junior starting Nose Tackle), Jake, and Joel Ruiz (who is likely to be the Cat’s starting Quarterback next season) with LaShun Booth — Ty’s dad who was the head coach — when they played little league football together about six or seven-years ago. Ty, like his older brother “LB,” will be graduating from Camden and surely going to college on a full-ride scholarship; but “Miah,” Joel, and Jake will be returning next year to try for a matching State Title. I couldn’t be more proud of all of these kids — and all of the CCHS Wildcats! And Jenn and I will be returning next year — in full war-paint — to sacrifice our voices again as we cheer on the Mighty, Mighty Wildcats!

The Wildcat’s head coach, Jeff Herron, and his entire staff, deserve a lot of credit for an undefeated season at the highest level of high school football (AAAAA) — against some amazing teams, including Northside Warner-Robbins, the Newnan Cougars (the #1 defense in the state), and a Woodstock team who came closer to beating Camden than anyone else (1-point!). Coach Herron has a record at Camden County of 108-10, with 8-consecutive region titles — and Two State Championships in the past 5-years! This is truly an amazing feat in Georgia High School Football!

The Peachtree Ridge Lions, from Gwinnett County just outside of Atlanta, also deserve congratulations on an amazing season and an amazing performance in the Championship Game — which they very well could have won. The Lions were leading at halftime; and they traded scores with Camden in the third quarter before Camden finally went up by a single touchdown before both defenses put the brakes on both offenses! What a battle! Two-years ago, Peachtree Ridge shared the State Title with Roswell after the game ended in a tie — the teams were named co-champions and both schools received trophies, and all the players received Championship Rings. That game forced a change in the overtime rules for the Championship game. This season, Peachtree Ridge started the season with two tough losses — one against Lowndes County (who was number-one in the state until they got knocked out of the playoffs in the third round by the Grayson team Peachtree Ridge beat in the fourth-round). Since that second loss, Peachtree Ridge went undefeated — winning 12-straight before being handed a tough loss in the championship game with Camden. Congratulations, Lions, on a remarkable season and an awesome game!

I also want to congratulate and commend the parents and fans (including the student body) for showing up in full-force — even in Atlanta (6-hours away), Newnan (6-hours away), and Birmingham, AL (8-hours away)! We packed the stands at every home and away game; and we kept the volume, intensity, and excitement at a fevered pitch all season long. There were many away games where the game ended with twice as many Camden fans in the stadium as there were home fans! That’s one of the big secrets to the Cat’s success — the 12th-man.

And now… Whew!!! We get a break from a very intense 4-months of football, practice, games, weight-training, camps, road trips, and 6 AM practices! We get a chance to get our voices back; and we get a chance to have holidays without football practice (Yup, the Cats practiced on Thanksgiving Day)! Congrats, Cats! We’ll see you all next year!

I will post some pictures and video when it becomes available to me; but until then, I believe the video from the championship games will be archived at www.GPB.org/football.

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