Bucks renew Cameron County rivalry in Emporium on Friday

By Bees O’Brien

FARWELL, PA – The most unpredictable outcome during Week 1 came from the Cameron County Red Raiders. Cameron County sent shockwaves throughout District 9 with their 28-27 comeback upset win at Coudersport. The Falcons were a playoff team a year ago, while the Red Raiders went winless and were in the midst of a 20-game losing streak. Now Cameron County looks to improve to 2-0 with a win against Bucktail (0-1) on Friday night in Emporium.

It’s an improbable start for third year Cameron County head coach Ryan Neyman, who picked up his first career victory. Now the focus is on his squad’s home opener against a heavy hitting Bucktail team.

Bucktail was less fortunate last Friday night as they fell to D9 South rival Elk County Catholic at home 20-6. Bucktail offensive struggles in the first week were apparent. Their 112 total yards of offense must improve if they have a shot at their first cross-division meeting of 2021.

Last week Bucktail struggled offensively but defensively there were some highlights. Mainly Brody Pentz’s 80-yard fumble recovery for his team’s only score. They’ll need to sharpen things up if they want to stay with the high octane Red Raiders offense.

The Bucktail offensive line held up surprisingly well, but they’ll need to work drastically on their shotgun snaps. That problem was apparent during the entire game.

Cameron County is a pass-heavy offense and features an excellent quarterback that has impressive wide outs to throw to. Their big upset win 28-27 after being down 13 points with under five minutes left in the game is behind them now. The focus is on Bucktail.

Key Players

Bucktail- Senior quarterback Dylan Cross will once again be relied on heavily on both sides of the ball.Cross ran for 31 yards on the ground and tossed for 19 yards in week 1. Look for those numbers to improve in week 2. Cross was Bucktail’s most active defender against the Crusaders too. Something he has to continue if Bucktail has a chance this week.

Senior Conner Mason only had 6 touches, but still led Bucktail in rushing with 34 yards. He’ll need more chances to ease the pressure on Cross. Ashton Intallura may have been the big star for Bucktail Friday night with some monsterous punts and a converted fake punt run.

Whomever Bucktail has at the center spot against the Red Raiders will be crucial in their shotgun style offense.

Cameron County- The Red Raiders offense begins with sophomore quarterback Maddox Baughman. Baughman engineered a miracle comeback in week 1 with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns and sealed the deal with an interception on Coudersport’s final drive. Baughman went 11-23 for 195 yards and 4 touchdowns in the opener, but he also tossed a pair of interceptions.

Baughman’s favorite targets are Dylan Baney (113 yds 2 TD) and Dylan Reider (58 yds TD).

 

Next Week

Bucktail will host Union-AC Valley and Cameron County will travel to Otto-Eldred.

D9 Small School Standings

North            Overall        League

Cameron County    1-0        1-0

Port Allegany        1-0        1-0

Smethport        1-0        1-0

Otto-Eldred        0-1        0-1

Coudersport        0-1        0-1

Sheffield                0-1        0-1

South

Elk County Catholic    1-0        1-0

Keystone                1-0        1-0

Brockway                1-0        1-0

Bucktail            0-1        0-1

Redbank Valley    0-1        0-1

Union-AC Valley    0-1        0-1