The Cole Camp Bluebirds traveled to Salisbury and fell victim to the Panthers, 30-15 to open the football season on Friday night.
Salisbury scored first to make it 8-0 but new QB Grant Rodriguez scored on short yardage for the TD and ran in the 2-point conversation to knot things up.
The Panthers, behind a fired up home crowd, took a 14-8 lead into the locker room after a second quarter TD.
Things changed after halftime as the Panthers scored twice and the third quarter nightmare ended with the Cole Camp boys down 30-8.
Rodriguez had the only offensive TD with a workhorse 30 carries for 54 yards rushing. The ground game was tough going with his longest ramble being just 8 yards.
The Bluebirds threw more than expected with Rodriguez going 5 of 10 for 33 yards.
Newcomer Clayton Archambault ran 13 times for 45 rushing.
Cole Camp scored in the fourth on a 30-yard interception and run by Connor Peterson but it proved too little and too late for the Bluebirds. Savvy Jayden Beshaw pressured the quarterback into the making the errant pass. Blake Abey kicked the extra point.
Cole Camp kids are some of the most polite and respectful students this reporter encounters over the course of a season. Sometimes Coach Kevin Shearer wants them to be more physical on the football field. We will see how that mentality and the season plays out. Next week should be a dogfight as they travel to face an old rival in the Windsor Greyhounds. Windsor beat Lone Jack/ Kingsville 56-8 last week. Grab the BCE paper next week for the intriguing outcome.
