CAMERON — Going into his first year at as head coach at Cameron, not many people were thinking that Tim Brown’s squad was going to make much noise during the 2019 season. However, the Dragons were able to prove the doubters wrong by securing a 7-3 season and securing a spot in the West Virginia Class A playoffs. After being up 14 against St. Marys at halftime, the Blue Devils found their rhythm and were able to eliminate the Dragons.

The Dragons lost three key seniors from 2019 in Jessop Broughton, Noah Neely and Garrett Scott.

This season’s preparations have been much different for the Dragons as the coronavirus pandemic has hit the nation causing the upcoming season to be in question. However, Brown and the Dragons have kept an optimistic mindset and have been following the protocol to a T. As of the first week of August, Cameron has not had a positive case on the team.

“Other than COVID, being a Dragon right now is exciting and being in Marshall County is exciting right now because Marshall County has put a lot of money into facilities,” Brown said. We’re going to have brand new, state-of-the-art turf field. We’re getting a new football and sports facility and looker rooms. It’s really exciting right now because many, many years, we’ve had an old field, old bleachers, old locker rooms and it’s really exciting for these guys to be here. The rest of us are hoping to play all of our games this year.”

The Dragons will have a new QB this season as Broughton picked up his diploma. And Brown will have a pair of options in junior Cole O’Neil and freshman Colson Wichterman.

Junior Jourdan Presto got some quality playing time last year at the running back position and looks to take the next step this year in the backfield. Also looking to carry the rock is freshman Jason Ross.

The receiving corps has a handful of experience returning in junior Isaac Ball and sophomore Payton Neely. O’Neil also might find himself lining up at receiver as well.

The Dragons will return much of their offensive line. At center will be senior Connor Howard while sophomore Gunnar Bryan returns at guard. Junior Clayton Bryan and senior Jason Neehouse will also return on the offensive line. Senior Decan Carmichael will return at the tackle spot as a third-year starter.

Defensively, Brown said there will be a lot of young players fighting for positions. However, junior Xavier Stoneking and sophomore Gunnar Bryan will be at nose guard.

At defensive end Clayton Bryan and O’Neil will take the spot. Junior David Yeater could also step in on both the offensive and defensive line.

At the linebacker postion, Ross will look for some playing time, Presto, O’Neil and Clayton Bryan.

In the secondary will be Neely, Miller along with Cole Burkett and Logan Burkett. Brown also said both Burkett could see time at wide receiver too.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time and I think you got to set your goals high and you don’t want to take anyone for granted,” Brown said. “You don’t want to sound like anything is going to be easy, but we really think that we can beat anybody on our schedule. If we play 10 games, we expect to win 10 games. That’s our expectations, but once again, we’re going to be very young in some positions so it’s going to depend on their development. They’ve developed a lot in the past, so we’re expecting big things.”

Isaac Ball, Cole Compston, Landon Vantassel and Colton Lyons are the other juniors while Brayden Marling rounds out the sophomore class.

Thad Dempewolf, Caleb Reynolds, Ashton Hoge, Gage Lilley, Delbert VanTassel, Colton Winters, Ryder Stern, Bricey Ayers and David White are the remaining freshmen.

Brown is assisted by Matt Burge (offensive coordinator), Matt Carnahan (defensive coordinator), Gibbs Davidson (special teams coordinator), Jim Rogers (offensive line), Derek Martin (assistant defensive coordinator), Matt Wiseman (manager), Shawn Fullerton (middle school) and Fred Reynolds (middle school).