By KYLE LUTZ

For The Times Leader

CAMERON — When it comes to Cameron, Tim Brown is no stranger to the school or the football program. Brown –who also is an alumnus of Cameron and has been an assistant coach — will take over the reigns after Scott Holt stepped down after five seasons.

“When I got the opportunity to come back home, I was an athletic director here for five years. Then I really missed coaching and teaching, so I decided to step back down and get back into coaching and teaching. I’m glad I did because a lot of the kids that are going through the program now, are the kids of the guys that I coached back in the 90s and early 2000s. So there’s a connection there,” Brown said.

“Those guys work very hard and had a lot of success back in the day. And of course, they’ve instilled in their kids to be good, hard-working, good people. You have that good nucleus and another great thing is that Scott Holt and his crew did a fantastic job of getting these kids to win. They did a nice job for Cameron over the last few years.”

What a three-year run it has been. All the Dragons did was going 10-0 in 2016 and 2018, win 29 of their 30 regular season games, make it to the West Virginia Class A playoffs all three years and capture an OVAC title two times.

Arguably one of the most impressive feats just came last year. The Dragons picked up their first playoff win since 2000 when they defeated Van, 30-12, on their home field.

“I’m taking over a program that has a lot of success,” Brown said. “I’ve been part of some of that. Some of that I was part of as an athletic director and of course was here when Scott got hired. I’m not going to try and follow the great coaches that have been here, but I will bring back a little bit of old school. These kids are going to have respect for the game, respect for each other and they’re going to work very hard. They’re going to be physical from being in the weight room and from conditioning all spring and all summer.”

Cameron will have somewhat of a youth movement for the 2019 campaign as it graduated 15 seniors from last year’s squad including Andrew Ritchea, Mathew Ritchea, Hayden Hoge, Trin Scott, Aidan Lucey, Travis Mickey, Colton Dobbs.

However, even with some major losses, Brown is positive that this team can make some noise.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of success, but we’re really young. We have three seniors, but only have a few returning lettermen that really started offensively or defensively. Our Pee Wee and junior programs has been good over the years. These kids know how to play football, but they’re still young. And if you come up against a team that has a bunch of seniors, you have that disadvantage. We’ll keep working and try to get better throughout the year.”

“You’re missing those 15 guys and of course they played both sides of the ball. You don’t have a lot of experience coming out of some of these guys that are here this year, but they also were there every day at practice learning from those guys and learn from Coach Holt and the staff,” Brown said. “Even though we are extremely young, I think we may play a year in advance to what our grade actually says.”

The three seniors include Noah Neely (6-foot-0, 155 pounds), Jessop Broughton (6-2, 175) and Garrett Scott (6-0, 160).

Broughton will be under center at quarterback while both Neely and Scott will line up at wide receiver. Scott will also see some time in the backfield.

Coming off a solid freshman campaign, sophomore Ian Bush (5-11, 180) will play running back. Classmate Jourdan Presto (5-11, 155) will also play running back.

The offensive line will almost see a whole new look this season as junior Deacon Carmichael (6-0, 165) is the only lineman returning. However, there’s a silver lining.

“We excited about that because there’s a lot of competition,” Brown said.

Junior Connor Howard (5-9, 175) or junior Jason Neehouse (5-8, 170) look to handle the center position.

“Both of them of them are very capable and if one of them doesn’t get the job there, I’m sure they’ll back up and they also play a guard position,” Brown said.

Freshman Gunnar Bryan (6-0, 305), sophomores Clayton Bryan (6-2, 200), Landon VanTassel (6-3, 250) and junior Josh Kidd (6-0, 220) seek to win a job at tackle.

On defense, Gunnar Bryan will play nose guard while Carmichael, Clayton Bryan, sophomore Trevor Beresford (6-6, 200) will compete at defensive end.

“With the 3-5, you kind of got guys that can play a defensive end or linebacker,” Brown said. “We’re giving everybody a look and trying to get the best group we have. In Single A football, you have to put your best 11 guys on the field. Guys have to be versatile. It’s a lot of fun, but you have to be in great shape. That’s what we’re trying to do with these kids.”

Bush, who started last year, returns at middle linebacker while Scott and Broughton are the outside linebackers.

Neely will see time at corner while junior Hank Bogard (5-10, 140) and freshman Payton Neely (5-8 ,125) could see time at corner.

“I can’t be looking into the past as far as trying to copy what I see, I can only do what I can do,” Brown said. “This coaching staff has a lot of belief in these young kids. Even though we are young and inexperienced, our expectations our very high. We would expect to be back in the playoffs and if we can continue to improve from week to week, once we get to the playoffs, I think we can compete.”

Brandon Leasure, Scott Chaplin, Mason Casto-Miller, and Matt Henderson round out the junior class.

The remaining sophomores are Landen Tustin, Cole O’Neil, Isaac Ball, Colton Lyons, David Yeater and Cole Cumpston while Brayden Marling, Kade Norris, Eli Wingrove and Mike Henderson are the freshmen.

Brown is assisted by Matt Burge (offensive coordinator), Matt Carnahan (defensive coordinator), Gibbs Davidson (special teams coordinator), Derek Martin, Jim Rogers, Shawn Fullerton and Matt Wiseman (team manager).