(Anita) CAM coach Barry Bower refers to it as a special opportunity. His football squad will be playing for an 8-Player state championship on Thursday. We’ll have the game on KSOM.
The Cougars meet Easton Valley in a matchup on undefeated teams. Coach Bower comments on the RiverHawks. “They are very athletic. One of the things that really stands out is obviously Conor Gruver the senior quarterback. He’s attempted 249 passes and completed 178 for a 71.5 completion rate. That’s pretty impressive, especially coming out of a high school kid and what they do with trying to stay balanced with their passing game and rushing game, but that completion percentage really stands out to us and throwing 51 touchdown passes with only seven interceptions.”
Gruver has hit Carson Fuegen 68 times for 880 yards and 15 scores while Hayden Felkey has 41 catches for 974 yards and 18 TD’s. Charlie Simpson leads the run game with 1,273 yards and 29 touchdowns. CAM’s defense however has been stingy, led by Joe Kauffman’s 102.5 tackles. “He’s just a ball hawk. He finds the ball so well and he has that knack for just finding open run throughs to put himself in position to make plays. When you see it on film he’s not the biggest kid, but he’s going to go and make plays. His relentless pursuit of getting after it is what makes him special.”
CAM’s offense will have to find a way to block a defense that averages 11 tackles for loss per game. “They are going to bring pressure at you from all different types of angles whether it’s in the run game or not in the run game. We’ve been trying to understand our paths. Our we going to take our certain paths that we have and not get confused with all the hoopla that they are going to bring? That’s one of the things that we have to understand is our discipline and our roles up front. Can we get them on play action? Can we get them over the top in some certain areas? Can we control the line of scrimmage?”
Regardless of the outcome on Thursday it has been a year for the ages for CAM. “It’s been a joyous ride. We understand that this is going to be the last go for everybody, but we are going to give it a heck of a shot. We are proud to represent our community as CAM. That’s going to be the first and foremost thing. Win, lose, or draw, we are happy to represent our families and our communities with passion and Southwest Iowa and District 10.”
Pregame coverage starts at 9:00 for this 9:30 kickoff between the CAM Cougars and the Easton Valley RiverHawks in the 8-Player state championship game.
CAM coach Barry Bower:
