Can Cam Jones make return to Harrisburg special for the Bulldogs?
The Wilson Bulldogs were one play away from claiming their eighth District 3 football championship a year ago in Harrisburg — and the game-winning play was there.
A last-minute punt found its way into the gifted hands of Cam Jones. He broke contain and headed down the sideline.
“We had people set up (to block),” said Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms.
Jones, the most successful return man in Berks football history, has watched the film. There were four guys in white jerseys and red pants downfield waiting for him to make his move.
Jones, one-on-one in the open field, is a mismatch. Five-on-one? That’s money.
Before he could cash that check Jones was yanked down by his facemask. The Cougars were assessed a 15-yard penalty. No matter. They found a way to stop Jones and preserved their 14-10 victory.
“It was tough, looking back at it,” Jones said the other day as the teams prepare to meet again Saturday at 1 at Severance Field in a District 3 Class 6A quarterfinal. “A district medal was on the line. That one play could’ve changed the entire game.”
Jones has changed a lot of games over the past few years. He had seven kick return touchdowns as a junior. He’s taken back five punts for touchdowns this season. Even more remarkably he’s done that on just six chances.
“They will not give him a chance to return anything,” Dahms said.
Jones, a Holy Cross recruit, has had just one chance to field a kickoff this season. One. In 10 games.
It’s not so difficult to direct the ball elsewhere on a kickoff. Punts are a little trickier. Most high school punters don’t have the skill level to kick away from an All-State talent such as Jones. They can’t always kick the ball out of bounds. They try, but look at the stats — Jones is averaging better than 49 yards per return — and you see they swing and miss a lot.
Jones, who has scored a team-high 25 touchdowns even took a punt back to the house that he didn’t catch. Eddie Case fielded it, then lateraled it back to him. You’ll see that play on kickoffs occasionally, but on a punt?
“We’re doing everything to try to get it into his hands,” Dahms said. “If he’s not the best kicker returner in District 3, maybe in the state, I don’t know who is.”
The third-seeded Cougars (7-2) are certainly aware of that. They’ll try to kick away from Jones but punting is not one of their many strengths. In an early season loss to Manheim Township they had a pair of punts blocked.
Special teams could be an edge for the sixth-seeded Bulldogs (8-2).
“We’re hoping we can take advantage of (that),” Dahms said. “That’s where Cam should beat ’em.”
The Cougars aren’t vulnerable in too many areas. They returned nine starters to a defense that pretty much shut down the Bulldogs’ powerful run game last year. Defensive end Terrell Reynolds has been compared favorably to Micah Parsons, the former Harrisburg and Penn State star who’s now one of the top linebackers in the NFL.
They’ve got playmakers all over, including Temple recruit Kyle Williams, a game-breaker as both a receiver and running out of the backfield. And then there’s bullish 240-pound running back Mahkai Hopkins, who pounded his way for 130 yards in last year’s meeting.
Wilson led 3-0 at the half before Hopkins and the Cougars’ big front wall took over.
“We got run over in the second half,” said Wilson defensive end Nick Weitzel.
“We thought we had ’em,” Jones said, “then they came out in the second half with energy we couldn’t match defensively.”
Jones’ brother Jadyn ran for 100 yards in last season’s game. Cam Jones, the top rusher in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League this season, will need to do that — and more — for Wilson to beat Harrisburg for the first time since 2015.
The “more” part will come on special teams. He knows it; everybody knows it.
He’s not bitter about the way last year’s game ended; it was a smart play on the Cougars’ part, he said.
“(There’s) not really much to say about it,” Jones said. “Without the face mask it probably could’ve been a touchdown.”