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Camden Military preparing for another solid year in athletics

By David Shelton

Staff Writer

Camden – Entering his eighth-year as the head football coach and athletic director at Camden Military Academy, Will Rice looks forward to another successful year as the fall sports season opens up.

Rice, who has been at Camden Military since 1994, says the school competes very well, despite a limited enrollment in grades 7-12.

“We offer a lot of programs for a school our size and our athletes perform pretty well,” said Rice, who is a 1994 graduate of North Carolina. “Our maximum number of students is 300 and we have a large percentage of those kids involved in athletics. We have several junior varsity and junior high teams so we get kids involved early. We have had a few teams do very well.”

As a boarding school, Camden Military does not have the luxary of a summer workout program and does not have contact with his athletes over the summer. School starts on August 21st and football practice starts that day. The team then has three weeks together before the start of football season.

“We hit the ground running and its tough but we know how it’s going to be,” said Rice. “We don’t have a lot of flexibility in our scheduling, particularly in football. We play private and public schools in North and South Carolina. We’re kind of limited in some respects yet me manage quite well and our kids compete very well.”

The football program fields three teams in the fall. W.C. Mobley is the head junior varsity coach and Dan Dupree coaches the junior high team.

Dupree also coaches the lacrosse team and coaches the junior high basketball team. Mobley doubles as the school’s golf coach.

John Heflin, the dean of students at Camden Military, is the cross country coach during the fall. Veteran coach Speedy Johnson is the varsity basketball coach and Ron Horne is the junior varsity coach.

Mark Dority directs the wrestling program and Tom Hewitt heads up the soccer program. Moshen Ferjani is the junior varsity soccer coach.

Doug Marsden is the track coach during the spring and SMJ Wilder is the Rifle coach.

Former Camden High star and Citadel graduate Griff Beckham is the school’s baseball coach.

“We have really good coaches here,” said Rice. “We work well together and that’s why we are able to have some success.”

 

if we can do that I will be very impressed," Richard said.
The captain of the squad this year is senior 160-pounder McKellar Johnson.  He was 26-4 last year and has gotten off to an 8-1 start this season.  He also finished third in the Carson Newman tournament.
"He's one of those guys that comes to practice every day and gets things going.  He can get the guys riled up and really encourages them.  He does a real good job at getting the other kids to train harder to try to get where he's at," Richard said.
The second returner is senior heavyweight Branson Dixon.  Two other wrestlers placed at Carson Newman, including David Duncan (third at 171 pounds) and David Cassie (second at 189).
Also earning a spot in the starting lineup this season has been Ned Beck (112 pounds), Graham Oetgen (119), Terrell Gibbs (125), Taylor Bayless (130), Trey Carroll (135), Chris Keough (140), Jennings Johnson (145) and Jean Brierre (215).  Dennis Kelly and Noah Leary are still fighting for the 152-pound spot while the 103-pound class remains vacant.
"It's so hard to keep these kids here because a lot of them just come for a year or two.  We have a good lineup right now and if we could get them to stay we would be great in a couple of years.  There's a lot of talent on the roster just not a lot of experience," Richard said.
The Spartans will compete against North Central one more time before they depart for winter break.  Once they return they will do battle with Camden High on Jan. 6 before entering the Dreher Invitational Tournament Jan. 9.