Camden football team prepared to make another run
AAAA Bulldogs knock off AAAAA schools White Knoll, Lugoff-Elgin in first two games
Camden – It took a couple of days to get the task done, but the Camden High School football team opened the 2025 season with a 20-7 victory over White Knoll.
The game was played over two days in Lexington, the first half on Thursday, August 21, and the second half on Friday, August 22. The game was originally scheduled for the 22nd but was moved up a day because of the threat of inclement weather. Lightning stopped the game on Thursday and it was finished on Friday.
“We were excited to get a win in the Week Zero game,” said Bulldogs head coach Brian Rimpf. “That was one of the few top 25 matchups in Week Zero. White Knoll has had a lot of success over the last couple of years, so to win that game coming out of preseason is great.”
Rimpf was pleased with Camden’s performance. The Bulldogs were replacing about half of their starters on either side of the football from last year’s 9-4 team that advanced to the third round of the AAAA state playoffs.
“You wonder how you’re going to perform when you get to the first game, wonder how you’ll do,” said Rimpf, whose team deeated Kershaw County rival Lugoff-Elgin 35-14 in its second game. “I was really pleased with the defense against a very productive White Knoll team. We caused four turnovers on Thursday.
“Offensively, we’ve got a lot of new pieces who we got to touch the ball. You want to get those guys in live action and see what they can do.”
Junior Greyson Rimpf, the coach’s son, is the quarterback after sharing the role with graduated Wyatt Thompson last year. Rinpf played in seven games last season, completing 70 of 105 passes for 853 yards and six touchdowns.
Senior Navier Boykin returns at running back. He will have sophomore Bernard Green lining up beside him in the backfield. Boykin ran for 519 yards and 12 touchdowns.
After an outstanding junior season, Tylin Drakeford is back at wide receiver. He caught 56 passes for 938 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Junior Isaiah Smith is the other wideout, and junior Will Haunert is the tight end.
The Bulldogs have good size across the offensive front. The left tackle is sophomore Tyler Atkinson (6-feet-4-inches, 250 pounds), Ryan Lawson (6-2, 270) is the right tackle, junior Worth Thomasson (6-1, 300) is the center, senior Zerangelo Kershaw (6-21, 280) is the right guard and senior Trayvion Alston (6-1, 270) is the left guard.
Camden has a quartet of seniors starting on its 4-man defensive front. They are Dontrell Wilson, Angelo Keshaw, Tyler Edwards and Thomas Bishop. Wilson is coming off of a big junior year in which he had 20 tackles for loss and eight quarterback sacks among his 64 total tackles.
The linebacking corps is led by senior Evan Presbot, a returning starter. The other two are junior Jaden Manning and sophomore Lavay Penny. The secondary has three seniors starting in Kavon Edwards, Khamrim Holman and Denari Halley. Junior Hayden Williams is the other starter.
Junior Sawyer Smith is the placekicker while Haunert will handle the punting chores.
Camden has been ultra successful during Rimpf’s tenure. He doesn’t anticipate that changing this season.
“We’ve got an established program,” Rimpf said. “In fact, this is the best 6-year run in Camden history. “We just need to stay focused. We have a lot of experience and we need to focus on playing well each week. We have all the key ingredients, key pieces to have a successful team. We know we have the talent to have a really good season.”
