Camden having another successful football season in Brian Rimpf's 10th year as head coach
Bulldogs after eighth straight year with at least nine victories
Camden – And the beat goes on – for the Camden High School football team under head coach Brian Rimpf.
Rimpf is in his 10th season in charge of the Bulldogs, and all they’ve done during that time is win – a lot.
CHS went 3-8 in his first year in 2017. Since then, Camden has won at least eight games each season, reaching at least nine wins in the last seven years. It has played for the AAA state title three times.
The Bulldogs appear to be positioning themselves to add to the achievement list this season. They are 5-2 and 2-0 in Region 4-AAA after a 48-33 victory at Gilbert on October 2. Camden is ranked eighth in the latest High School Sports Report AAA poll.
“The expectations for our team are always so high that it’s hard to meet them,” said Rimpf, whose team is back in AAA this year following reclassification after playing AAAA the two previous seasons. “We had the goal of being undefeated through these first seven games. That hasn’t happened, but those losses came to AAAA playoff teams (archrival Lugoff-Elgin and Hilton Head Island) will provide valuable experience for us in the postseason.
“We like where we sit going into our bye week, being in first place in the region.”
CHS is rolling on offense, averaging 41.8 points a contest. They were averaging over 400 yards of total offense through the first six games, 243.8 passing yards and 184.7 rushing yards.
“We have explosive offensive players, a good offensive line and a 3-year starter at quarterback,” Rimpf said. “Add all of those together and it equals a high-performing unit.”
Rimpf has had that 3-year starter at QB for a while, not on the team, but in his house. It’s his son, senior Greyson Rimpf. He has completed 63 of 115 passes for 1,352 yards and 15 touchdowns.
The leading receiver is senior Isaiah Smith with 20 receptions for 542 yards and seven TDs. Junior Bernard Green had 19 catches for 431 yards and three scores.
Senior Will Haurnet had 15 grabs for 256 yards and three scores, and senior Hayden Williams and junior Gavin Champion both have two touchdown receptions.
The leading rusher was junior Aaden Manning with 340 yards and five TDs on 57 carries. Senior Jaden Manning had 44 rushes for 220 yards and four scores, and Green had 12 carries for 180 yards and a touchdown.
The Camden defense is allowing 23.3 points, but Coach Rimpf is generally happy with how it’s performed considering its inexperience.
“Our defense has competed well this season and done a good job of limiting big plays,” he said. “We only returned four starters from last year’s unit, but the new players have stepped right in and become key contributors.
“The key for our defense is creating turnovers. In our two losses we didn’t create any turnovers. In our five wins we’ve created 15 turnovers.”
Junior middle linebacker Lavay Penny is the leading tackler with 57 followed by junior middle linebacker Harrison Arnett with 51. Penny also leads in quarterback sacks with three, while Arnett and sophomore defensive end Marcus Hall both have two.
Hall leads in quarterback pressures with six and tackles for loss with seven. Penny has three pressures and four TFLs while Jaden Manning has five TFLs.
Coach Rimpf also sang the praises of the extra point and field goal unit of junior placekicker Rod Sanchez, junior holder Maddox Freeman and junior long snapper Tucker Sholley.
“Our kicking game has been a surprise for us this year,” he said. “We have a new kicker, long snapper and holder, and they have done really well. With our offense scoring as much as they have, there have been many chances for them to practice kicking.”
