Buies Creek – Daniel Smith accounted for 332 yards of total offense and five touchdowns as Campbell opened the 2018 season with a 49-26 win over Chowan Thursday night at Barker-Lane Stadium.
Smith completed 11-of-20 passes for 260 yards and three scores, while adding 72 on 12 carries and two TDs on the ground. He connected on long scoring passes with Caleb Snead (49 yards), Zach Roderick (72) and Trey Sanders (47) as the Camels built a 42-6 lead through three quarters.
Smith connected with six different receivers on his 11 completions and averaged 23.6 yards per catch. Roderick (76), Snead (57) and Aaron Blockmon (55) all finished with more than 50 receiving yards. Rocky Reid ran for 50 yards on 13 carries and one score for the Camels, who finished with a 456-326 edge in total offense.
Jack Ryan and Ray Miller led Campbell with eight tackles apiece, while Dorian Jones added seven stops.
Chowan quarterback Bryce Witt completed 11-of-24 passes for 100 yards, while adding a team-high 91 yards on the ground. Torry Baker led the Hawks with four receptions and 51 yards. Dre Terry led the Hawks with eight tackles.
Three big plays gave the Camels a 21-0 lead at halftime over the Division II Hawks.
On its second possession, Chowan drove 57 yards to the Campbell 24. On 4th down and 4, Deontae Henderson stepped in front of Witt’s slant pass and ran 84 yards for his second career “pick six.”
Midway through the second quarter, Smith connected with red-shirt freshman Snead for a 49-yard scoring pass. Late in the period Smith found a wide-open Roderick down the left sideline for a 72-yard TD hookup.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Levi Wiggins’ 28-yard interception return gave the Camels a 1st-and-10 at the Chowan 18. Two Smith completions set up a 4-yard scoring run for the sophomore QB and gave the Camels a 28-0 lead.
Witt hit Baker on a 46-yard completion to give Chowan a 1st down on the Campbell 21. Witt scored on a 21-yard QB keeper on the next play to cut the lead to 28-6 with 11:51 left in the third after Jackson Brooks’ PAT sailed wide left.
Campbell answered when Smith hit Sanders on a 37-yard post pattern and Colin Gary’s PAT extended the margin to 35-6 with 10:53 to go in the third. Reid’s two-yard plunge on fourth down capped a 16-play, 76-yard drive and gave the Camels a 42-6 lead with 2:21 to play in the third quarter.
Jayden Riley hit Sha’Von Harkless with a 16-yard scoring pass on a wheel route to end a 6-play, 43-yard scoring drive and trim the margin to 42-12 with 14:52 remaining in the game. Keandre’ Richardson then intercepted backup quarterback Jayson DeMild’s pass and returned it 57 yards to pull the Hawks within 42-19 with 13:58 to go.
Smith’s four-yard keeper concluded a 13-play, 63-yard drive that ate up more than 8 minutes on the clock and pushed the advantage to 49-19 with 5:43 remaining.
Riley found Harkless on a 3-yard scoring pass with 11 seconds to play for the final margin.
A greater-than capacity crowd of 5,624 turned out for the season opener and accounted for Campbell’s 14th sellout since Barker-Lane Stadium was expanded to 5,500 seats in 2013.
Campbell returns to action Saturday, September 8th with a 12:30 p.m. kickoff at Georgetown.
