Big blues for Gloucester as Cameron shines

GLOUCESTER - Chris Cameron and Swampscott ended Gloucester's bid for a perfect season last night, scoring 21 fourth-quarter points to pull out a 28-20 victory.

Cameron passed for 241 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a 4-yard TD.

"Chris Cameron is the equivalent to a basketball point guard to our offense," said Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski. "He makes great decisions and is the cog that makes the machine go."

Cameron rallied his team at the beginning of the fourth quarter with the Big Blue trailing, 14-7, after Gloucester squandered a chance to take control. Swampscott's defense forced an incompletion on fourth and 6 from the Big Blue 8.

"Our defense stepped up in the second half," said Dembowski. "The kids just kept playing and started to believe."

Two plays after the defensive stand, Swampscott was in the end zone. After a 17-yard pass to Kyle Shonio, Cameron hit Trevor Wheeler with a perfect pass for a 75-yard scoring strike.

Swampscott's extra point was blocked.

On Gloucester's next drive, Ross Carlson scored on a 2-yard run, but the Fishermen missed the extra point.

The Big Blue then methodically moved down the field as Cameron passed for 55 yards. On second and goal from the 4, Cameron powered up the middle for the score. Cameron then took the snap and rolled right, moving the defense with him. He threw back across his body to a wide-open Randall Kelleher in the end zone, the 2-point conversion giving Swampscott its first lead, 21-20.

Gloucester was unable to handle the ball on a squib kick and Swampscott recovered. On fourth and goal from the 7, Swampscott created breathing room, Cameron finding Wheeler for the touchdown.

Wheeler ended the night with 118 yards and two touchdowns on five catches.

Swampscott got its first points with less than a minute remaining in the first half.

Aided by facemask and pass interference penalties, the Big Blue were able to move to the Gloucester 15; the pass interference call negated a Gloucester interception. On the next play, Cameron hit a wide-open Patrick Freemont-Smith in the corner of the end zone. That pulled Swampscott within 14-7.

"It panned out that we were able to put together that drive and that gave us huge momentum," said Dembowski.

Swampscott gets back to work next Saturday with a nonleague game against Bishop Fenwick, while Gloucester will face Peabody in a Northeastern Large contest.