Early in the third quarter of SLUH’s second game of the season — an unseasonably hot September night — senior running back Cameron Stubbs powered through the Ladue line and ran about 32 yards for his second touchdown of the night.
It put the Jr. Bills up 20-7 and was the start of what would become a convincing SLUH 49-27 victory over the Rams of Ladue Horton Watkins. Stubbs (left) would get some rest by the fourth quarter, but not before finishing with 23 carries and 197 yards rushing.
That’s what the stats say anyway. But behind the numbers lies the story that set up Stubbs’ game — good enough to be pegged one of the Top Performers for Week 2 according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Stubbs’ runs through the Ladue defense might not have been his toughest run that week. A week earlier, in the Game 1 loss at Parkway North, Stubbs had left the game with leg cramps in the 35-38 loss, a conditioning transgression not lost on the coaching staff.
So at the next practice, Stubbs was told to run double the 40s usually reserved for the end of practice. That took a bit of extra time, leaving Stubbs’ dad, Dennis, waiting for him in the SLUH parking longer than he expected.
When the younger Stubbs told his dad the reason for his tardiness, Dennis Stubbs didn’t say a word. Instead, he stopped short of home, at the bottom of a hill, and told his son to get out and run the hill — 10 times. “You were on the coaches’ time, and now you’re on my time,” the elder Stubbs told his son. “That’s not going to happen again.”
Cameron did as he was told — in SLUH shorts, t-shirts and his school uniform-required Topsiders, then responded in the next game with 197 yards rushing.
Sitting in the stands watching the younger Stubbs pile up yards and touchdowns, no one was prouder than Dennis and his wife, Kim.
The game was a good answer to the previous week’s heartbreaker, and included three special teams touchdowns — two by multitalented Stefan Sansone (above, No. 31) and one by TK Hawkins. Sansone had a 70-yard punt return and a 96-yard kickoff return.
On the field for all three special teams touchdowns: No. 45 Matt McCarthy, suffering no ill-effects from the previous week’s “hit”.
Matt made some key blocks in both of Sansone’s returns, and saw plenty of playing time in the second half at defensive end and on special teams.
Behind the stats: a young man making key tackles, blocks, quarterback hurries and a near sack resulting in a SLUH interception; a player not about to let one hit make him tentative.
It was a hot night indeed.
No comments yet.