Football: In the Midst of a Comeback

The school’s football team struggled early on, but the comeback has been sharp.

The team is currently sitting with a 3-6 overall record and a 3-4 record in AAAAAA Region 7, with the regular season coming to an end after Friday’s away game against North Atlanta, which is scheduled for 5:30 pm.  

At this point in the season last year, the team was sitting with a 5-4 record and finished with a 6-5 record, and a playoff appearance.

After starting 0-5 to begin this year, Cambridge rattled off three straight wins against opponents Johns Creek, Dunwoody and Northview.

Through the three-game win streak, the Bears’ rushing attack came alive, averaging 146.3 yards per game on the ground compared to the 63.6 yards per game during the five-game losing streak.

That amounts to about a 130 percent increase in rushing yards.

Another telling stat is the improvement in the point differential between Cambridge and the teams they have faced.

During the five-game losing streak, the team gave up 31 points per game and only scored 14.8 points per game, a 16.2 point differential.

Since the team caught fire, the Bears have scored 22 points per game and given up only 11.8 points per game to the opposition.

Head Football Coach Craig Bennett said that despite the poor start to the season, the team has kept its focus throughout.

“They are really resilient. They have a get-back-to-work attitude that I am very proud of,” said Bennett.

Bennett said the team used the losses to learn from their mistakes and improve as a team, both in practice and in games.

“We have changed some practice routines a little to work on specific areas, like getting reps between our first team offense vs our first team defense to get a good look and get the speed of the game,” said Bennett.

One of brightest spots of the season has been the quarterback-wide receiver duo of Hogan Dykes and Ridge Polk.

Dykes has passed for 1565 yards total, with Polk receiving 865 of those yards. Polk has also caught 10 of Dyke’s 12 passing touchdowns.

“We have made improvements and adjustments in practices and games, and that resulted in a three-game win streak,” said freshman wide receiver Kyle Romano.

In their last game, the Bears’ three-game win streak ended with a 14-6 loss against the region’s best team, Alpharetta.

Students seem to be optimistic about the end of the season.

“The team has looked much better the past few weeks, and I think they could win out,” said freshman Danny Mohseni.