(Editor’s note: This is the next in a series in which the Olean Times Herald and Bradford Era will present the best season/team accomplishment for every school in the Big 30. Today: Cameron County.)
EMPORIUM — It was the season where everything finally meshed.
After spending three years transitioning Cameron County to the Wing-T, the 2008 campaign marked the high point of head coach Tony DeFilippi’s tenure with the Red Raiders, as his charges amassed a 12-2 record and won their first District 9 championship in nine years.
And according to DeFilippi, that culmination was built on players who had plenty of experience and talent to make that year a special one.
“That was just a great group of kids and coaches,” the now-Ridgway assistant coach said. “The community came together, and it was a lot of fun. It was a good ride. Everything just clicked together with a lot of hard work, and it came together for the kids and community.”
It came together with a lot of close calls, too. The Red Raiders opened the season with a thrilling 27-26 overtime win against Kane, and then three weeks later survived a double-OT scare at Curwensville in a 23-20 win. The next week, the Red Raiders stymied Coudersport 13-7, and two weeks after that toppled Port Allegany 14-6.
According to DeFilippi, the Red Raiders were able to withstand those narrow scores because of experience built through tough outings and heartbreaks from the seasons before, including a 3-6 season in 2005 and falling to Kane in the 2007 District 9 championship game.
“It was a bunch of kids that went through it all. We started down there, and it was hard times,” he said. “But as a group, we built together and went through those challenges. We got into playoff games and lost, got into championship games and lost. Those kids had gone through those, so the resiliency and working through it paid off.”
The postseason, however, began with the exact kind of loss Cameron County had been able to prevent in games past, as Kane toppled the Red Raiders for the Allegheny Mountain League title, 7-6.
Afterward, though, Cameron County returned to form, pummeling Keystone in the opening round of the D9 Class A playoffs, 57-22, and then topping Coudersport 21-7 in the semifinals.
In the championship game, the Red Raiders once again flexed their defensive muscle in an 18-8 win over Clarion to secure the program’s first D9 crown since 1999.
“It means a lot to any program,” DeFilippi said of winning the title. “The kids were able to do it, and it was a good moment for Red Raider football. There’s tradition there with teams that went into the state playoffs, so it was nice for the community to experience it again.”
Much of those postseason successes in 2008 came by way of the ground game. The Red Raider offense averaged 252.8 yards per game on the ground, and scored an average of 27.4 points per game.
Much of that success on the ground came by way of lead tailback Andy Lippert.
Lippert led Cameron County in rushing that season with 1,066 yards and 16 touchdowns, and some of his best performances came during the D9 playoffs. Against Coudy, he ran for 246 yards and three scores, and then against Clarion, he logged 115 yards and all three Red Raider scores.
“He was just a hard worker, and he was really fast,” DeFilippi said. “We ran the Wing-T, and we had good people up front. He could read blocks and get vertical and then turn on that speed. He was a special back.”
Meanwhile, that Red Raider defense made sure to keep Cameron County in any game it played up to that point. As a whole, the unit allowed just over eight points per game, and never allowed more than 26 while playing teams from District 9.
“We always thought, and our focus was, that if we can play great defense, we’ll always be in the game,” DeFilippi said. “The kids bought into that, and a lot of the stuff we did, the kids did on their own on the field. They were experienced players that made calls and adjustments on their own, and they did a really good job of that.”
The 2008 campaign ended in the first round of the PIAA state playoffs, as the Red Raiders were shut out by Farrell, 31-0. Even still, though, the season marked a “special” time for those in Emporium, says DeFilippi.
“I was most proud of the community coming together,” he recalled. “Everybody hopefully had a great experience with that. I was thankful to coach a bunch of great kids with great coaches, and that’s what I take from it.
“It built (the) community (up). High school football builds those small communities and brings them together, and it was fun to experience that with those folks.”
