Friday Night Lights-September 29th, 2017

As I've said before, we spend our Friday nights watching Jason's son Camdin play football. Jason is so proud of the athlete that Camdin is. Big win against Sartell. Camdin made the Saint Cloud Times. Please read the article below. Pretty cool. Sad that it's his senior year. 

Camdin Carlson-Mathies got a lot of praise from his team Friday for a big play he made.

He is going to catch some grief for another big play that did not end with him in the end zone.

Carlson-Mathies, a senior defensive back, had a 75-yard interception return for Sauk Rapids' first touchdown in a 40-14 win at Sartell. That earned him the praise.

"We expect him to because he is one of the best defensive players in our league, no question about it," Sauk Rapids coach Phillip Klaphake said. "He is very dynamic. For a kid who is 5-foot-11 and 150 pounds — he is one of the hardest hitting, most football savvy — the kid can play any position on our football team.

"He just has it. He's just one of those 'it' kids."

Carlson-Mathies said that once he got the interception, he had a lot of open field in front of him.

"I was playing cover-2 safety and (quarterback Jordan Och) just overthrew and it came right to me," he said. "I just had to out-run everyone. After I turned that corner, I was gone. There was nobody going to catch me. I needed that touchdown."

Carlson-Mathies was the team's top returning rusher going into the season, but he has not played as much on offense this season.

"We're scared to put him on offense because if he got hurt, then we wouldn't have him on 'D,'" Klaphake said.

He did, though, have a 57-yard catch on Sauk Rapids' opening drive to get the ball inside the 5. But it is a play that Klaphake is going to give Carlson-Mathies the hard time about.

"We found a way to get him down the middle of the field and I'm going to give him a hard time for not scoring on that because he got it to the 1, which is really funny," Klaphake said. "We'll pick on him for that.

"But because he's so dynamic, we put him at wide receiver for one play and he picks up almost 60 yards."

Carlson-Mathies helped Sauk Rapids to its second straight strong defensive game. A week after shutting out Brainerd, the Storm did not allow Sartell was able to jump out to a 27-7 lead by halftime.

"Beginning of the season, this was the only team I wanted to beat," he said of the Sabres, the Storm's cross-river rivals. "This was one of the funnest games."

This is the opinion of Mick Hatten. Follow @mickhatten on Twitter, Instagram @MickHatten and at Facebook.com/sctimesmick. Contact him at 259-3621 or mhatten@stcloudtimes.com.