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Camden beats Pennsauken football behind Jujuan Hudson

The senior scored touchdowns as a receiver, runner and interception returner as the Panthers won their fifth game in a row.

Camden senior Jajuan Hudson (No. 4, with football) celebrates his third touchdown in a 36-0 victory over Pennsauken.
Camden senior Jajuan Hudson (No. 4, with football) celebrates his third touchdown in a 36-0 victory over Pennsauken.Read moreElizabeth Robertson/Staff photographer

Jujuan Hudson took the opening kickoff to the house, 75 yards down the right sideline for an apparent touchdown.

Flag.

"I wasn't mad," Hudson said of the long return that was nullified by a penalty. "I trusted my teammates. I knew I would be touching the end zone again."

Hudson made good on that prediction three times in three different ways as Camden beat Pennsauken, 36-0, in a West Jersey Football League game Friday night.

A senior all-purpose standout, Hudson scored as a receiver, runner and interception returner as Camden (5-1), the No. 6 team in the Inquirer Top 25, won its fifth in a row.

Hudson also threw a two-point conversion pass, scrambling out of the pocket as the holder on a botched extra-point attempt, rolling to the left and finding teammate Brian Whitemore open just past the goal line.

"I just yelled, 'Fire' and started looking to find somebody open," Hudson said.

Camden also got strong work from its defense and a productive game from senior quarterback Monte Williams, who threw a pair of touchdown passes.

Camden held Pennsauken to eight yards in the second half, limiting standout senior running back Nahzir Russell to five yards on nine carries.

Russell, who leads Pennsauken (4-3) with 12 touchdowns, gained 49 yards on 15 carries in the first half.

"That was our focus," Camden junior linebacker Tirek Austin-Cave said of containing Russell.

Austin-Cave led the defense along with senior tackle Tidaine Bamba, senior defensive back Donald Williams and sophomore defensive back Alijah Clark, who collected an interception.

Camden's defense stopped Pennsauken on third- and fourth-down runs at the 6-yard line late in the first half as the visiting Indians were threatening to slice into the Panthers' 15-0 lead.

"That was big," Austin-Cave said of the stand in the shadow of the Camden end zone.

The addition of Austin-Cave, a transfer from Camden Catholic who this week picked up a scholarship offer from Baylor, as well as the superb play of Bamba and Williams and the improvement of several others players has helped Camden's defense develop into one of the best in South Jersey.

Or maybe the best, period.

"I think so," Camden coach Dwayne Savage said. "We've never had this kind of speed. We've got a middle linebacker [Austin-Cave] who runs 10.6 [seconds in the 100-yard run]. We have corners who run 10.8. We have speed everywhere."

Camden's offense was working as well on a cool, clear night in Farnham Park. Williams threw touchdown passes of 23 yards to Hudson and 22 yards to Nicholas Cataldo, while Ramer Nock broke loose for a 76-yard touchdown run.

"We've got playmakers every which way you look," Hudson said.

On this night, Hudson stole the spotlight. He caught that touchdown pass to open the scoring. He took a reverse 20 yards for another score. And he pilfered a pass, cut back and raced to the end zone for the exclamation point on an imposing victory for the Panthers over their neighboring rivals.

"Heart," Savage said of Hudson. "Every week, he's heart."

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