Cameron, Levin power Swampscott past Saugus

SWAMPSCOTT – All in all, it was just another day at the office for the Swampscott football team.The Big Blue came into Saturday’s game at Blocksidge Field against Saugus averaging 34.5 points per game. They did nothing to hurt that average against the Sachems.Quarterback Chris Cameron was 20-for-26 for 290 yards passing with two touchdowns. He also ran for a third while running back Ilya Levin rushed for 85 yards and two scores as the Big Blue racked up 423 yards of offense in a 42-21 win.”Our offense has really helped the defense this season,” Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski said. “We’ve been able to come out and build big leads so that it puts pressure on the other team to come back.”Contrary to what the score might indicate, this actually was a very competitive game in the first half.That was until Cameron led a five-play, 80-yard drive in the final 48 seconds of the half that culminated in a 31-yard Steve Moran touchdown catch off a deflection by Saugus’ Craig Cole. This happened on the final play of the half to make it 21-7 Big Blue.For Saugus, it marked the second game in a row that its opponent used a last second touchdown to swing the momentum going into halftime.”That drive at the half really deflated us,” Saugus coach Mike Broderick said. “We were in the kind of game we wanted until then. It’s just crazy that it’s happened to us two games in a row.”Cameron threw for 80 of his 171 first-half yards on that last drive, finishing the half an astounding 14 of 16 passing. And fresh with the momentum from the last second score, Swampscott (7-1, 2-0 NEC South) struck again to begin the third quarter.Two Levin runs got the ball into Saugus territory before Cameron hit Jon Poth on an underneath crossing pattern for a 30-yard gain to the Sachem six. Two plays later, Cameron fought his way in from the three to give Swampscott a 28-7 lead.”Against a team like that which eats up the clock, you have to make use of every possession you get,” Dembowski said.The Sachems’ (4-3, 0-3 NEC South) offense needed an answer and got it thanks to a 14-play, 70-yard drive that took the final 7:32 off the third quarter clock.Quarterback Bret Reid (20 carries, 136 yards) did the bulk of the work on the drive, mixing his keeps with Shamir Guillaume’s dives into the heart of the Big Blue defense. Reid eventually capped the drive on the final play of the third quarter with a one-yard plunge that cut the lead to 28-14.”We came back and drove for a touchdown at the end of the quarter, but then we had some breakdowns,” Broderick said.Swampscott responded in turn with a 60-yard drive on seven plays at the outset of the fourth quarter. A 25-yard Cameron scramble got the Big Blue into scoring range.Four plays later, Levin busted through a hole in the line and went eight yards untouched for his second score of the game and a 35-14 lead with 8:39 to go.Following a Saugus three-and-out on the next possession, Cameron and company finished with a flurry.A 51-yard catch and run from Kyle Shonio moved the ball to the Sachem nine. Two Shaun Hubauer carries later, the Big Blue had a 42-14 lead.Reid and the Sachems didn’t quit though as he went 73 yards on the first play of Saugus’ next series for the game’s final touchdown.”Saugus has some good players and they didn’t quit,” Dembowski said. “We certainly didn’t play our best game, but we got the job done.”Swampscott took a 7-0 lead after the first quarter thanks to a 25-yard touchdown run from Levin. But Saugus recovered a muffed punt late in the first to set up a Guillaume three-yard run early in the second that tied the game.The Big Blue charged right back into the lead via a 10-play, 55- yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass from Cameron to Poth with 5:04 left in the half.A Freemont-Smith fumble on Swampscott’s next possession gave Saugus the ball at the Big Blue 36. But the Big Blue defense held, forcing a 35-yard field goal try from Alex DiPesa that was just short with 48 seconds left in the