Bridgeport's Cam Martin Ready for One Final High School Football Game on His Terms
By Chris Johnson on December 11, 2024
There isn’t a high school football player who wouldn’t be excited about playing a rival with a berth in a state championship game on the line.
That was the scenario last Saturday at East-West Stadium when Bridgeport battled with Farimont Senior.
Everybody playing, everybody coaching, everybody watching was excited. None of them were more excited or grateful than Bridgeport senior standout Cam Martin.
Rewind just one week prior, Martin potentially played his last football game in a Bridgeport uniform. In the quarterfinal victory against Nitro, there was a situation where Martin was called for a personal foul penalty.
It’s not that a flag didn’t deserved to be thrown on the play. Martin himself quickly admits he let his emotions get the better of him. However, he was ejected from the game. Normal circumstances call for two personal foul calls before an ejection.
The problem was nothing that Martin did appeared to be worth an immediate ejection. However, he was ejected and at the time it meant he would be inelgible to play in the semifinal game against Fairmont Senior.
It might be easy to overlook now since Bridgeport won the game 36-7 and advanced to its 12th state title game in school history. But facing a team as talented as the Polar Bears are, with that much at stake, and one of your best players unable to play, it was far from a guarantee that the Indians would be in Charleston this week.
An appeal was made the original decision was overturned and Martin was able to play and he played with a brand new purpose.
“You never realize how important something is until you run the risk of losing it or you do lose it,” Martin said. “I lost that for a while. I lost the opportunity to go play this game that I love. Once the decision came that I would be able to play, I think that allowed the team and allowed myself to get mentally locked in and we came out and had fun, played hard, played respectful football team against a very good team.”
The Bridgeport offense is having an historic season when it comes to points scored, rushing yardage, yards per play and a half dozen other stats. Martin has a couple of carries this season. He’s thrown a touchdown pass. He’s caught a few passes. He had one long touchdown reception called back on a penalty.
His “stats” may not jump off the page, but his role is crucial in making those other “stats” happen as Martin plays the unsung hero position of the offense, the one where toughness is a prerequisite – blocking back.
There is no quarterback in the traditional sense of the word quarterback in the single wing offense. But Martin is the unoffical quarterback of the offense as the one reading the keys, making the calls at line of scrimmage. It’s just once the ball snaps, he is generally the lead blocker at the point of attack and is the type of blocker that an opponent knows it when Martin hits him.
Not everyone is cut out to be a blocking back. Even fewer players have volunteered to play it. But Martin took it upon himself to go to the coaching staff in the offseason and recognize that with the graduation of Aidan Sparks, the Indians needed someone to be the blocking back.
Martin could be a 1,000 yard rusher. He showed signs of his ability to run with the ball as a junior as he had 334 yards and five touchdowns. He instead wanted to block in 2024.
“Ultimately I wanted to be a prime contributor to the team in anyway possible,” he said. “I knew we needed a blocking back and last season I would go in a block and realized something it was something I was good at. We need a position like this, I wanted to b the one fill it, play my heart out and lead my team the best possible way.”
If one were to look hard enough, the roots of how good he would be as the blocking back can be traced to one specific play in 2023 against Linsly. It was a close game late, and last year’s state running back of the year, Zach Rohrig, scored a crucial late touchdown but only after Martin delivered one of the hardest, cleanest blocks in the history of Wayne Jamison Field.
“That play really kind of marked a significant change in how I played and how I viewed the game,” Martin said. “When that happened, it gave me more opportunites to go in and hit somebody or block somebody when needed. The coaches would put me at wing, fullback and point out somebody to go block and I would go, ‘Yes sir.’ That hit changed a lot of things for me.”
Martin is just as crucial on defense for the Indians as one of the hardest-hitting safeties in the state. He’s an important part of the run defense, he’s an important part of the pass defense. Heading into Saturday’s title game with Herbert Hoover, he has 44 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss, a forced fumble, one fumble recovery and four pass breakups.
The Indians are giving up just 8.1 points per game, which is the best total in all of Class AAA, 158 yards of total offense per game and just 44 rushing yards per game. As a team, the Indians have 97 tackles for a loss and have a 34-5 advantage in turnovers.
“We have some raw athleticism on defense and that helps but we have played together for years and years now and I think after time you just grow connected,” Martin said. “And we are physical. It comes down to physicality. You have to block the best and you have to tackle the best.”
Martin plays hard every single play and he plays with a passion that is only exceeded by his faith.
Win or lose, he has one more high school football game left. And he isn’t about to take it for granted after the previous week he had.
He also has one more high school football game to play with his brother, Gabe, a sophomore linebacker who is Bridgeport’s leading tackler.
“I’m really happy because I’ve never gotten to play with him before this year,” Cam said. I told him in the offseason, ‘You are starting this year.’ He’s put in as much work as I have and I can’t wait to see what he does the rest of his career. He’s a menace on the field and a prime reason why this defense is locked against the run as well as the pass.
"By the grace of God, we can get a ring together.”
The Indians and the Huskies, who are also 13-0, will play for the Class AAA title at noon on Saturday at Laidley Field at the University of Charleston Stadium.
Editor's Note: Top 2 photos of Cam Martin (8) and bottom photo of Cam and Gabe Martin (21) by Joe LaRocca. Middle two photos of Cam by Tom Mellott.
