Baker's Domangue small school Player of the Year

Even as he recounts a night now months behind him that one got away, Cameron Domangue’s jaw tightens with anger.
It’s a story of how Baker, which finished the regular season 6-4 and reached the postseason for the first time two long years, saw a 14-0 lead unravel quickly into a 28-22 road loss to Walton.

Then there was the night two weeks later where the Gators came undone after a late fumble at Vernon and dropped a 17-14 decision.
“It’s those little things,” Domangue said. “They can take your season from going 6-5 and losing in the first round of the playoffs to going 8-2 and coming home for the first round.”

Those “little things” are also what has helped Domangue go from an under-sized tweener to one of the area’s most electrifying football players and the All-Sports Association/Daily News Small School Player of the Year for 2008.

Domangue won the award by edging out Walton running back and 2007 recipient, Issac Jackson, who himself established quite the reputation for his ability to take over a game. But in a season of inspiring performances few could match the Baker quarterback.
“I haven’t been around a kid that’s as competitive (as Domanuge) when he steps on that field and shows up for practice every day as competitive as he is,” Gators coach Bob Kellogg said. “He loves to compete.”

On the heels of a junior campaign that saw him rush for 1,698 yards and 18 touchdowns and pass for 806 yards and seven touchdowns, even Domangue knew that opposing defenses would double their efforts to impede his progress in ‘08.
Try as they might, more times than not, it was Domangue that ended up with the last laugh, gashing defenses for 1,836 yards and 16 touchdowns while throwing for 631 yards and nine more scores.

“People knew they had to take him away,” Kellogg said. “They tried but they couldn’t. Cameron was our offense and people just couldn’t stop him.”

While the Baker coach praised his pupil for his speed and strength, both Kellogg and Domangue credit the quarterback’s will to win as the player’s greatest attribute.

“He’s a good athlete, his size limits him and what makes up for the difference in his size is his competitiveness,” Kellogg said. “That’s the one characteristic that overshadows his size.”

That competitiveness also happens to extend beyond the football field.
“I’ve actually almost gotten into fights with (teammate and close friend)Billy (Whatmough) before plenty of times over cards,” Domangue said grinning. “It makes a good football player too, I guess. You have to have that drive to win.”

Baker did that in 2008, finishing the season as the District 1-2B runner up and advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 2006 before getting bounced by Florida High.

Still, wins and losses – even for Domangue – tell only half of the story as the graduating Gator looks back on his high school career.
Playing on a Baker team where he said “everybody was a brother”, Domangue is eager to take the lessons of perseverance he learned under Kellogg with him through the rest of his life, and, hopefully, to the next stage of his football career at a Division II college.
“Sometimes it does seem like there’s nothing you can do right,” Domangue said.

“There are some nights when the ball just doesn’t bounce your way. In the end, you have to keep your head down and driving them feet.

“Something good is going to happen for you.” l Defensive Player of the Year/Defensive Lineman of the Year: Marrion Holmes, Walton; Holmes was a disruptive force for the Braves defense in 2008 and one of the area’s most feared lineman.l Offensive Lineman of the Year: Blake Bollinger, Baker: Bollinger helped pave the way for a Gators’ offense that churned out 3,335 yards this season and averaged 9.1 yards per attempt.