Jim Mashek

SPARTANS SENIOR QB CAMDEN PAGE: ‘THE GOAL’s STILL THE SAME … I WANT TO WIN A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP’

South Warren High School’s tradition-rich football team has never been one to rest on its laurels, but the Spartans’ first season as a member of Class 6A, the highest classification in KHSAA, was a smashing success on multiple levels.

After all, South Warren’s maiden voyage as a Class 6A squad ended at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field.

Where Louisville’s Trinity High School would win the amazing 31st KHSAA state championship in school history, holding off the Spartans in the second half to claim an impressive 28-14 victory.

South Warren would finish the season with 14 victories and that single defeat, although the KHSAA record books call it 13-1, on account of the fact that Christian County chose not to compete in first-round play of the Class 6A playoffs. Even before they closed the season with a resounding loss at Paducah Tilghman High School.

Class 6A football is nothing short of a beast, with only five of the classification’s 32 schools located in the Central Time Zone. Christian County, in fact, merged with Hopkinsville High School over the summer, and the new program, the Christian County Tigers, will compete in the westernmost KHSAA Class 6A district with the likes of Henderson County and McCracken County.

South Warren, meanwhile, is pretty much considered a prohibitive favorite in the KHSAA’s Class 6A, 2nd District, not that veteran coach Brandon Smith will let the Spartans get caught up in all the hoopla.

South Warren opens its season on Friday night against Lexington’s Bryan Station High School, in the opening game of the ecampus.com bowl at Lexington Christian Academy. Kickoff for the Spartans’ high-profile debut is set for 5:30 p.m. EDT in Lexington.

Smith isn’t about to change his non-district scheduling strategy, looking for the toughest 10-game challenge he can assemble before postseason play begins in November. The Spartans will play their first home game on August 28, when Louisville’s DuPont Manual High School travels to Bowling Green to play at South Warren Stadium.

“It’s a whole different world in 6A. We’re not going to sneak up on anybody,” Smith said.

South Warren senior Camden Page begins his first season as the Spartans’ full-time quarterback, as promising backup Chase Bell transferred to a high school in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with two years of eligibility remaining. Page was the guiding force in the Spartans’ proficient offense, a daring runner who could get the ball in the hands of the South Warren playmakers, such as the departed Jake Carter and Kayden York.

Page completed 169 of 241 passes, or 70 percent, in the Spartans’ 14 games, passing for 2343 yards and 24 touchdowns after succeeding Bryce Button, now a redshirt freshman QB at Eastern Michigan University. Page was intercepted just eight times, and he added 285 yards rushing, and seven TDs on the ground, while splitting time with Bell in the offense.

South Warren won all of its first 13 games by double digits in 2025, the closest game coming in a 27-17 victory over Manual in Louisville. The Spartans rolled into the Class 6A championship game with a sturdy 36-20 victory over Ryle High School, marking South’s first trip to Kroger Field since 2021. That’s when Florida Atlantic QB Caden Veltkamp and the Spartans defeated Lexington’s Frederick Douglass High School, 38-26, in the KHSAA Class 5A title game in Lexington.

Year to year, the expectations don’t change at South Warren. And Camden Page, a multi-sport standout in football and baseball, isn’t about to change that narrative.

“The goal’s still the same,” Page said. “We still want to be a state champion … I want to win a state championship.”

South coach Brandon Smith, a former WKU quarterback, has served as Page’s mentor for years. He likes Page’s intangibles, his ability to improvise and make plays with his legs. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Page understands his role, and he’ll be working behind a rebuilt offensive line in his senior year with the Spartans.

“I feel like that group is coming along really well,” Page said.

The Spartans returning starting offensive lineman Ayden Hines, a senior guard, and Xavier Wilson, a senior center, while junior running back Jamir Boards moves into the starting role with the departure of versatile tailback Kayden York. Boards rushed for 581 yards and seven touchdowns last season, and Smith points out that he has more speed than other South Warren tailbacks in recent years.

On the flanks, wideout Justin Capps (28 receptions, 583 yards, 8 TDs in 2025) and fellow senior Tucker Sears (26 catches, six TDs) provide valuable experience.

“What made Kayden York so special was his balance,” Smith said. “Jamir brings different things to the table. He’s quick through the hole. He can get into the open field before you know it …

“Last year, having two quarterbacks (capable of starting) was a luxury. Cam knows what we expect, and a lot of our most productive offensive players have left … Still, we’ve got a lot of kids, on both sides of the ball, who have played significant snaps over the last couple seasons.”

One of them is senior defensive back Isaiah Bridges, who returned the opening second-half kickoff for a touchdown last December in the state championship game. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Bridges is equally adept at cornerback and safety, leading the Spartans with five interceptions last season. Bridges had 13 receptions for 182 yards and a score, too, and Smith likes to use a handful of players — including Bridges, tight end/defensive end Clay Helton, wideout/cornerback Tucker Sears and two or three others — on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

On the defensive line, the Spartans have a proven run stuffer in massive defensive tackle Jaquise Smith. Smith, a 6-foot-3, 330-pound senior, has committed to Lindenwood University, an NCAA Division II program in St. Charles, Missouri. He’s joined up front by the likes of Clay Helton, the son of WKU head coach Tyson Helton, along with his twin brother, fellow Spartans junior Cole Helton, and veteran defensive end/linebacker Will Mayes.

Mayes was one of the South Warren defense’s critical playmakers last season, finishing the season with 16 tackles for losses. The Spartans have other seasoned defenders in senior linebackers Cole Kuzma and Ryley Oiler and senior defensive back Joseph Fentress, who is coming back from a knee injury.

“We had an exceptional senior class last year, and that’s something we’ll expect again this year,” South coach Brandon Smith said. “We know we’ll be tested, with our schedule, and we’ll be looking for senior leaders to emerge with this team.”

In 12 years as the Spartans’ head coach, Smith has compiled an amazing 134-24 record with KHSAA state championships in 2015, 2018 and ’21.

Smith shared a view of his coaching philosophy in an interview with jimmashek.com last December.

“I learned, pretty quickly, that great football teams are not all the same,” he said. “You can win in different ways. This team, this team does it by committee. It isn’t a team full of stars, but they’re winners …”

South Warren will try to roll with that momentum on Friday evening against Bryan Station in Lexington.