A lightning delay turned into an overnight delay, but Sunday morning football suited Campbell just fine. The Camels built an 18-point halftime lead when play finally started, overcame three Kamden Sixkiller interceptions and leaned on a dominant run defense to beat Western Carolina 28-19 at Barker-Lane Stadium.
The win over the nationally ranked Catamounts lifts Campbell to 2-0 for the first time since 2018. WCU, meanwhile, dropped to 1-1.
The Camels piled up 528 yards of offense and held Western Carolina to one net rushing yard, their second-best single-game defensive performance against the rush in program history – and the best ever against a nonconference opponent.
“Good teams find a way to win ballgames,” Campbell coach Braxton Harris said afterward. “That group in that locker room found a way to beat a really good top 25 team in Western Carolina on a day where they could have had every excuse for everything. We’re the home team. You have a small crowd. It’s an 11 o’clock kickoff.
“Those guys don’t care. They just want to put a ball down and go play football.”
Campbell asserted itself from the outset, taking the opening drive 91 yards for a touchdown, capped when Sixkiller hit Brady Ambrose on a six-yard scoring strike. The Camels scored again later in the quarter when Sixkiller bulldozed his way into the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown.
One of the most pivotal sequences happened right before halftime with Campbell holding a 21-10 lead. WCU punted the ball back to the Camels with 48 ticks left. But instead of running out the clock and heading into jthe locker room with an 11-point cushion, Campbell got aggressive from its own 18.
Sixkiller completed an 18-yard pass to Stevie Keener, then Jon Gullette turned a rushing play through the middle into a 32-yard gain. After a timeout, Sixkiller found Spencer Jones on a 32-yard touchdown play, and Campbell extended its lead to 28-10.
“As an offense, our motto is explosive,” Sixkiller said. “We’re never, no matter how much time’s on the clock, we’re never going to take a knee or hand the ball off and go into the half. We’re trying to score no matter how much time there is.”
That touchdown proved critical because Campbell didn’t earn any points the rest of the day. Enter the feisty defense, under the command of new coordinator Brandon Butcher.
The Camels held Western Carolina to 2-of-13 on third down and 0-for-1 on fourth. The stopping unit earned seven tackles-for-loss, led by Justin Garza (2.0 TFLs, 4 total tackles), Tavales Curry (1.5 TFLs, 4 tackles) and A.J. Benton (1.0 TFL, 8 tackles). All three players recorded sacks.
“That’s a Kerwin Bell offense,” Harris said in the post-game press conference, referring to Western Carolina’s head coach. “That’s an air-it-out, move-it-around, score-a-lot-of-points offense … (Coach) Butcher asked me on the way in, ‘Have you ever held anybody to one yard rushing?’ I said, no, that’s what I hired you to do.”
Campbell wasn’t perfect, though, but it was able to compensate for miscues and overcome negative plays that have hurt them in the past.
Case in point, Sixkiller threw an interception in the third quarter, returned 47 yards by Jayden Cornelius to the Campbell 8. That type of mistake is practically begging an explosive WCU team to get back into the game.
Instead, Campbell sent them backwards 14 yards on that series, including an 11-yard sack from Garza. The drive ended in a field goal and a 28-13 game.
On the flip side, WCU often shot itself in the foot and couldn’t overcome its own self-inflicted wounds. The Catamounts missed a field goal and an extra point. They committed seven penalties for 70 yards.
Western Carolina quarterback Lex Thomas finished 25-of-44 yards passing for 326 yards and two touchdowns. A fair day overall. Jai Boyd hauled in both scoring strikes, a 48-yarder in the first half and a 1-yarder with 9:24 left in the game that kept the Catamounts in contention. But WCU never could climb all the way out its early hole.
Campbell answered Boyd’s second touchdown with a 71-yard drive and looked ready to put the contest out of reach in the fourth quarter. But Sixkiller threw his third interception of the day near the goal line to give WCU another chance. The Catamounts drove to the Campbell 25, but Bryan McCollum missed on a 43-yard field goal attempt, the ball hitting the right upright and bounding away. It was that kind of day for the purple and gold.
Western Carolina had the chance to get the ball back again with 1:45 remaining. Campbell faced fourth-and-two from its 45. But the Catamounts were whistled for roughing punter Brandon Bowman, and the Camels got the ball back to run out the clock.
“We still haven’t played our best game,” Sixkiller said. “We still have a lot to improve on. But it’s exciting to see where this team is going to go.”
What’s Next for Campbell, WCU
Campbell has a tall task next Saturday, visiting The Swamp to play Florida from the SEC. The Camels return home Sept. 19 to start conference play, with North Carolina A&T coming to Buies Creek.
Western Carolina also will tangle with an FBS opponent next Saturday, traveling to Cincinnati from the Big 12. The next WCU home game is Sept. 19 against Presbyterian.
👉 View 2026 football schedules for Campbell and Western Carolina.
👉 SCOREBOARD: Find out how North Carolina college football teams fared on Saturday.
