COLUMBIANA &8212; Last November, Shelby Academy fans watched as their beloved Raiders captured the AISA state championship with an effective running game.

Thursday, Raiders&8217; head coach DeWayne Kervin pulled eight of his players together for the Raiders&8217; first trip to

a passing camp in school history.

&8220;First I said no,&8221; said Kervin about the invitation from Cornerstone head coach Tim Smith, &8220;but I got to thinking about it and I thought, well, everybody&8217;s getting to practice. I guess we can practice a little bit.&8221;

Kervin called Smith back, accepted the invitation and drew up some passing routes.

Less than a week later, Kervin, two assistant coaches and eight players pulled up at Cornerstone for the pre-season challenge.

Having competed in the Kingwood 7-on-7 passing camp the week before, Cornerstone players were ready for the opportunity to compete again, as they collected three interceptions and two touchdowns for a lopsided game-one victory.

Cornerstone controlled the next 20 minutes with two interceptions followed by a Zac Ray touchdown pass to Cory Woodall and extra point to Austin Vinsant.

However, as Cornerstone was living on its junior quarterback&8217;s arm with five touchdowns on the day, Shelby was just warming up.

&8220;In the first game everything looked good,&8221; Smith said. &8220;But Shelby got to where they knew what they were doing right there at the end of the first game and got a lot of confidence.&8221;

By the time the third game rolled around, sophomore quarterback Cody Jones settled into his role on both sides of the ball.

Jones tipped an early pass by Ray into the hands of Chad King for an interception that gave the Raiders an early edge.

Brad Lovoy later intercepted another pass on the goal line, followed on the pursuing possession by a 21-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Lovoy. Jones found Parke Rocko two minutes later for his second touchdown pass of the day, as Shelby went on to move past Cornerstone in the third game.

&8220;We started off so rough, We were bound to get better,&8221; Kervin said.

Scores were not officially kept