SPORTS Thadeo Campbell

Age 17 School Central Grade Senior

AScene: It’s the Bell Game, the biggest show in town, everybody and their uncle’s uncle have the stands at Warne Field in Brawley at or near capacity. It’s late in the fourth quarter and the Wildcats are driving, with one last shot to win this most important of rivalry games as the clock winds down. With 23 seconds left Brawley quarterback Jacob Ramirez lofts the ball right down Broadway … where it falls into the waiting arms of Central Union safety Thadeo Campbell — who in his sophomore year was present for a 42-7 hiding at the hands of these selfsame Wildcats. Game over. Spartans win.

It’s the first time they’ve gone back-to-back over Brawley in a decade.

As scenes go, that’s got to be rated as a pretty good one, and it’s true to life.

For Campbell, a senior playing in his last-ever regular season game in Spartan blue, the whole business was very nearly out-of-body.

“At first I didn’t really register it, but after a couple of minutes with everybody screaming and the final horn going off … it was overwhelming … I didn’t know how to feel,” he said speaking before a Wednesday practice.

It was a wholly appropriate way for him to bid adieu to Imperial Valley League competition

The win caps off an undefeated regular season for the Spartans, a season that completes the overhaul which correlates roughly to Campbell’s tenure with the team and has seen him emerge as a consummate senior leader — directing traffic in the secondary and keying defensive success with his CIF-SDS leading nine picks.

In many ways, this year has been something out of a dream.

“Coming into high school, Central wasn’t exactly the best, but we’ve developed into a whole new program … I’m doing things now that I never thought I would do,” he said.

He gives full credit to his coaches and teammates — together, they can conquer worlds.

“Family, that’s really what it is. We all came in here together, and we fight for each other,” he said.

His recent success has come in spite of an ankle injury which has limited his offensive contributions in the back half of the season but he’s confident he’ll be “100 percent” for next week’s playoff matchup with the winner of the game between Imperial and West Hills.