Staff Report
If at any time during the last four years things started getting a little squirrely for the Cedar Creek High football team, all coach James Melody had to do was give the ball to No. 7 and tell everybody else to get out of the way.
That No. 7 jersey belonged to a full-grown man named Aamir Dunbar, who just happened to still be a teenager. It was almost unfair how strong and powerful Dunbar was at the high school level, and if he got past the front seven of the defense, Lord help the 160-pound defensive backs tasked with trying to stop him from getting into the end zone.
Dunbar carried the ball 259 times as a senior, and carried Cedar Creek all the way to a state championship. He rushed for nearly 2,000 yards, finishing with 1,936, and tallied 23 touchdowns in 14 games as the Pirates went 12-2. He was also no slouch as a linebacker, finishing his senior year with 54 tackles, including five sacks and 15 tackles-for-loss.
It’s no surprise the Pirates have become one of the top teams in South Jersey with guys like Dunbar wearing the hunter green-and-maroon. He’s 6-foot and 200 pounds of what looks like Pittsburgh steel, and he put a hurting on the competition — whichever side of the ball he was on.
He had only 11 carries as a freshman, but he came on like a freight train as a sophomore, carrying the ball 235 times for 1,371 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior, 179 carries for 1,264 yards and 14 scores. For his career, Dunbar finished as one of the best running backs in school — and South Jersey — history with 684 carries for 4,624 yards and 47 touchdowns. As a defender, he added 120 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 27 tackles-for-loss and five forced fumbles.
He’ll be back on campus someday in the future to collect his Cedar Creek Hall of Fame plaque.
— Staff Writer Dave O’Sullivan
