For the week of September 4 - 10, 2002

Carey’s big plays double up ‘Dogs 40-20

Hennefer (364 yards) scores four times

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Senior experience was supposed to be Carey’s trump card in 2002—and it paid dividends for the Carey School football team during Friday’s tightly-contested Sawtooth Conference eight-man football opener at Rockland.

Carey (1-0) broke open a back-and-forth game by scoring the final three touchdowns and escaped with a 40-20 win. But the outcome was very much in doubt when Panther senior Shawn Hennefer made a huge play.

Rockland, highly regarded in the Sawtooth South Division with senior quarterback Cameron Nelson at the helm, had Carey on the ropes and was threatening to extend its 14-12 lead with a drive deep into Panther territory just before halftime.

That’s when Hennefer picked off a long Nelson aerial in the end zone. Helped by a crushing lead block by Destry Simpson, Hennefer rambled behind a wall of white shirts down the left sideline 105 yards for a touchdown and a 18-14 Carey lead.

Hennefer (364 all-purpose yards) ended up with four of Carey’s six interceptions—and he scored four of the six Panther touchdowns. At quarterback Hennefer guided Carey’s offense that settled down and took over the game in the second half.

Carey coach Lane Kirkland said, "We were rusty to start the game. I take the blame for that. I was too anxious to get it all in one play. We needed to approach it one play at a time. In the second half we started to run our offense and do just that."

Defensively, Carey finally started to get a pass rush in the second half and its defensive ends finally started to close down the Bulldog end runs. The Bulldogs gained 280 yards in the first half, but Carey’s defense halved that total to 138, after intermission.

Simpson (12 tackles) and Seth Adamson (11) led Carey’s defense.

Kirkland was pleased that Carey’s offense manufactured three TD drives covering 79, 61 and 78 yards.

The most important was a six-play, 78-yard third-quarter drive. It was Carey’s answer to Rockland’s 10-play, 65-yard TD attack that gave Nelson’s Bulldogs their final lead, 20-18, midway through the third quarter.

Simpson (16 carries for 85 yards) got Carey going with an eight-yard run, then Robbie Ellsworth (15 rushes for 73 yards) slithered through the Bulldog defense for 18 more yards. Hennefer’s keeper around right end gained 20 more, then Hennefer connected with John Saili for 27 yards.

Hennefer’s three-yard scoring run put Carey ahead 24-20, then Hennefer scooted around the right end behind Robbie Ellsworth’s block for Carey’s first successful two-point conversion and a 26-20 Panther lead.

Rockland felt the pressure.

Hennefer intercepted another Nelson pass and returned it 28 yards to the Bulldog 13. On third-and-10, Hennefer hit Stephen Jurgensmeier with a 13-yard TD aerial then ran the same play for the two-point conversion and a 34-20 Panther lead.

Not as well conditioned as Carey, Rockland nevertheless had one more breath of life. A 21-yard run by Nelson (a game-high 137 rushing yards) installed the Bulldogs at the Carey nine-yard line. But the Panther defense asserted itself and held strong.

Kole Peck stopped Nelson’s keeper for short yardage. Robbie Ellsworth’s hard tackle caused an incomplete pass. Rushing hard from the end, Saili blocked a Nelson aerial. On fourth-and-goal, Saili chased Nelson for an 11-yard quarterback sack.

On Rockland’s next possession Hennefer intercepted a Richard May pass and romped home from 56 yards for Carey’s sixth and final score. It was Carey’s second defensive touchdown of the day, matching the Panther total for all last season.

 

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