For the Carey Panthers, eight-man football is turning into a game of mercy.
Friday night at Derrick Parke Memorial Field in Carey, the Panthers (7-1, 4-0 home) put a beating on Dietrich, winning by a 62-16 mercy-rule victory.
Not only did Carey capture the Sawtooth Conference West title with an unbeaten 4-0 mark, the Panthers clinched home field advantage against the North Gem Cowboys (5-2) in the first round of the State 1A Division 2 playoffs on the first weekend of November.
Friday's 46-point home win over Dietrich was the fifth time the high-scoring Panthers (51.3 ppg) have ended a game early on the 45-point mercy rule.
Against Dietrich (4-4, 1-2 league) the Panthers exhibited classic team play with most of the regular suspects contributing to the offensive bonanza.
Senior quarterback Tyler Cook had one of his best games. He passed for 187 yards, two touchdowns and two conversions with only two incompletions and zero interceptions.
Runners Cody Baird and Connor Rivera were a formidable combination. Rivera ran for 90 yards on seven carries. Baird (82 yards) had three touchdowns including an explosive special teams effort.
Baird's 65-yard TD kickoff return in the first half was the early nail in Dietrich's coffin that changed the momentum.
The Blue Devils had just scored their first touchdown followed by a conversion pass. Only halfway through the first quarter, Dietrich had narrowed Carey's lead to 14-8 and was looking for more when they lined up for kickoff.
Baird had other ideas. Capitalizing on good blocking, the junior ran the ball back 65 yards for the first six of 28 unanswered Panther points.
Baird, Rivera and Cook were in large part enabled by an efficient and smart Panther offensive line. When Baird ran in his third touchdown of the night, a 14-yard gallop within the Dietrich red zone, he saw endless daylight and didn't even need to lower a shoulder. When it counted, the offensive line provided F-150-sized gaps for their running backs.
Trailing 42-8, Dietrich put up one last offensive volley by capping off a drive with a 10-yard touchdown run by quarterback Anthony Pitman. A Pitman conversion pass then gave the Blue Devils 16 points.
Carey, always energized by a challenger's score, replied with Cook's longest touchdown pass of the night, a deep, middle route to a streaking Tadd Green, good for 54 yards. A Rivera run brought the Panthers to the half-century mark and the first half to a close.
By the time the Panther second string put the Blue Devils down for the night, coach Lane Kirkland was thinking that his team is the best he's had since a 2002 squad that went undefeated in conference play.
He also couldn't deny the importance of this late-season home performance.
"To win big here at home will take us into the playoffs with the momentum to keep hitting hard and playing well on this field," Kirkland said.
For now, though, Kirkland is focused on the upcoming non-conference match against Lighthouse Christian (3-5). The season's final regular-season will be played Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at Bruin Stadium in Twin Falls.
After that, the Panthers will get ready for their first playoff game against North Gem of Bancroft, at 1 p.m. on Saturday Nov. 5 on the Carey gridiron.
North Gem is coming off a 66-36 loss to unbeaten Sawtooth Conference East champion Mackay (8-0) on Friday. The Panthers lone loss of the season also came against Mackay, 50-14, on the road, on Oct. 5.
The winner of Friday's Sawtooth West finale between Camas County (6-2, 2-1 league) and Dietrich, to be played at Dietrich, will travel to Mackay for the first round of the playoffs over the weekend of Nov. 4-5. Then, Carey if it beats North Gem will host that winner for the second round on Nov. 12.
Carey 62, Dietrich 16
Dietrich 8 8 0 0 16
CAREY. 34 16 6 6 62
SCORING
1st half
CAREY—Cody Baird, 5-yard run (pass failed); (6-0 Carey)
CAREY—Tyler Cook, 1-yard run (Bryan Hill pass from Cook); (14-0 Carey)
DIETRICH-Anthony Pitman, 1-yard run (Stoddard pass from Pitman); (14-8 Carey)
CAREY—Cody Baird, 65-yard kickoff return (Cook run); (22-8 Carey)
CAREY—Bryan Hill, 22-yard pass from Cook (run failed); (28-8 Carey)
CAREY—Tyler Cook, 18-yard run (pass failed); (34-8 Carey)
CAREY-Cody Baird, 14-yard run (Allen Peck run); (42-8 Carey)
DIETRICH-Anthony Pitman 10 yd run (Hoskinson pass from Pitman); 42-16 Carey)
CAREY-Tadd Green 54 yd pass from Cook (Connor Rivera run); (50-16 Carey)
2nd half
CAREY—Brian Hill, 10-yard pass from Cook (run failed); (56-16 Carey)
CAREY—Scott Ellsworth, 22-yard pass from DJ Simpson.
TOTAL CAREY YARDAGE—248 yards rushing, 228 yards passing for total offense of 476 yards. Defensively: Carey 2 fumble recoveries, 1 interceptions and 3 sacks.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Carey
Rushing—Connor Rivera 7-90; Cody Baird 10-82. 2 TD; Tyler Cook 6-38, 2 TD; Allen Peck 5-23; Blake Whitby 5-19.
Passing—Tyler Cook 12-for-14, 187 yards, 2 TD, 2 conversions; D.J. Simpson 2-for-7, 41 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving—Bryan Hill 6-77, 1 TD; Cody Baird 1-14; Tadd Green 3-96, 1 TD.; Allen Peck 1-22; Scott Ellsworth 1-20, 1 TD.
Interceptions (1)—Tyler Cook.
Fumble recoveries (2)—Heith Adamson; Dan Wilson.
Sacks (3)—Bryan Hill 2; Tadd Green, 1. .
Tackles—Blake Whitby 6 solos/5 assists; Allen Peck 7/2; Jesus Ocampo 2/7; Tyler Cook 5/3; Cody Baird 2/5; Bryan Hill 3/1; Tadd Green 3/2; Nathan Foster 2/4; Connor Rivera 1/4; Scott Ellsworth 3/1; Wulf Lubrecht 0/2; Brian Adamson 0/1; Heith Adamson 1.
Carey Football Composite 2005
TOTAL SCORING
Opponents 42 38 52 18 150 (18.8)
Carey 152 116 82 60 410 (51.3)
RESULTS (7-1 overall, 4-0 home, 3-1 away, 4-0 Sawtooth Conference West)
Aug. 26 (Away) Carey 50, Hagerman 22
Sept. 9 (Home) Carey 54, Shoshone 6
Sept. 16 (Home) Carey 58, Sho-Ban 12
Sept. 23 (Away) Carey 60, Camas County 32
Sept. 30 (Away) Carey 50, Richfield 0
Oct. 5 (Away) Mackay 50, Carey 14
Oct. 14 (Home) Carey 62, Murtaugh 12
Oct. 21 (Home) Carey 62, Dietrich 16
Oct. 28 (Away, Twin Falls)
|
SCORING
|
TD
|
CONV
|
PTS.
|
|
Cody Baird
|
12
|
5
|
82
|
|
Tyler Cook
|
11
|
5
|
76
|
|
Brad Hunt
|
9
|
5
|
64
|
|
Tadd Green
|
7
|
6
|
54
|
|
Connor Rivera
|
7
|
4
|
50
|
|
Bryan Hill
|
3
|
2
|
22
|
|
Allen Peck
|
3
|
1
|
20
|
|
Blake Whitby
|
3
|
1
|
20
|
|
Scott Ellsworth
|
1
|
1
|
8
|
|
Devin Simpson
|
1
|
0
|
6
|
|
Jake Stewart
|
1
|
0
|
6
|
|
Heith Adamson
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Touchdown passes—Tyler Cook 17, Brad Hunt 1, D.J. Simpson 1.
Conversion passes—Cook 15, D.J. Simpson 2.
Notes—Carey has scored in 28 of 31 quarters....Carey has successfully made 31 of 54 conversions (57% success rate)....Carey has scored 58 TDs—30 on runs from scrimmage, 19 on passes, 5 on returns and 4 on defense.
