It's playoff time for State 1A Division 2 eight-man football schools—and the Sawtooth Conference West champion Carey Panthers (8-1) are looking forward to the visit of the North Gem Cowboys (6-2).
Carey entertains Sawtooth East runner-up North Gem Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. at Derrick Parke Memorial Field in Carey. The match-up features North Gem's strong running game against Carey's diversified offensive attack.
"Marshall Hall is the main key to North Gem's running game," said Carey coach Lane Kirkland about the Cowboy senior quarterback. "He carries the ball 75% of the time. To stop him we'll have to control the ends and also control the line of scrimmage."
Kirkland said, "Hall isn't so much a tough runner as he is a fast runner who gets to the outside somehow. They'll also run up the middle and do reverses from the wing. It will be a challenge to stop him. But I think we can score against them. We scored 34 points when we played them last year."
Hall is quite a force. He opened the Carey-North Gem clash won by Carey 34-28 last September at Bancroft with a 73-yard scoring dash. Carey answered with 28 consecutive points only to see North Gem rally back with 20 fourth-quarter points to make it close.
North Gem's stud Hall rushed for 325 yards and scored four touchdowns in the 66-36 Cowboy loss at undefeated Mackay Oct. 21. Hall also rushed for 150 yards and three TDs in his team's 34-28 home loss to Camas County on Oct. 5.
Before last Friday's 41-14 Cowboy home win over Clark County, Hall had 22 TDs and 1,309 rushing yards, plus 413 passing yards. But Carey's Panthers are high powered, too.
Carey is averaging 51.6 points per game and has scored 464 points in nine games—within striking distance of the 524 points scored by the 11-0 and 12-0 Panther state championship teams of 1998 and 1994. Those teams averaged 47.6 ppg and 43.7 ppg.
Last Friday, junior Cody Baird (16 TDs, 106 points) scored four TDs and senior quarterback Tyler Cook (22 TD passes) threw for 269 yards and a season-best five TDs in a 54-8 mercy-rule victory over Lighthouse Christian in Twin Falls.
Carey reeled off six TDs in the second quarter and breezed to victory behind a 452-yard offensive attack. Kirkland was pleased with the way his offensive team adjusted on the field during the game.
He said, "Lighthouse threw some weird defenses at us and our kids were able to adjust through audibles, different routes and blocking schemes. This is the smartest team on offense I've had doing that."
Bryan Hill, who caught two Cook passes for TDs, also played well at his new safety position. Hill made three interceptions. Baird and Jesus Ocampo topped the Panther defense with 10 tackles apiece.
"It was a good game to get us safely into this weekend's playoff game," said Kirkland.
Carey's junior varsity (3-1) won its game 50-0 over Lighthouse Christian at Twin.
PANTHER NOTES—Carey has won three straight games since its 50-14 loss at Mackay Oct. 5....Having the benefit of a bye week last Friday, Mackay (8-0) entertains Camas County (7-2) this weekend in another Division 2 playoff semi-final. The Mushers have won five straight games including last Friday's 44-36 victory at Dietrich that nailed down the Sawtooth West runner-up spot and a playoff berth....Carey has won five of the last seven football meetings with North Gem, but the Cowboys still maintain an 11-10 advantage in the grid series since 1985.
Carey 54, Lighthouse Christian 8
CAREY. 12 36 6 X 54
LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN 8 0 0 x 8
SCORING
1st half
CAREY—Cody Baird, 56-yard pass from Tyler Cook (run failed); (6-0 Carey)
LIGHTHOUSE—Joey McCullough, 75-yard kickoff return (Ryan DeKruyf, pass from Justin Manning); (8-6 Lighthouse)
CAREY—Bryan Hill, 35-yard pass from Tyler Cook (pass failed); (12-8 Carey)
CAREY—Connor Rivera, 3-yard run (Rivera run); (20-8 Carey)
CAREY—Cody Baird, 12-yard pass from Tyler Cook (Tadd Green, pass from Cook); (28-8 Carey)
CAREY—Cody Baird, 3-yard run (Connor Rivera, pass from Cook); (36-8 Carey)
CAREY—Bryan Hill, 43-yard pass from Tyler Cook (pass failed); (42-8 Carey)
CAREY—Cody Baird, 24-yard pass from Tyler Cook (pass failed); (48-8 Carey)
2nd half
CAREY—Connor Rivera, 46-yard run; (54-8 Carey)
TOTAL CAREY YARDAGE—183 yards rushing, 269 yards passing for total offense of 452 yards. Defensively: Carey 2 fumble recoveries and 4 interceptions.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Carey
Rushing—Cody Baird 9-94, 1 TD; Connor Rivera 6-56, 2 TD, 1 conv.; Tyler Cook 3-33.
Passing—Tyler Cook 12-23, 269 yards, 5 TD, 2 conversions, 1 interception.
Receiving—Cody Baird 3-92, 3 TD; Bryan Hill 3-87, 2 TD; Connor Rivera 5-87, 1 conv.; Tadd Green 1-3, 1 conv.
Interceptions (4)—Bryan Hill 3; Tyler Cook 1.
Fumble recoveries (2)—Tyler Cook 1; Brian Adamson 1.
Tackles—Cody Baird 5 solo/5 assists; Jesus Ocampo 5/5; Allen Peck 4/4; Tyler Cook 2/5; Bryan Hill 2/3; Blake Whitby 1/2; Connor Rivera 1/2; Luke Harmon 2/0; Nathan Foster 1/1; Brian Adamson 1/0; Tadd Green 1/1.
Carey Football Composite 2005
TOTAL SCORING
Opponents 50 38 52 18 158 (17.6)
Carey 164 152 88 60 464 (51.6)
RESULTS
(8-1 overall, 4-0 home, 4-1 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) Carey 54, Lighthouse Christian 8
Nov. 5 (Home, State 1A Division 2)
|
SCORING
|
TD
|
CONV
|
PTS.
|
|
Cody Baird
|
16
|
5
|
106
|
|
Tyler Cook
|
11
|
5
|
76
|
|
Connor Rivera
|
9
|
6
|
66
|
|
Brad Hunt
|
9
|
5
|
64
|
|
Tadd Green
|
7
|
7
|
56
|
|
Bryan Hill
|
5
|
2
|
34
|
|
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 22, Brad Hunt 1, D.J. Simpson 1.
Conversion passes—Cook 17, D.J. Simpson 2.
Notes—Carey has scored in 31 of 34 quarters....Carey has successfully made 34 of 61 conversions (56% success rate)....Carey has scored 66 TDs—33 on runs from scrimmage, 24 on passes, 5 on returns and 4 on defense.
