It was another good news, bad news football game for the Carey School eight-man football team Friday at Dietrich.
Third-ranked Carey (4-1, 2-0 league) went a long way toward claiming the Sawtooth Conference West championship for a second straight year with a 46-24 victory over the upset-minded Blue Devils (2-3, 2-1).
But, for the second consecutive week, Carey lost one of its key senior starters to a broken wrist. Brad Hunt, Carey's best wide receiver and a solid defender, was hurt in the second half Friday and joined Cody Baird (broken wrist vs. Rockland Sept. 15) on the sidelines.
"We've had some unfortunate losses this year and we'll never get to know the full potential of Brad and Cody on the football field," said Panther head coach Lane Kirkland.
The timing of such injuries is never good, and that is certainly the case with defending State 1A Division 2 champion Mackay coming to Carey for a football game for the first time ever Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. at Derrick Parke Memorial Field.
Mackay (5-0 this season, 26-1 three years) dodged a bullet with a 30-26 win over Camas County at Fairfield last Friday. The Miners don't appear to be as powerful on offense and defense as last year, when they were 11-0 and pulverized opponents on the average 52-20.
But Kirkland knows Mackay will be tough as nails. "We have to be ready for Mackay's massive single-wing sweep offense," he said, also mentioning the scrambling ability of 6-6 senior QB Kelvin Krosch.
However, Kirkland said he understood Mackay also has some injury problems with top running back Josh Hannah suffering a dislocated elbow.
Mackay and Carey have played each other once, the host Miners winning 50-14 last October with then-senior Matt Tillotson (6 TD, 391 all-purpose yards) running wild. Keep in mind it was only 8-0 at half and Carey lost Hunt (knee) to season-ending injury that night.
The ability of Carey's players to step up and fill the shoes of its injured players will go a long way toward determining the outcome against Mackay. At Dietrich last Friday, it took Carey a full half to come to terms with Baird's loss.
Carey and Dietrich traded touchdowns in the first half. The Panthers made two of their three two-point conversions, though, and those points were the difference as Carey's lead stood at only 22-18 at the half.
Steadying Carey's offense was another clutch performance by junior quarterback D.J. Simpson (12-for-21, 147 yards, 3 TD), who kept the Panthers on an even keel with two TD passes and two conversion tosses in the first 24 minutes.
The Panther defense just couldn't wrap up Dietrich junior running back Anthony Pitman. He rushed for 139 of his team-high 144 yards in the first half and broke tackles for two TDs. Pitman then threw a 25-yard TD screen pass to Jaren Stoddard with no time left, invigorating Dietrich's hopes.
At halftime Kirkland challenged his downcast players to step up and take responsibility. His message was in the form of a question, along the lines of "what are you made of?"
The Carey boys answered.
He said, "The players realized that without Cody they needed to man up and do it themselves. They were down on themselves, and they should have been, the way they were playing. But the second half went a lot better for us."
Coaches Kirkland and Lee Cook deliberated about doing an onsides kick to start the second half but decided to kick long instead. The result turned out the same—Carey ball—because Heith Adamson put a crushing blow on the kick returner, causing a fumble. Allen Peck recovered at the Devil 30.
Six plays later Simpson found Rubenss Rivera for a 10-yard TD pass. "I felt that was a turning point in the game when we marched down and scored," said Kirkland. "With the exception of one long Pitman run, when we failed to wrap up, we executed well on defense and had an excellent team effort."
Rivera was a big factor, rushing for 99 of his game-high 146 yards after half and scoring three of his four TDs after intermission. "Connor really stepped up," Kirkland said.
The coach added, "I thought our line really did a great job, compliments to coach (Lane) Durtschi for making good decisions on his substitutions. We replaced our entire starting five from last year and the new kids are really catching on."
Carey's ability to put together two long scoring drives covering 71 and 74 yards early in Friday's game was also crucial. He said, "It was important to get those scores right away. Now, if we're patient and execute the same way against Mackay, maybe we can come out of it with a good win."
