Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Carey, Dietrich clash again in playoffs

Eight-man football Saturday in Carey


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

The Carey Panthers and Dietrich Blue Devils will meet again on the gridiron Saturday, Nov. 4. This time it will be in the first round of the State 1A Division 2 eight-man playoffs.

"We're ready to go and are excited to be back in the playoffs," said Carey coach Lane Kirkland about his second-ranked Panthers (8-1), winners of seven consecutive games.

Carey, 46-24 winners at Dietrich Sept. 22, will host Saturday's playoff game at 1 p.m. at Derrick Parke Memorial Field in Carey. On Friday, #3-ranked Mackay (8-1) will entertain surging Camas County (5-4) in another Sawtooth Conference playoff quarterfinal game.

This weekend's first-round playoff opponents for home-standing Carey and Mackay were determined Monday at Arco in a three-way shootout with Camas, Dietrich (4-5) and North Gem of Bancroft (5-4).

Dietrich defeated North Gem in the first match-up with both teams getting two offensive tries from the 40-yard-line. Camas then beat Dietrich, and Dietrich sent last year's state semi-finalist North Gem home for the 2006 campaign in the final Atomic City encounter.

Head-to-head results gave Camas the day's top record, so the Mushers earned the #3 seed in the conference and will travel to #2-seeded Mackay. Mackay nipped Camas 30-26 back on Sept. 22 in Fairfield. With the second-best mark, Dietrich took league #4 seed.

"We're excited about playing Dietrich," said Kirkland, who accompanied the entire Panther team to watch Monday's three-team playoff. "We'll need to tackle Anthony Pitman, stop (Jaren) Stoddard on the pass and execute on offense."

In September's afternoon game between the two teams, Carey led 22-18 at halftime. But Connor Rivera (146 yards rushing) scored three touchdowns after the half and Carey's defense ended up with 10 sacks.

Carey quarterback D.J. Simpson (12-for-21, 147 yards, 3 TD) directed the Panther offense efficiently at Dietrich. Blue Devils running back Anthony Pitman rushed 12 times for 144 yards and two TDs, and also caught a 94-yard TD pass.

The Panthers have won four straight grid games against Dietrich by a combined 180-58 score since Dietrich's 84-48 rout on the Carey gridiron in 2003.

It will be interesting to see if Camas County can continue its late-season roll against defending State 1A Division 2 king Mackay. After starting the season 0-4, Camas County has won five straight games and has averaged 50.2 ppg in those five victories. Mackay (42.9 ppg) has won three straight since falling 34-28 at Carey Sept. 29.

If Carey manages to beat Dietrich Saturday and make the semi-finals of the eight-team playoffs, Kirkland said his team has earned the host designation for the semi-final.

And in that case, if Carey gets past Dietrich this Saturday, Kirkland said he will ask to play the semi-final against either Mackay or Camas County on the weekend of Nov. 10-11 indoors at Holt Arena on the ISU campus in Pocatello.

2006 CAREY FOOTBALL COMPOSITE

TOTAL SCORING

Opponents 36 46 28 28 138 (15.3)

Carey 127 124 92 80 423 (47.0)

RECORD (8-1 overall, 5-0 home, 3-1 away, 7-0 Sawtooth Conference)

SCORING TD CONV/KICKS PTS.

Connor Rivera 12 5 82

Cody Baird 9 1 56

Brad Hunt 8 2/1 53

Blake Whitby 8 2 52

James Carlson 5 4/1 41

Allen Peck 4 6 36

D.J. Simpson 5 2 34

Heith Adamson 3 1 20

Scott Ellsworth 2 2 16

Trevor Peck 2 0 12

Gonzalo Zarate 1 2 10

Jared Cenarrusa 1 0 6

Kade Peterson 0 1 2

Kyle Brooks 0 1 2

Nathan Lichuk 0 0/1 1

Note: James Carlson's total includes a safety

Touchdown passes—D.J. Simpson 22, Trevor Peck 1. Conversion passes—D.J. Simpson 17, Trevor Peck 1. Notes—Carey has scored in 31 of 35 quarters....Carey has successfully made 32 of 56 conversions (57% success rate)....Carey has scored 60 TDs—33 on runs from scrimmage, 23 on passes, 2 punt returns, 1 kickoff return, 1 interception return.




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