The #2-ranked 1A Division 2 Carey Panthers (3-1, 2-0 league) should be well rested for their Sawtooth Conference eight-man football showdown with the #4-ranked Rockland Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0) Friday, Sept. 21.
Opening kickoff is 2 p.m. Friday at the Rockland "Dog Pound" where Carey last visited in 2004 during a 5-3 grid campaign. Carey won a close one 22-18 on that last visit to eastern Idaho over a Bulldog squad that won only one of seven games in 2004.
Rockland, 2-7 last season including a 54-6 loss at Carey's Homecoming, has regrouped after a season-opening 62-28 home loss to Hagerman (4-0) and has beaten Sho-Ban 44-8, Camas County 56-28 and Murtaugh 42-20—all on the road.
Led by the running and passing of senior quarterback Tim Jones, the Bulldogs have a 42.5 ppg offense that is nearly the high-powered equal of Carey (46.0 ppg), but Rockland's defense is yielding 29.5 ppg compared to Carey's 15.5 ppg.
Carey has won 15 of its last 16 games against Rockland teams but the Panthers had to rally from a 14-0 deficit to beat the Bulldogs 26-20 in 2003, and Carey came back from an 18-14 deficit to win 22-18 in 2004.
Dominant is the word for reigning State 1A Division 1 king Carey the past two weeks after its 44-24 home loss to Oakley (4-0) Aug. 31.
Coming off two mercy-rule league league victories, Carey played only 57 of a possible 96 minutes on the road in trouncing the Richfield Tigers 50-0 Sept. 7 and the Camas County Mushers 56-0 last Friday at Harry Durall Field in Fairfield.
In the process, Carey coach Lane Kirkland has given younger gridders plenty of playing time to prepare for the tougher tests coming in the weeks ahead against Rockland, Dietrich and Mackay.
Last Friday, the Panthers made short work of the Mushers with 36 first-quarter points and enough of a cushion to send everybody home via the 45-point mercy rule at halftime.
It's been a rebuilding year for coach Randy Jewett's youthful Camas County (0-4, 0-2) squad, which lost its fourth straight home game.
The Panthers out-rushed Camas County 304-38 and ended up with a 416-63 advantage in total yardage.
Carey junior Heith Adamson scored the first three touchdowns in the first four-and-a-half minutes. Adamson (6 carries, 99 yards) completed a seven-play, 60-yard drive with a one-yard plunge, then caught a 29-yard screen pass from quarterback D.J. Simpson. Adamson dashed 71 yards to paydirt after Carey recovered a loose ball on the kickoff.
Blake Whitby had plenty of open field finishing a 39-yard screen pass TD reception along the right side of the field. D.J. Simpson punched one across after a Dillon Simpson punt block for a 36-0 Carey lead with three minutes left in the first.
Kirkland started playing his junior varsity players before the end of the first. It appeared the Musher defense had stopped Carey on downs midway through the second and forced the first Panther punt. D.J. Simpson fumbled the punt snap and was forced to run—93 yards, it turned out, for another Carey score.
Back-up QB Dillon Simpson scored on a four-yard run and freshman Antonio Gamino (6 carries, 38 yards) tallied his first TD on a five-yard run 22 seconds before half.
Camas County senior Ben McLam rushed 15 times for 50 yards and topped the Musher defense with eight tackles.
See full statistics in this week's Express Web site.
