The Carey Panthers and Dietrich Blue Devils waged a bruising defensive battle Friday in a Sawtooth Conference North showdown in Dietrich,
But the Blue Devils made fewer mistakes and put together a more powerful running game led by junior Hazen Weber en route to a 30-14 eight-man football victory that snapped an eight-year, 11-game losing streak to Carey teams.
Weber rushed for over 200 yards and scored three touchdowns including two scores in the third quarter that wiped out a 14-8 Carey lead and put the Devils on top to stay 22-14.
“The score stayed 22-14 for most of the second half but Dietrich had a seven-minute drive in the fourth quarter to add a final score,” said Carey coach Lane Kirkland. “It was an Even-Steven game with lots of good defensive stops on both sides and quite a few ‘go-for-it’ situations on fourth downs.”
Kirkland lamented many Carey mistakes including lost fumbles, dropped passes that could have been touchdowns, and offsides penalties on Dietrich fourth-down situations when Carey defense had forced the Blue Devils to punt.
“We had our chances but just made mistakes that hurt our cause,” he said. “We ran the ball decently and could move at will. I can’t fault our effort. Every play, our players gave 100% the whole game.
“Weber stepped it up in the second half and took his team to the win.”
Carey’s Luis Garcia scored the game’s first touchdown on a 17-yard run and senior quarterback Jordan Dilworth plunged for a 14-8 Panther lead early in the third period, with Nate Adamson snagging Dilworth’s two-point pass. Kirkland said Francisco Gamino did a decent job on the line and Tori Alvarez “ran Weber down” a few times.
The outcome in the league opener for both teams dropped Carey to 1-2 overall (0-1 league) and improved Dietrich to 4-0 (1-0 league, 166-50 scoring advantage). It set up what Kirkland called a “do-or-die” conference game coming up Friday, Sept. 21 against the Mackay Miners.
Carey’s Homecoming game against Mackay (2-2, 1-0) begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Derrick Parke Memorial Field. Mackay has lost the last two meetings between the two teams 52-6 and 34-0. Carey bounced back from the last Miner win over Carey, 26-22 at Mackay in 2009, to win 13 straight league games prior to Friday’s loss at Dietrich.
The six-school Sawtooth North gets two state playoff berths this year, with Dietrich, Mackay and Carey considered the favorites for those two berths. Mackay earned its first win last Friday in a 72-24 home victory over Camas County of Fairfield—Miner senior Dustin Rosenkrance (14 carries for 256 yards) scoring four TDs on gallops of 75, 16, 54 and 3 yards.
“We need to beat Mackay to help secure ourselves a spot in the playoffs,” said Kirkland, acknowledging Mackay has a powerful running attack like Dietrich. “Rosenkrance is a good player, powerful and smart. We need to tackle and control the line of scrimmage. It’s Homecoming, so there is motivation there as well.”
Carey’s homecoming
Class dress-up days are occuring each day of Homecoming Week. Other events:
( Wednesday, Sept. 19: Junior high school volleyball and football with Murtaugh at 2 p.m. Bonfire pep assembly for the older students at 8:30 p.m.
( Thursday, Sept. 20: Home volleyball matches against Murtaugh and Glenns Ferry get underway at 5 p.m. in the gym. Elementary School Open House from 6-7 p.m.
( Friday, Sept. 21: Homecoming Parade 2 p.m. down Main Street. Football game 7 p.m. against Mackay including announcement of the royalty.
( Saturday, Sept. 22: Homecoming Dance 8 p.m. at the high school.