Carroll Academy’s season-opening winning streak was put to a severe test on Friday night at Newton County Academy in Decatur.
The Generals led 6-0 in the first half and had the ball inside the Carroll 10 right before the half. But a huge goal-line stand kept the lead at 6-0 and gave the Rebels all the momentum going into the half. CA used that momentum and took a 25-6 win over the Generals to improve to 4-0 on the season.
But it was anything but easy for the Rebels.
“I give a lot of credit to Newton,” Carroll Head Coach Bo Milton said. “They did what I thought they were going to do. They hit us in the mouth, and we hit them right back. We shot ourselves in the foot, but I thought our defense saved our bacon. They were just outstanding all night long. The goal-line stand right before the half was probably the game. It gave us the momentum going into the half and we used that to take the lead. We kept pounding away and then the defense played like they have played all year, great.”
The Generals appeared prepared to break the Rebel winning streak before a large home crowd in the opening minutes of the first quarter when their defense held the Rebels to 17 yards on five plays.
A 50-yard punt pinned the Generals at their own 5, but senior General running back Lincoln Jordan accepted the challenge on the opening play of the drive. Jordan found a hole and raced for a 95-yard touchdown run with 6:34 left in the first quarter. The PAT failed, and NCA led 6-0.
It looked like the Generals would add to the lead at the end of the half but the Rebels held inside their own 20 and a field goal attempt failed as NCA led 6-0 at the half.
“We really calmed down at halftime,” Milton said. “We played really bad. I made some mistakes, called some wrong formations. We played bad and were only down by six. I told them the first one to 21 wins and that was right. We only had the ball three times in the first half. We didn’t have it much more in the second half, we just scored on three of those four possessions.”
Carroll finally got going on the opening drive of the second half as the Rebels drove 64 yards in 13 plays as Morgan Mims hit Reese Fulton on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 4:55 left in the third. The PAT failed to leave the score tied at 6-6.
After turning the ball over on downs at midfield, the Rebels started marching again. This time Mims hit Fulton on a 28-yard pass play. After a holding penalty, Mims scored on a 35-yard run with 10:54 left in the game. The PAT failed, and Carroll led 12-6.
The Generals tried to answer on the ensuing drive behind the strong running of Eli Finnegan. On a fourth and two play Finnegan’s opening closed up and despite a tremendous effort to run to the outside, the Generals were unable to convert. It was there the momentum shifted, according to NCA head Coach Rob Roberts.
The Generals appeared to get back in the game with a stop of the Carroll offense but gave the ball right back to the Rebels as they touched a punt. The Rebels recovered at the NCA 13 and Mims called his own number with a 13-yard keeper to give the Rebels an 18-6 lead with 5:04 left in the game.
The Generals made one more attempt to get in the end zone by taking to the air. Logan Little threw two consecutive passes to Jordan Mason and Kemp Alderman that earned them 30 yards and put the Generals in striking distance. Two plays later, however, Carroll closed the door by sacking Little for a 9-yard loss and then recovering a fumble on the next play near midfield. Two plays later, Mims broke away for a 58-yard touchdown run with 2:28 left in the game. The PAT was good and the final score was 25-6.
For the Rebels Mims led all rushers with 142 yards on 12 carries with three touchdowns. Mims also completed two passes on six attempts for 34 yards and one touchdown reception.
On defense, Reese Fulton, Logan Taylor, Hunter Brackin and Crawford Holly all had five tackles apiece. James Neill also had a fumble recovery.
The Rebels will hit the road again this week as they head to West Point to take on Oak Hill.
The OHA Raiders are 2-2 on the season.
“We told our kids that the season starts this week,” Milton said. “We want to win the district title and that starts for us this week. They are a spread team and like to run from side to side and throw the ball on the perimeter. They also have a really good kicker and we don’t want it to come down to a field goal.”
