The shoe was on the other foot for Carroll Academy on Friday night at Tunica.
The Blue Devils used a punishing rushing attack and raced out to a 32-0 lead as they rolled to a 38-16 win over the Rebels 38-16.
The Rebels have now lost two straight and are 5-2 on the season and will travel to Marshall Academy in a key division contest this Friday night.
“They were really big, and we knew they would be big and physical,” Carroll Coach Bo Milton said. “I don’t want to belittle Tunica, but I thought we could have done some things better. Bottom line is they blocked and tackled better than us. We will regroup and get ready for this week. We have to be back doing the things we did well at the beginning of the year. We are still a good football team, and we have the next three games ahead of us. In the grand scheme of things, this game doesn’t mean anything. These next three games are what we are preparing for.”
The Carroll offense struggled in the first half as it had five possessions and turned the ball over on downs twice and punted twice.
Meanwhile, Tunica scored on runs of 10 and 26 yards as they went up 16-0 in the first quarter.
The Blue Devils went on a 14-play, 78-yard drive as they scored on a 35-yard screen pass as the Blue Devils went up 24-0 at the half.
"That play right before the half was the difference,” Milton said. “That was a back-breaker right there. We had made them drive and then they hit a quick pass on us. They are probably going to play for the title in single A. They had 30 kids out and returned their whole team. We knew it wouldn’t be a cake walk going in.”
The Rebels got the ball to start the first half and fumbled on the first play.
After trading possessions, Tunica put together another long drive, going 82 yards in 13 plays as they scored on 7-yard run late in the third for a 32-0 lead.
The Rebels scored their only points early in the fourth as they put together a 10-play, 76-yard drive. Morgan Mims capped off the drive with a 5-yard pass to Jeb Beck. The try for two was good as Carroll cut the lead to 32-8.
Tunica answered with a five-play, 50-yard drive to go back up 38-8.
Carroll’s last score came late in the fourth as Reed scored on a 37-yard run. Brackin ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 38-16.
The Rebels had 191 yards of total offense with 161 on the ground and 30 in the air. Hunter Brackin led Carroll with 45 yards on nine carries while Colton Reed had 38 yards on two carries. Morgan Mims had 43 yards on nine carries and was 3-of-12 passing for 30 yards.
Cooper Beck and Crawford Holly each had five tackles on defense while Reese Fulton had four tackles.
The Rebels hope to get back to their winning ways this week as they visit Marshall Academy.
The Patriots are 3-4 on the season and have lost four straight games. The wins have been over Lee (35-20), Falkner (48-22) and Kirk (34-14). The losses have come to West Memphis Christian (32-14), Central Holmes (64-34), Winona Christian (32-14) and Magnolia Heights (30-6).
“They have a good football team and have lost three games in a row,” Milton said. “They are struggling on defense but they are well coached and we have to go up there and play. It will be a tough place to play. We certainly have to play better than we did last week. Anybody can beat anybody in this division and right now we are focused on Marshall and being 2-0 in the division. We want to have a winning season and win our district and we can take a step toward that this week.”
Last year, Marshall won 34-13.
