With the district 2-3A championship secured and the No. 1 seed in Class 3A, the only thing Carroll Academy had to play for was an undefeated season.
The Rebels finished off the regular season unbeaten at 9-0 as they beat Central Holmes 48-6 on Friday night.
The Rebels are now 9-0 on the season and will have a first-round bye in the Class 3A playoffs. The Rebels will play the winner of Glenbrook and Centreville next Friday in the second round of the playoffs.
After “struggling” the last few weeks, Milton was glad to see his team play better this past week.
“I thought we played a whole lot better than we have the last couple of weeks,” Milton said. “We had 626 yards of total offense and I didn’t even realize that. I thought we played very solid. Central Holmes has some decent athletes and have gotten a lot better. It was a great team effort, certainly better than we have played the last two weeks."
The Trojans got the ball to start the game but Braxton York got an interception on the second play of the game.
The Rebels then went 46 yards in two plays. After a 36-yard pass, Hunter Brackin scored on a 10-yard run. The PAT failed and Carroll led 6-0 early in the first quarter.
The Trojans responded with a 13-play, 80-yard drive as Noah Steen scored on a 2-yard run with 4:44 left in the first quarter. The try for two failed and Central Holmes tied the score at 6-6.
The two teams traded turnovers before Carroll got going on offense. After a Noah Beck interception, Brackin scored his second touchdown on a 3-yard run. Brennan Blaylock then hit Braxton York on the two-point conversion as Carroll led 14-6.
After a Central Holmes punt, Carroll went 72 yards in three plays as Lofton Holley finished off the drive with a 1-yard run with 10:22 left in the second quarter. Hunter Grantham booted the PAT and Carroll led 21-6.
After a three and out by Central Holmes, Brackin scored on a 51-yard run with 7:46 left in the second. The PAT failed and Carroll led 27-6.
The Rebels added one more score in the first half as Blaylock hit Noah Beck on a 60-yard touchdown pass with 5:54 left in the half. Mathis Beck scored on the two-point conversion and Carroll led 35-6 at the half.
“I thought Hollywood (Brackin) finally looked like Hollywood,” Milton said. “He looked like himself and ran the ball hard. We had a bunch of people running the football and everybody contributed. We had over 400 yards rushing and 200 passing. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. It’s been a fun group to coach all season.”
The two teams swapped fumbles to open the second half but the Rebels finally go going as Brackin scored on a 5-yard run with 8:43 left in the third. Grantham’s PAT was good and Carroll led 42-6.
Another interception by Beck gave the Rebels the ball back. The Rebels then went 74 yards in six plays as Luke O’Bryan scored on a 20-yard run with 25.5 seconds left in the third for the final score of 48-6.
The Rebels had a huge night on offense with 626 yards of total offense. The Rebels rushed for 426 yards as Hunter Brackin had his best night of the year with 170 yards on 13 carries. Noah Beck had 80 yards on three carries while Mathis Beck had 76 yards on five carries. Blaylock was 7-of-10 passing for 200 yards. Noah Beck had four catches for 144 yards while Braxton York had three catches for 56 yards.
On defense, Christian McLuskey had his best game with seven stops. Noah Beck had a big game with six tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Brackin had five tackles while Cooper Beck had four tackles with two for a loss. York had two tackles and two interceptions for the second straight week.
