Carroll Academy football coach Bo Milton has often said the recipe for success for his team is a simple one, run the ball and play defense.
That’s exactly what the Rebels did on Friday night, rushing for 270 yards to take a 27-0 won over Manchester Academy.
The Rebels improve to 1-4 on the season and will travel to unbeaten Kirk Academy on Friday.
Milton said he was glad to get the first win of the season.
“We got a good win and that’s what was important,” Milton said. “The kids played hard and did a lot of good things. We ran the ball well and played defense. It was a good solid football game. Manchester is struggling but has some good-looking kids. They were probably stronger than us, that’s what our kids were saying. But I thought our kids played hard. It was very similar to last year, it just took a while to get things going.”
Carroll got the ball to open the game and went on a 12-play drive but turned the ball over on downs. After punting on their second possession, the Rebels got the ball back when Hayes White recovered a Manchester fumble.
Carroll then went 25 yards in five plays and scored on a 3-yard run by Nathan Matthews. Logan Upchurch hit the PAT and the Rebels led 7-0.
Manchester missed a field goal on its next drive and Carroll put together another long drive, going 80 yards in 16 plays as Cohen Blaylock scored on a 1-yard run right before the half. Upchurch kicked the PAT and the Rebels led 14-0 at the half.
“Our defense hasn’t played bad and we have missed some tackles in spots,” Milton said. “We missed some against Manchester and have to be better than that. And we are still missing some blocks on offense and have to be better at that. In the end though, we got the win. We are going to take our time and run a lot of clock and try to shorten games. It’s not a lot of high-scoring games with us.”
After swapping punts to start the second half, Carroll finally hit a big play as Matthews scored his second touchdown of the game, this time ripping off an 87-yard run. Upchurch hit the PAT and the Rebels led 21-0.
The Rebels got back-to-back interceptions from Blaylcok and Owen Garrett.
Garret then finished off the scoring as he found the end zone on a 17-yard run with 4:57 left in the game. The PAT failed for the final margin of 27-0.
On offense, the Rebels had 290 yards rushing and 70 yards passing for 360 yards of total offense. Matthews had 122 yards on 11 carries while Blaylock had 96 yards on 21 carries. Garrett had 56 yards on 11 carries. Upchurch was 5-of-9 passing for 70 yards while Matthews had four catches for 43 yards. Garrett had one catch for 27 yards.
On defense, Brayden Ellet led the Rebels with seven tackles with two sacks. Gage Ray had six tackles and a sack while Matthews had six tackles. Reid Blaylock had five tackles while Garrett and Blaylock each had an interception. Hayes White also had a fumble recovery.
This week’s game
The Rebels will hit the road this week as they take on unbeaten Kirk Academy.
The Raiders are 5-0 on the season and coming off a 17-14 win over Marshall Academy. They also have wins over Manchester (42-7), Winona Christian (42-0), Central Holmes (36-8) and Lee Academy (42-6).
“It’s a big one for us,” Milton said. “This is a big rivalry game for us. They have gone out and reloaded and got some kids in. They are huge on both sides of the ball. But we are going to be physical with them. I think Marshall hit them pretty good and it was a tight game. We will go up there and play with our Carroll kids and see what happens. We are going to play hardened give them a ball game.”
Last year, Kirk went 12-1 and beat Carroll 36-33.
