Not only was Friday night’s game not pretty, Carroll coach Bo Milton was downright ugly.
But that doesn’t mean that he won’t take it home with him.
The Rebels used a stingy defense and took a 10-7 win over Lee Academy on Friday night.
Carroll improves to 5-4 on the season and has won three of its last four games. The Rebels finish the regular season this week with Milton’s former school, Winston Academy, who is also 5-4 and has won five of its last six games.
Despite the final score, Milton praised his team for their effort last week against the Colts, who entered with a 6-2 record and will be district champions in 1-4A.
“It was ugly, very ugly,” Milton said. “But I thought the defense played lights out the entire game. I couldn’t ask for them to play any better. I think we caused four turnovers. We had four ourselves but never gave up any huge plays. I thought the defense played really good. Lee is much improved, but we don’t match up very well with them. It doesn’t favor us, but we have found a way to win. I thought our kids have stepped up the last couple of weeks. We have talked about having a sense of urgency for our seniors and that clock is ticking.”
The game opened with plenty of work for the punters with four punts and an interception by Carroll.
The first break of the game came when Carroll recovered a fumble at the Lee 37 yard line. Two plays later, Blaylock hit Noah Beck on a 31-yard touchdown pass. Blaylock’s PAT was good, and Carroll led 7-0.
The Rebels held that lead until halftime as they got interceptions from Mathis Beck and Noah Beck to preserve the slim lead at the half.
Carroll’s only second-half points came late in the third period. After getting the ball on their own 18, Carroll put together a 13-play drive. After having a touchdown called back, the Rebels had to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Blaylock extend the lead to 10-0.
“That may have been the first field goal we’ve had at Carroll in eight years,” Milton said. “We just kept shooting ourselves in the football, but we battled and forced some turnovers and were able to keep them off balance.”
Lee made things interesting late in the fourth. After recovering a Carroll fumble at the Rebels 45, the Colts went 10 plays and scored on a 12-yard pass late in the fourth. The PAT was good for a 10-7 lead.
Carroll then recovered the onside kick attempt to preserve the win.
The Rebels had 256 yards of total offense. Blaylock was 15-of-26 passing for 180. Maddox Carpenter had 52 yards rushing on 16 carries. Noah Beck had 134 yards receiving on 11 catches.
“I think we have played better the last couple of weeks,” Milton said. “We have been more balanced on offense. We ran it 29 times and threw it 25 times. We have done that for several weeks now. We didn’t run for a whole lot of yards, but they were tough, physical yards. Noah caught 11 passes and is having a great year.”
Mathis Beck and Noah Beck each had eight tackles apiece and one interception each. Reid Blaylock and Carpenter each had seven tackles apiece.
