The Carroll Academy football team finds itself in a holding pattern as it waits to find out its playoff fate after games are played this week.
The Rebels finished the regular season last week with a 48-13 loss to Greenville St. Joe in a District 2-2A showdown at Gordon Field in North Carrollton.
Carroll (4-6 overall, 2-1 in District 2) is currently the No. 12 seed in the MAIS Class 2A power-point standings with 25.8 points. Only the top 12 qualify for the playoffs.
Indianola Academy is the 13th seed with 24.5 points, and Discovery Christian is the 14th seed with 24.167 points. Discovery plays Class 3A Clinton Christian this week and if Discovery wins, it could leapfrog Carroll and IA and grab the No. 12 seed.
“I wasn’t sure if we were going to practice this week, but we are lifting weights and doing conditioning,” said Carroll coach Tommy Acy. “We have to continue to prepare and stay in shape if we are in the playoffs.”
The top four teams in 2A will receive a first-round bye. Currently, Winona Christian is the top seed, followed by Lee Academy, Greenville St. Joe and Centreville.
If Carroll is in as the 12th seed, they would likely be playing Winston, which is No. 5 with 32.222 points, or No. 6 Oak Hill, which has 30 points. Winona plays Winston Friday, and Oak Hill has completed its regular season.
In last week’s game against the Irish, the Rebels held a 13-12 lead in the second quarter, but St. Joe scored the final 36 points of the game.
“It was sort of how our whole season has gone; it was a tale of two halves,” said Acy. “We played a good first half. It wasn’t like St. Joe did anything differently in the second half. They stayed in one formation, ran the football and threw some outs.
“They had two kids at receiver that we couldn’t cover. One of them is a freshman receiver. I played with his dad, Corey Holmes, at Mississippi Delta before he went to Mississippi Valley State.”
Collin Hurst got Carroll on the scoreboard in the second period with an 8-yard touchdown run. After the Irish scored to make it 12-6, Cohen Blaylock caught a pass from Hurst and raced 89 yards for the score. Logan Upchurch booted the PAT to give the Rebels a brief 13-12 lead.
“St. Joe did a lot of running off tackle, stuff that we have seen all season, but we just couldn’t stop them in the second half,” Acy added. “They don’t play a lot of guys, but neither do we. It seemed like once they started scoring in the third quarter, it took the steam out of us.”
Hurst led Carroll in rushing with 55 yards on 10 carries. He also completed 7-of-20 passes for 147 yards.
Blaylock finished with only 14 yards rushing on 10 carries. He had 137 yards on four receptions.
Jack Grones led the CA defense with five solo stops and eight assists, and Brennan Kelly chipped in two solos and five assists. Hurst and Reece Jordan had six tackles each.
