Junior Pee Wees win battle of unbeaten

The Carson Junior Pee Wee Blue Pop Warner football team headed south to face their toughest competition of the year as they took on the Douglas White football team. Both these teams entered the game undefeated and looking to take sole possession of first place in the division. After the smoke cleared (literally as a result of the Placerville fire), the scoreboard read Carson 19 -Douglas13.

Douglas got the game's first possession trying to run against Carson's defense, but the Senators were up to the task and shut the Tigers running game down forcing Douglas to punt. On Carson's fifth offensive play from scrimmage, Dylan Sawyers took the ball off tackle and ran 32 yards to score Carson's first touchdown. After that, Carson and Douglas' defenses kept each other's offense in check. That's up until Douglas decided to go to the air.

Douglas opened up its playbook and started passing with success against the Senators defense. With the clock winding down, Douglas found a receiver wide open in the end zone to take a halftime lead of 7-6.

Both teams would make adjustments at halftime and it showed. Carson took the opening kickoff and got to the ball to the thirty-yard line. On the next play quarterback Colin McColloch handed off to Sawyers, who took it around the left side and sprinted for Carson's second touchdown. Sawyers would also go on to score Carson's go-ahead touchdown and the extra point.

Making key blocks all night for Sawyers, Brandon Akers, Patrick Craugh, Daniel Okimura, Gabriel Pongasi, Chance Quilling and Joseph Zinda were Keegan Aiazzi, John Borges, Keith Collier, Alex Crathers, Conner Fallon, Nick Garcia, Issac Hernandez, Jacob Myers, Austin Pacheco, Clinton Page, Pongasi, Cody Reno and Andrew Toland.

Carson's defense led by Sam Blei, Austin Brown, Rodney Calhoun, Levi Carter, Cole Dufresne, Alex Eddy, Tony Fondi, Cody Hammond, Patrick Hesse, Willy McDonald, Pacheco, Logan Peternell, Pongasi, Quilling, Sawyers, Kurtis Scull, Zach White and Zinda also made adjustments at halftime. Though Douglas continued to pass, the Senators would make them pay.

Pacheco would end up intercepting two passes and causing a fumble and Pongasi had an interception. When the Tigers did run, the Senators hit hard, causing four fumbles and recovering two, one by Brown and the other by Zinda.

"You have to give Douglas credit. They're well coached and very disciplined," defensive coach Steve Sawyers said. "They're a great team and gave us everything they had. They caught us off guard with their passing game. They had a great quarterback and so many different passing routes that it confused our backs a little. I am happy to come home with the win."

"I can't be happier with our kids" coach Ron Pacheco said. "They played hard and never gave up. They're not used to being down at halftime, so I was curious to see how they would rebound. I am ecstatic with the results.

"I also have to give credit to my coaching staff. Eddy Brown, Leonard Lee, Mike Pacheco, Shane Quilling, Steve Sawyers and Al Teixeira did a tremendous job on getting the kids ready. I'm very lucky to have them on our team."

Carson will travel to Mira Loma Park in Reno this Friday night to take on the Reno 49ers. Game time is at 8 p.m. This will complete the regular season for both teams.