Senators smother Vikings, 41-0

Carson High's football finally got off the snide, and the Senators did it in impressive fashion.

Thanks to a smothering defense that allowed only 40 total yards and an offense that scored on six of nine possessions, Carson sent a homecoming crowd away happy with an easy 41-0 Sierra League victory over South Tahoe Friday night.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak and was the first in league play for the Senators, who kept their slim playoff hopes alive. South Tahoe fell to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in league.

"It was nice to score some points and get some yards," Carson coach Shane Quilling said. "I knew we could come out and do some good things. We still didn't execute in the first half on a couple of series'. We can still get better. We're trying to get better each week.

"We ran to the ball well (on defense). We had nine, 10 and 11 players getting to the ball."

Quilling praised the play of linemen Eric Walther, Josh Mynear and Zach Taylor, who spent the majority of the night making South Tahoe quarterback Chris Diana run for his life. Carson registered five sacks.

"This was our best defensive game," Taylor said. "We knew what they were going to run."

Carson took a 6-0 lead on its opening possession, driving 70 yards in 10 plays with Kyle Banko scoring on a 13-yard run. Sophomore quarterback Mitch Hammond made two key plays on the drive, scrambling for 7 yards and a first down to the Carson 40. Hammond threw 18 yards to Scott Witter for a first down at the Vikings' 30. Banko scored three plays later.

Carson had a score wiped out later in the quarter after Bryan Maffei returned a missed field goal 96 yards for a score. The TD was wiped out when several Carson players stepped onto the field as Maffei sped down the sideline.

The Senators fumbled the ball away at the South Tahoe 32, but the Vikings managed only one first down before punting the ball away. The 24-yard punt by Diana gave Carson great field position at its own 44.

Maffei (17 carries, 96 yards) gained 7 yards down to the South Tahoe 49 and Lamborn scored on the next play. Hammond threw a conversion pass to Chris Ames to make it 14-0 with 5:50 left in the half.

"It's part of our inside option," Quilling said, explaining the play. "The end came inside and the tackle got to the inside linebacker."

Carson had a short field to play with on its next possession and the Senators capitalized.

Hammond scrambled for 22 yards down to the South Tahoe 17 and Lamborn gained 15 to the 2. Hammond flipped a pass to Jason Dittenber for a score on the next play to make it 20-0 with 1:41 left in the half.

"That (scoring before the half) was huge," Quilling said. "We had screwed up a couple of possessions. It would have been disappointing to dominate like we did and only have a 14-0 lead."

Carson scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter, as Maffei's 1-yard run capped a short 43-yard drive and Hammond tossed a 44-yard scoring pass to Witter on a fourth-and-5 play late in the third quarter to make it 34-0.

n Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281