Seven long years of misery is over for the Carson High Senators.
The Senators ended their football drought at the hands of archrival Douglas
with a dominating 34-6 win before an overflow crowd of more than 7,000
Thursday night at Carson.
Carson and Douglas finished with identical 6-1 records in Sierra League
play, but the Senators get the No. 1 seed based on the head-to-head win over
the Tigers. Both Carson and Douglas will host first-round playoff games next
Friday.
It's Carson's first title since 1998 and its first Sierra League
championship in school history.
"It's the best feeling in the world," said Carson two-way star Luke Carter.
"We've talked about this game ever since last year (48-20 loss). We worked
so hard for this."
This one wasn't even close, as the Senators' speed gave the Tigers' defense
problems all night. The offensive line of Danny Gall, Trevor Goodale, Will
Flores. Matt Cooper and Justin Barlow paved the way for 316 rushing yards
and 442 yards of total offense. Carson only had to punt twice the entire
game.
And, the defense was just as impressive, pitching a shutout until the final
1:05 when Zach Williams threw an 11-yard pass to Danny King. Douglas managed
just 225 yards total offense. Johnny Pollack managed just 45 yards on 15
carries.
"I had confidence coming into the game that we had the potential to get a
big win," Carson coach Blair Roman, who went from 3-7 last year to 8-2 this
year. "We absolutely played our best football of the year, and we've played
some pretty good football. We executed in every phase of the game.
"We do a lot with our running game. There have been games where we haven't
had to throw the ball. We showed tonight we could throw the ball."
Blake Plattsmier went 8-for-11 passing for 126 yards and a score. He also
rushed 13 times for 67 yards and a 16-yard score. Not a bad way to play on
Senior Night.
Douglas coach Mike Rippee was obviously disappointed with his team's
performance.
"We got outplayed," Rippee said. "Team speed really worried me, and it just
ate us alive. It was a key factor."
The Tigers' defense had no answer for Dylan Sawyers, who had first-half TD
runs of 26 and 6 yards, and also caught a 48-yard screen pass from
Plattsmier in the third quarter.
It was Sawyers who got the fireworks started on the Senators' opening drive,
capping a 79-yard scoring drive with a 26-yard run to make it 6-0 with 8:12
left.
Sawyers (14 carries, 117 yards) made it 13-0 with 7:39 left in the half,
capping an impressive 90-yard scoring drive with a 6-yard run. The
sophomore, who has 22 touchdowns thus far, accounted for 58 yards on the
drive.
"He's awful good," Rippee said. "His speed is great and he has great
instincts. We didn't make plays when we had to. We were very conscious of
him, but when we'd try to stop him on the perimeter he'd cut back and we
just couldn't stop him."
Carson took advantage of a 25-yard shanked punt to get excellent field
position at its own 46. Mark Sinnott (94 yards rushing) scored four plays
later for the 1 for a 20-0 lead. The key play was a 32-yard pass from
Plattsmier to Ean Witter for a first down at the Douglas 15. Sawyers gained
14 on the next play, setting the stage for Sinnott.
Carson scored on its first two possessions of the second half, as Plattsmier
scrambled for a 16-yard TD and a 27-0 lead with 7;13 left. Plattsmier rolled
left on the play, reversed his field and outran the Tigers' defense.
"They had it covered well," Plattsmier said. "It was supposed to be a pass
to Luke (Carter)."
Douglas was forced to punt on its next possession, and once again the Senators had good field position at their own 40.
Three Sinnott runs produced a first down at the Tigers' 48. Plattsmier
drifted back and dropped a screen pass to Sawyers, who took it the distance.
"All week long we worked on getting wider on that play," Sawyers said. "I
got a good block and all I needed to do is run."
"The screen pass we had three people in position and he outran all three of
them," Rippee said.
