Hitting their stride: Cards improve to 3-1 with 45-15 win over Tommies

The Carrington offense has been equal parts Road Runner and Houdini over the first four weeks of the fall football season.

As in, getting their athletes in space to make big plays happen, and making use of some sleight of hand with misdirection to create even bigger chunk plays.

Coach Kyle Smith's Cards made the first switch flip play on defense, though, and that got the visitors going for good with a surprisingly-efficient 45-15 win over the Thompson Tommies in the Red River Valley Friday night, September 8.

"It was a very important region win against a really athletic bunch of kids from Thompson," Smith said of the game. "Truly a great effort, and the kind of effort we need going forward."

Thompson had some success on their opening drive, completing three big plays, including a perfectly-executed fake punt. On third down and 11 from the Carrington 21 with just under four minutes gone in the first quarter, Tommie quarterback Drew Overby fired a pass over the middle that was picked off by McKade Zink. The sophomore had nothing but green grass in front of him down the sideline, and raced 79 yards for the game's first score.

"He has a nose for the ball defensively, and his speed makes him a big play threat when the ball is in his hands, whether it's on special teams, offense or defense," said Smith of Zink's play so far this season.

After the Tommies' second possession stalled out at the Cardinal 35, CHS' first turn at an offensive series culminated with a one-yard quarterback sneak from junior Josh Bickett with 58 seconds remaining in the quarter. Logan Weninger ran in the two-point conversion on the direct snap to stake the Cards to a 14-0 advantage following a 3:34 drive that covered seven plays.

In that drive, Weninger had three carries for 30 yards, and Corbin Clifton had another big play with a 30-yard run off a reverse handoff.

"We've had some good success with our three-back set for the past couple of years," Smith said. "Our kids have been able to effectively jump in and out of our compressed and spread sets, which makes it tougher for defenses to prepare. It's a nice changeup to throw once in awhile."

Weninger found the pylons from 38 yards out in the second quarter at the 8:55 mark on a fourth-down-and-2 play, and also added the conversion run to make the score 22-0.

Thompson got on the scoreboard on the next drive on an Overby lob pass to his 6'4" target, tight end Karter Peterson, from seven yards out on third and goal. Josh Juve's extra point kick brought the Tommies to within 15.

Clifton made nifty moves on another 27-yard reverse play on the ensuing drive to set up another Weninger touchdown, a 21-yard run with just under two minutes in the half. Bickett's conversion put CHS up 30-7, and things were looking rosy for the red and white.

However, the Cards might have gotten too cute for their own good in their strategy. A surprise "onside" kick was recovered by Thompson, giving them a short field at the Cardinal 47-yard-line.

Two runs by Juve and completions to Brody Gibson got the Tommies to the Carrington 20, but an intentional grounding call against Overby on third down resulted in a loss of down and a fourth-and-21.

No matter, as Thompson reached into their bag of tricks. Overby threw a lateral pass to Gibson, who looked for a receiver on the halfback option play. With none available, he decided to do the work himself, made a few Cardinal tacklers miss, and turned on the jets for a crucial 35-yard touchdown late in the half. Peterson caught the point after, and all of a sudden, it was 30-15 at the break.

Smith said that the kick was meant to be a "pop-up" kick into an open spot on the Tommie coverage team, but that his team still needed to execute with better situational awareness on the Gibson play.

"In Grady [Shipman's] defense, we haven't practiced that kick much, and he just mis-hit it," he said. "But, we still need to stay sharp defensively, and do a better job finishing the half."

Even with Thompson riding that positivity into halftime, the Cardinal offense kept humming along.

Almost a full quarter elapsed before the next touchdown, and this time Clifton was the recipient of a five-yard score. The two-point pass to Grady Shipman was good, making it 38-15.

Shipman, the senior wide receiver, would score the final touchdown of the night in the fourth quarter from Bickett, a seven-yard pass. He would add the kick to cap the scoring.

Bickett's passing numbers were 4-for-6 for 26 yards, but the full house backfield formation behind him made most of the lasting impressions.

Weninger finished with 138 yards on 17 carries, and Clifton was just seven yards shy of a 100-yard game himself, needing only five attempts to do so.

While Thompson finished with 304 yards of total offense, with 199 of those on the ground split between Juve (19 carries, 119 yards) and Gibson (nine carries, 91 yards), the Cardinal defense stiffened when they had to in the red zone.

Shipman had 13 total tackles, seven of those solo, and Jake Otto added seven solos and five assists for a total of 12. Clifton, along with Jaxon Schaefer, also had eight total stops.

"Our defense did a nice job tightening up in the red zone, but we still need to be better in our third down defensive situations," said Smith.

Thompson fell to 1-3 in both the region and overall standings. Overby finished at 9-for-25 passing for 104 yards, 76 of those yards and six catches going to Peterson.

Following their Homecoming game last Friday against Grafton, the Cards (3-1 Region 2, 3-1 overall) will play outside of the region for a Friday night clash at Sandager Field in Lisbon against the Broncos (3-1) from Region 1.

Regarding Grafton, Smith said the Spoilers are much improved, and have a few players to watch.

"Grafton's capable of scoring points in bunches," concluded Smith. "Their quarterback [Kyler Droog] can sling it, and [Tony] Villarreal is as quick of a kid as we have in our region."

"We'll need to slow down their offense, and make them put drives together and earn points, versus giving up big plays."

Class A - Region 2 Football

Carrington 45, Thompson 15

Cgtn. 14 16 8 7 - 45

Thom. 0 15 0 0 - 15

First Quarter

Carrington: McKade Zink 79 yard interception return (kick failed)

Carrington: Josh Bickett 1 yard run (Logan Weninger run)

Second Quarter

Carrington: Weninger 38 yard run (Weninger run)

Thompson: Karter Peterson 7 yard pass from Drew Overby (Josh Juve kick)

Carrington: Weninger 21 yard run (J. Bickett run)

Thompson: Brody Gibson 35 yard run (Peterson pass from Overby)

Third Quarter

Carrington: Corbin Clifton 5 yard run (Grady Shipman pass from J. Bickett)

Fourth Quarter

Carrington: Shipman 7 yard pass from J. Bickett (Shipman kick)

Carrington Statistics

Offense

Passing: J. Bickett 4-6-26 yards-TD

Rushing: Weninger 17-138-2 TD; C. Clifton 5-93-TD; Mc. Zink 4-44; J. Bickett 7-28-TD; Jaxon Schaefer 2-14; Grady Idland 1-8; Aaron Neumiller 1-8; Gabe Clifton 1-4

Receiving: Shipman 2-10-TD; Weninger 1-8; Mc. Zink 1-8

Defense

Tackles (unassisted/assisted): Shipman (7-6); Jake Otto (7-5); C. Clifton (5-3); Weninger (4-3); Schaefer (4-4); Brock Jungels (4-3); Alec Threadgold (4-1); Mc. Zink (3-4); Carson Ova (3-1); Maverick Zink (3-1); Tate Wolsky (3-1); Bickett (1-1); G. Clifton (1-0); Cody Otto (1-2); Neumiller (0-2)

Interception: Mc. Zink

Sacks: Threadgold, Mav. Zink

Tackles for Loss: Jungels 3, C. Otto, J. Otto, Threadgold, Wolsky, Mav. Zink

Thompson Statistics

Offense

Passing: Overby 9-25-104 yards-TD-INT

Rushing: Juve 19-119; Gibson 9-91-TD; Charlie Yon 3-12; Overby 5-(-1); Mason Applegren 1-(-22)

Receiving: Peterson 6-76-TD; Juve 1-20; Gibson 2-8

Defense

Tackles (unassisted/assisted): Yon (6-1); Will Welke (3-3); Gavin Krogstad (2-3); Juve (1-4); Zander Thompson (1-4); Jesse Hegg (0-5); Gibson (2-2); Peterson (1-1); Peyton Canen (1-1); Cash Danner (1-1); Jordan Gustafson (0-2); Overby (1-0); Maxx Albin (1-0); Eli Gemmill (0-1); Rylan Penas (0-1)