HAMPSTEAD — South Carroll's offense took some time to get started Friday night at Powelson field against host North Carroll. But once again the Cavaliers' defense was up to the challenge of controlling the game.
South Carroll's defense scored the first points of the game and didn't let up, as the Cavs pulled away to complete a 36-6 victory.
SC intercepted Cooper Hastings twice in the first half, the first of which came on a third-down pass that found its way into Joe Malagari's hands. But the Cavaliers (7-1, 5-0 county) couldn't convert the big play into any points.
However, when Hastings dropped back for a pass with just more than four minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Patrick Kelly stepped in front of the pass and took it down the left sideline 74 yards to give South Carroll the advantage.
"I was just trying to play coverage and the quarterback missed his guy and I just caught it and got some really good lead blocks from some defensive linemen ... and all I had to do was follow my blocks and from there it was six," Kelly said. "It helps to be used to getting the ball [on offense] so that way I know what to do when I get it on defense."
The Panthers couldn't make any progress on the ground and threw the ball more than they ran it in the opening half. The second didn't fare much better for North Carroll's rushing attack and it was forced to continue to throw the ball.
Hastings finished with just 72 yards passing and three interceptions as the Panthers failed to score any points on offense. The lone score of the game came when Tyler Przybylski ran an interception 28 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Of the seven passes Hastings completed, five went to Roman Hawkins. Hawkins had a strong performance finishing with 51 receiving yards and a game-high six catches.
On offense South Carroll struggled through the first three quarters to consistently find offense, with one exception. Quarterback AJ Linn had a shaky start, but seemed to find some rhythm as the game went on.
He started the game off with an interception on the first drive and later threw another one in the second quarter. But Linn started to hit his marks, completing 11 of 16 passes or 140 yards and a touchdown to go along with two interceptions. He completed at least one pass to five different Cavaliers.
Steven Baca took on the large majority of the carries, and early on North Carroll's defensive line was stout. The Panthers (2-6, 1-3) consistently penetrated the line of scrimmage and executed some textbook tackles to take Baca to the ground.
Baca eventually burst through the line early in the second quarter for a 36-yard touchdown run up the middle. He would score again in the fourth quarter and he finished with a game-high 139 yards on the ground. Jamar Williams added a touchdown reception in the second and a run in the third giving both him and Baca two touchdowns each on the night.
South Carroll can win the county title by beating Century next week.
"I thought that our offensive line would eventually be able to wear them down and I don't think our line was blocking as good as they should have in the first half so we had a little discussion at halftime about what they needed to do adjustment-wise," Cavs coach Steve Luette said. "We had to get that all straightened out and get back on track and show up and play in the second half and that's what we did."
South Carroll 8 12 8 8 — 36
North Carroll 0 6 0 0 — 6
SCORING SUMMARY
SC-Patrck Kelly 74 interception return (Silas Kelly pass from Patrick Kelly)
SC-Steven Baca 36 run (conversion failed)
NC-Tyler Przybylski 28 interception return (kick failed)
SC-Jamar Williams 20 pass from AJ Linn (kick failed)
SC-Williams 2 run (Patrick Kelly pass from Linn)
SC-Baca 1 run (Williams run)
UNOFFICIAL STATISTICS
Rushing
SC-Steven Baca 23-139, Jamar Williams 5-53, AJ Linn 4-21, Joe Malagari 3-13, Shane Conners 1-8, Dylan Bergmann 2-1, Dan Marino 1- (-8); NC-Dan Melville 5-14, Roman Hawkins 2-9, Tyler Przybilski 5-4, Dixon Wiley 3-4, Connor Waskiewicz 1-1, Cooper Hastings 6-(-42).
Passing
SC-Linn 11-16-2 140; NC-Hastings 7-20-3 72, Waskiewicz 0-1-0 0.
Receving
SC-Silas Kelly 3-58, Patrick Kelly 3-24, Brent McPherson 2-28, Baca 2-10, Williams 1-20; NC-Hawkins 6-51, Waskiewicz 1-21.
