The Carroll Cougars defeated the Taylor Titans 20-19 on Friday, advancing to the Sectional Championship.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Carroll coach Blake Betzner said. “We’ve played them twice now and every person in the stand got their money’s worth.”
Carroll started the game off hot, Cale Peters took the first play 63 yards for a touchdown, and the Cougars took a 7-0 lead.
The Titans responded right away, Xavyn Pugh hit Javionne Harris for a 42-yard touchdown, but the Titans missed the extra point, making it 7-6 early in the first.
With two minutes left in the first, Peters punched in his second rushing score, but this time Carroll couldn’t convert the extra point and held a 13-7 lead.
After a pair of punts, a Titans fumble set Carroll up with good field position. The Cougars couldn’t capitalize as Pugh picked off Peters to give the ball back to Taylor.
The Cougars got a stop and went into halftime up 13-6.
Javionne Harris scored early in the third quarter, and Taylor tied it at 13.
Aiden Wiles answered for Carroll six minutes later, rushing in from a yard out to take a 20-13 lead.
With 7:42 left in the game, Harris snuck it in from four yards out. The Titans went for two and the lead, but were turned away by the Carroll defense, leaving the score at 20-19.
Carroll was able to control the rest of the game, ending it with a kneel down to win 20-19.
“The last series, all we had to do was get three first downs,” Betzner said. “We kept yelling ‘three first downs’, that’s all we had to do. Emery Deaton, who didn’t play a week ago, gutted it out and played the whole game defensively. That last series, we put him in on offense not to run the ball, just to block, and that kind of tells you how good a player he is.”
The Cougars advance to the Sectional Championship for the fourth time in five years. The only time Carroll did not make it to the Championship was last year when they were eliminated by Pioneer, their opponent next Friday.
“Pioneer is a different animal, they’re really good, they’re physical, they’re fast,” Betzner said. “We know what’s coming now. A year ago, I don’t think our young men understood what was coming, but now they do.”
Pioneer took down Carroll 49-7 before falling to Taylor in last year’s Sectional 42 Championship.
On Friday, Pioneer took down previously undefeated Frontier 42-6.
The Pioneer vs Carroll game will be on Friday, Nov. 7, at 7:00 p.m. It will be available to listen to on WILO.