The Carroll Cougars defeated the Clinton Prairie Gophers 51-18 on Friday night.
The Cougars got the ball first and went three and out, punting it to Clinton Prairie. After that, Carroll scored on five straight possessions.
“I think it’s a mentality thing,” Carroll coach Blake Betzner said. “We know who we are. We want to be a physical team, and that’s how we want to play the game. I think after that first series we said ‘it’s time and we need to do what we need to do.'”
The Gophers’ first possession started strong, connecting on a couple of quick throws to get the offense moving. But the tide turned after a deep pass was intercepted by Brody Ray, giving the Cougars the ball back.
“I’m really proud of Brody Ray,” Betzner said. “He had a knee injury in practice, and we didn’t think he was going to be able to play. On that interception, he kind of got beat, and he made up and went and got it.”
The Cougars didn’t take long after that to get into the endzone. Aiden Wiles broke a tackle and scored from 44 yards out to make it 6-0.
The Gophers responded, after a good return set them up in Cougar territory, Gaige Kuzmicz connected on a 30-yard pass to Braiden Jarboe, which set up a five-yard touchdown run for Kuzmicz to make it 6-6.
On the next drive, Cale Peters escaped the pocket for a 24-yard touchdown run. After a punt from Clinton Prairie, Peters scrambled for 70 yards, setting up an Aiden Wiles touchdown run to make it 20-6.
Peters and Wiles each added another rushing score before Alex King stopped the 30-0 Carroll run by rushing for a score, making 36-12.
Before the end of the half, Peters intercepted a pass from Kuzmicz and returned it 40 yards for a pick-six, making it 44-12 heading into the half.
Peters connected with Landon Hammond on a 17-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter, effectively icing the game.
Alex King made a spectacular catch for a 35-yard touchdown for the final score of the game, and the Cougars won 51-18.
Cale Peters finished wi
th two rushing touchdowns, a passing score, and an interception return for a score and was named The Farmers Bank Player of the Game for his performance. His pick-six was named the Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union Play of the Game.
“Defensively, I’m just proud of the guys for changing,” Betzner said. “We changed a lot throughout the game with things we wanted to try and do, our guys were just listening and doing the right things all the time.”
Carroll will close out the regular season against Sheridan on Friday. The Cougars need to win and need the Gophers to upset Eastern in order to claim the Hoosier Heartland Conference Championship.
Both games will be available to watch on Hoosierland TV. The Sheridan vs Carroll game will be brought to you in part by Bragg Sports Media, and the Eastern vs Clinton Prairie game will be the Game of the Week.
The Game of the Week is brought to you by:
Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union
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Jerry’s Body Shop
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The Farmers Bank
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Busy Bee Stitches LLC
Tier One Meat Co.
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