CARVER — It is supposed to a fun day'' open house at Carver High School today. The festivitiies started early, though, as Carver and Bishop Stang played an old-fashioned shootout Friday afternoon. The two teams combined for nine touchdowns, and seven of the scores covered at least 34 yards.
The bad news for Carver was that Stang built a 28-14 halftime lead and hung on for a 35-27 victory. It says so on the scoreboard, said Stang coach Bill Kavanaugh. We would make a big play and they would then make a big play.
I am very happy with the progress of my offense, but I have to go back to the drawing board on my defense. It wasn't for a lack of effort. It was interesting playing on a Friday afternoon.
It was like a college football game, said Carver coach Mike Fraccalossi. The scoring went back and forth and no one wanted to play defense. I was very pleased with the way our guys responded in the second half.
We stayed in there, right down to the last snap. The Crusaders nearly pulled off a sensational comeback after trailing, 35-21, late. Kevin Jellison threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Steve Eldridge with 1:10 left in the game, but the point after kick was blocked.
Carver recovered the onside kick at the Spartans 39, but Stang (3-2) stopped a potential tying-touchdown drive by the Crusaders (2-4) with sacks of Jellison on back-to-back plays. It was a good ballgame, said Fraccalossi. I thought Mike Frazier had a great game on defense in the second half, and Kevin Jellison had some big throws to get us back in the ballgame in the second half.
Carver held the lead only once after scoring on its first play of the game. Wilson Wadlow (12 carries, 118 yards and one touchdown) turned the corner on a sweep and ran 75 yards untouched for the score, but the Crusaders missed the two-point conversion attempt. Stang came back with two quick touchdowns to take a 14-6 lead.
Walter Butler (25 carries, 142 yards) capped a 50-yard scoring drive with a 4-yard touchdown run, and on Carver's next possession, the Spartans' Matt Ranzinger caught a deflected pass and returned it down the sidelines for a 30-yard interception return. The two touchdowns for Stang were in the final 1:58 of the first quarter. Carver came back to tie the game on the first play of the second quarter.
Jellison kept the ball on an option run and ran 65 yards for a touchdown and then threw to Eldridge for the two-point conversion to tie the game, 14-14. The Spartans scored on their next two possessions. Joe Louise found a seam on a reverse for a 45-ayrd touchdown run, and Butler scored on Stang's next possession on a 45-yard run on an option play to put Stang up, 28-14.
Carver closed the deficit to seven on its first possession of the second half, but Stang came back with a touchdown late in the third quarter. Stang's touchdown on its second possession of the second half broke our backs, said Fraccalossi. Stang spreads you out and they run four plays.
However, those four plays, it seems that they run to perfection. On a fourth down play, Jellison threw a 34-yard pass down the middle to Tyler LeClair to cut the Carver deficit to 28-21. Wadlow keyed the 66-yard Carver drive to open the second half with 27 rushing yards.
Stang pushed the lead back to 14 (35-21) with a 74-yard drive.
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