Josh Carter ran for three touchdowns and Doug Brooks had three more, including a 30-yard interception return as Carson High School cruised to a 41-6 win over Fallon on Friday night, surpassing last season's win total of three.
Carter scored on runs of 19, 2, and 12, as the Senators scored 20 first quarter points to bury the Greenwave and improve their season record to 3-1. Carson has now won three straight going into its Sierra League opener at Wooster next Saturday in Reno.
The Senators' defense contained Fallon's multi-purpose sophomore quarterback Chris Warner, who rushed for 42 yards and passed for 64 yards. Carson's defense didn't allow an offensive touchdown for the second time this season.
"Carson was the most physical team we've faced by a long shot," said Greenwave coach Geff Habel, whose team drops to 0-4 on the season. "They're absolutely tough. They just took it to us."
Linebacker Jed Abowd led the Senators with 12 tackles, five of them solo jobs for Carson.
"I was really pleased with our defense tonight," coach Bob Bateman said about his defense that held Fallon to only two yards in the first quarter. "They've moved the ball pretty well against everybody that they've played."
In the first quarter, Carson scored on its first play from scrimmage when Carter ran 19 yards into the end zone. On Fallon's next possession, the Greenwave gained only one yard and for the second time, were forced to punt into a fierce wind that was whipping across the field. After their first punt lost two yards - which set up Carter's first touchdown - their next punt went 19 yards to again give Carson ideal field position.
On the ensuing drive, quarterback Marques Giron completed two passes, one for 17 yards to Rob Handley and the other to Sam Greenstein for 12 yards to give Carson first-and-goal on the Fallon 7. On third down, Carter ran for his second touchdown, this time from 2-yards out, to make it 13-0.
On Fallon's third possession of the game, Warner threw an errant pass in the direction of Brooks, who intercepted the pass and ran untouched 30-yards for a touchdown that gave Carson a 20-0 lead after the first quarter.
"That was a rough quarter," said Habel, who's still looking for his first win as a head coach. "I mean the wind coming at as and a lot of things didn't go our way. It just looked ugly."
In the second quarter, Brooks scored his second touchdown, a 2-yard run that capped off a 76-yard drive by Carson that gave them a 27-0 halftime lead.
"We knew coming in that we weren't gonna get games handed to us," Habel said. "We have McQueen next so we don't have one easy game this year."
The Greenwave's lone touchdown came in the third quarter when Kelly Davis intercepted a Giron pass and returned it 47 yards to cut Carson's lead to 27-6. But two minutes later, Carson scored again, this time on an 11-yard run by Brooks. Then, near the end of the third quarter, Carter ran 12 yards for his final touchdown.
"We're pleased with being 3-1 in the preseason," said Carson coach Bob Bateman, who doesn't put too much emphasis on non-league games. "Now we gotta get it done in the regular season because that's what gets us to the playoffs."
The Senators go into next Saturday's game against the Colts on a three-game win streak after opening the season with a 52-7 loss to McQueen. Carson hasn't beat Wooster since 1977. The Colts are 1-2 this season going into their game today against Galena. However, their losses were to Elko and McQueen, two of the best teams in the state. So Bateman isn't putting too much emphasis on the record.
"The Wooster tradition is just phenomenal," Bateman said about the seven-time state champions. "Seven or eight years ago they started 1-2 and ended up winning the state championship. So they'll be tough."