At quick a glance, statistics showed Hug High's Isaac Porter had 126 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Unfortunately for the Carson Senators, there were still 45 minutes left to play and Hug was on track to a 42-8 Sierra League victory on Friday night.
Porter scored on runs of 68 and 58 yards on his first two carries of the night and the Hawks (1-0, 2-2) were up 24-0 midway through the first quarter against a Carson squad (0-1, 1-3) that seemed to struggle in every phase of the game.
"They won," Carson coach Shane Quilling said. "The way we played tonight, we deserved to lose by a score like that. Obviously, we're not doing a good enough job as coaches because we were not good fundamentally. It's a simple game; you've got to tackle, you've got to block and you have to hang on to the ball, and we didn't do any of those things."
The Senators were able to move the ball - they held a 15-12 advantage in first downs and drove into Hug's 40 on six occasions - but they were hurt by six turnovers, four on lost fumbles and two on interceptions. One of those fumbles was returned 40 yards for a touchdown by Phillip Ward, giving Hug an 18-0 lead. The Senators then fumbled the ball away on the ensuing kickoff, setting up a touchdown that gave Hug a 24-0 lead with 6:23 remaining in the first quarter.
But the tone was set on the game's second play from scrimmage when Porter darted into a hole up the middle and went all the way for a 68-yard touchdown. Carson's Matt Moore blocked the PAT kick attempt to keep the score at 6-0.
Carson drove to the Hug 38 on its opening possession, only to stall and turn the ball over on downs. One play later, Porter dodged his way through a hole and then outran Carson's defensive unit to the endzone on his 58-yard romp.
"He does that all the time. It's just amazing what that guy can do," Hug coach Rollins Stallworth said of Porter.
"The thing is, we were extremely excited about the intensity the kids showed at the start of the game. We wanted to set the tone early of who the better team was and the kids did exactly that. This was probably the most complete game we've played yet, both on offense and defense."
Down 24-0, Carson came back and mounted a 10-play drive to the Hug 24, only to turn the ball over when Ward recovered his second fumble of the night.
The Senators got the ball back three plays later when David Cadwallader stripped the ball loose and Derek Shoaf recovered the fumble at Hug's 27. Kyle Bacon completed a seven-yard pass to Scott Witter, Austin Watson busted for runs of 6 and 10 yards and Bacon capped the drive when he followed center Zach Taylor into the endzone on a two-yard quarterback sneak. Bacon completed a pass to Brian Welch for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 24-8.
Carson continued its momentum when kicker Matt Mitchell recovered his own onside kick. The Senators drove to the 18, but absorbed a setback on fourth-and-three when they were called for delay of game. The ensuing fourth down pass fell incomplete, turning the ball back over to Hug with 7:15 left in the second quarter.
"We had two nice drives that could have got us back in the game, then we fumble and get stopped on downs," Quilling said. "We just didn't execute."
Hug turned the ball around and drove 77 yards on 14 plays, capped by Darren Shepherd's seven-yard touchdown run to make it 30-8.
Porter added a 25-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to finish the night with 213 yards rushing and three scores on 12 carries. Dexter Rackley also ran for 54 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and Shepherd had 57 yards on five carries.
Watson led Carson with 59 yards on 15 carries and Corde Armstrong came on to rush for 40 yards on four carries in the fourth quarter. Witter caught five passes for 45 yards.
Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1220.