With his team fresh off a 27-13 road victory over Elko, Carson football coach Shane Quilling said the Senators are looking forward to playing their first home game of the season tonight against undefeated Bishop Manogue of the High Desert League.
"We've been talking to the kids all week," said Quilling, "We can't ask for a better non-league team to play. Like Douglas, Reno and Hug, Manogue brings physical play. They're big and physical and come after you. We look forward to the challenge."
Not many other teams would like to see the Miners staring at them across the line of scrimmage. Manogue defeated Damonte Ranch in its season-opener and last week shut out the Sierra League's Hug Hawks, 21-0.
The Hawks represented the North in last year's Class 4A State Championship game in a loss to Las Vegas.
The Miners gave up the 14 points to the Mustangs after taking a 28-0 lead into the second half and its defense held the Hawks to only 18 net yards on 32 carries.
But Carson, now 1-1, has been stingy on the defensive side of the ball as well, giving up 222 yards in its loss against Mojave in Las Vegas and only 133 last week against the Indians.
"Anytime you got to go to Elko, with all Elko officials, it's tough for anyone to win," said Quilling, whose defense forced the Indians into five turnovers. "It's a tough trip - five hours. It's a long way. But we traveled well. We traveled well to Las Vegas, we just didn't play well. We held (Elko) to under 140 yards. We played real well (defensively). We did a good job. Elko had five or six three-and-outs. We put a lot of pressure on people and stunted 50-60 percent of the time. The defensive line was doing a good job and the linebackers were led by Travis Lamborn, who got 10-12 tackles."
Quilling said the Indians, who scored first on a 14-yard play following a 36-yard punt return, didn't record a first down until the second half.
For their part, the Senators got it done on the offensive side as well, grinding out 339 yards. Running back Lamborn led Carson with 132 yards on 16 carries and scored a 48-yard touchdown.
And Lamborn wasn't alone, getting help in the backfield from Kyle Banko, who ran one in from the 2-yard line, and quarterback Mitch Hammond.
Hammond rushed for 71 yards and one touchdown and passed for 107 yards on 7-of-19 attempts, hitting Wes Reddick for a 7-yard score. Carson ran the ball 42 times.
"Lamborn, Mitch and Banko handled and ran the ball well," Quilling said. "All three are averaging over 6 yards a carry over the season. They were able to control the ball out of the shotgun."
Quilling said Elko did exactly as he thought it would and stacked nine men in the box, paying dearly when Carson was able to execute its newest wrinkle, the shotgun.
"We wanted to get the shotgun stuff last year," Quilling said. "(Quarterback Chris) McBroom was doing it, but he got hurt. Mitch needed a couple weeks to get used to the varsity level, much less (running the shotgun). We worked it a lot this summer. Elko played nine in a box...We got them out of that."
Quilling said Hammond took the biggest heat for the loss to Mojave, and against Elko was able to respond to the challenge laid down to him by his coaching staff. Hammond was named the Senators' player of the game.
"Playing Elko was an opportunity for (Hammond) to come out and play a very good game," Quilling said. "Mitch ran the shotgun about 75 percent of the time. He did a great job reading on the option. He had one bad read on the option out of the game. He did a great job. He missed a couple of times - we had one sure touchdown - but he threw the ball well. We had three big drops. But we ran off the option well. We talked about it all week. We said, 'We're as good as you (Hammond) play. If you don't play well, we won't play well.'"
To his credit, Hammond rose to the occasion.
"He did what we asked him to do," Quilling said. "We were pretty tough on him. He missed a lot of things against Mojave. He knew that. He's that type of kid. We look for him to get better and better. If the quarterback can keep us in the game and not make too many mistakes, we have a shot to win."
When he looks at Manogue, which finished 4-5 last year, Quilling said he sees only one negative.
"They've got 28 kids," he said. "They don't have a lot of depth. But the kids they have are solid everywhere. They don't have a weakness. They're big up front offensively and defensively. They've got guys 6-4, 6-5, 250-270. They have a lot of 230s.
"Their wide receiver, No. 87 (Cameron Bozarth) is a stud. They have four linebackers - whether they're in the 4-4 or 4-3 - who run to the ball extremely well."
Quilling said Carson will try and counter with its own re-tooled offense.
"We'll have to spread them out and make them play us," Quilling said. "They beat up Hug. Physically, they beat them up. Hug had one chance to score in the first half."
Just as it was time to see what they were made of last week in Elko, Quilling said the Senators once again have a chance to prove themselves against the Miners and show them that they're not the only ones with a strong defense.
"We're going to find out a lot about ourselves," Quilling said. "We've got to get out of that 4 or 5 tier and see what we can do. We've got to see if they can handle the physical pressure up front. If they can handle us, it will be a long game. I don't think they can do that, but you never know."
Quilling said Hug didn't mix their plays up a lot on offense - which Carson hopes to - and that many of Manogue's 28 players have to play both ways, which could benefit Carson.
"If we can tire them out, we have a chance," Quilling said. "They have some athletes. We have some athletes. I look forward to a great game on Friday."
Carson-Manogue begins at 7:30 p.m. at Carson High School.