Carson football falls to Damonte Ranch

There is a reason a cliche becomes a cliche. Take the aphorism "He who doesn't study history is bound to repeat it," for instance.

The Carson Senators didn't have to dig far into the archives of time to discover that they committed seven turnovers against Damonte Ranch to lose 20-18 last year.

For the Senators, one cliche led to another as history repeated itself Friday at Carson High School, where Carson gave up five turnovers to fall to the Mustangs, 23-7, on Homecoming night.

With the loss, Carson fell out of third place and is now 2-2 in Sierra League play and 2-5 overall. The ever-improving Mustangs moved to 3-1 in league, 4-2 overall going into next week's matchup with Wooster.

"Turnovers were the key to the game," said first-year Carson coach Blair Roman. "On the first two drives we had turnovers when we had good field position. We had a chance to put some points on the board early, but we weren't able to take advantage of things.

"Damonte did a nice job of executing their offense tonight. Give Damonte credit for playing a good game. They did a good job of creating turnovers."

On a first-and-10 on the Damonte 43, Carson running back Jake Madden broke through for an eight-yard gain, only to cough up the ball. The Mustangs responded with a seven-play drive and went up 7-0 when running back Mike Artemis took it in from five yards out with 7 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first quarter.

"Anytime you can create turnovers on defense, you should have success," said Damonte Ranch coach Tony Amantia. "You give your offense opportunities. We were also able to stop some drives."

On the next series, Carson wasted Mark Sinnott's 74-yard kickoff return to the Mustangs 16. Three plays into the drive, Damonte Ranch linebacker Luigi Terrana picked off a tipped pass by Carson quarterback Blake Plattsmier, but the Mustangs weren't able to capitalize on that series.

Turnovers aside, Carson spent the night unsuccessfully chasing down Mustangs quarterback Ray Daniels, who completed 22-of-34 passes for 264 yards and one touchdown " a 10-yard toss to Terrana for a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.

Daniels also gained 63 yards on 15 carries, including a 5-yard run which gave the Mustangs a 20-0 lead with 7:28 to go in the third quarter (kicker Tyler McBroom missed the point after try).

"We knew coming in he was the guy we had to contain," Roman said. "He's the type of player he showed us on film. The play I was impressed with was the second touchdown, where he threw it across his body. We had him sacked."

Amantia called Daniels, who also plays baseball for Damonte Ranch, "a good athlete" who "got off to a slow start this year."

"I knew he could zing it in the eighth grade," Amantia said of Daniels. "He's seen (Cover 2 defenses) since he was a sophomore in high school. It's helped him, so when he sees that against opponents he doesn't freak out. He reads coverages and gets rid of the football. He lets it go in a hurry."

Carson, which was outgained 447-203 offensively, gave its vocal crowd some excitement and looked to be on a rally after Robert Figuerora's 40-yard punt return keyed a seven-play, 40 yard drive, which was capped by a 1-yard run by Sinnott with 1:12 to go in the third quarter.

Sinnott gained a game-high 73 yards on 17 carries.

The Senators defense stiffened on the next drive, but Damonte's Danny Hurd took a direct snap on a fake punt and gained 18 yards for the first down. The Mustangs capped the series and the scoring with a 21-yard field goal by McBroom.

Then the metaphorical air went out of the Senators' tires.

"That punt was the key play," Roman said. "We were down 20-7 and you could feel the momentum on the sideline. It was a good call at the right time. We weren't able to make the play. They did."

Plattsmier had a tough night, completing 7-of-25 passes for 76 yards and two picks.

"As a coaching staff we have to get the kids to focus on attention to detail, especially on offense," Roman said. "You can't come out and commit five turnovers in your first five possessions. It says to me that we're tight (early) or we need to get the kids to relax. I don't know the answer. I'm going to look for it."

Next up for Carson is a road game at Galena this Friday.

"Like I told the kids, the one positive is that the season isn't over," Roman said. "We have a good chance the next two weeks to get back on track. We have a realistic shot at the playoffs if we win next week.

"For our program right now and for our kids " as young as a team as we have " it would be a good first step for our program."

While it was a deflating loss in front of an enthusiastic, sellout crowd, Roman said the Senators will go back to work on Monday.

"We're going to come back like we always do " positive and work hard," Roman said. "We're going to correct our mistakes. The players have been resilient this year. Next week we get the opportunity to right the ship."