SPARKS " The Texas Tech Red Raiders' "Air Raid" offense may have left Northern Nevada, but unfortunately for the Carson Senators, the Reed Raiders' airpower was on full display on Friday.
Raiders quarterback Tyler Pine threw for five touchdowns and ran for another as the Raiders took advantage of a 33-0 first-half lead to coast to a 47-14 nonleague victory over the Senators at Reed High School.
Pine completed 21-of-27 passes for 372 yards and one interception as Reed, of the High Desert League, moved to 1-1, while the Senators ended their nonleague schedule with an 0-3 record.
"They pretty much did whatever they wanted to on offense," first-year Carson head coach Blair Roman said of the Raiders, who outgained the Senators 470-196 in total offense. "Their screens were effective. They went vertical on us early for big plays."
Behind a gallant effort from junior running back Mark Sinnott, who picked up 65 yards on 25 carries, Carson outrushed the Raiders 101-98. The 5-foot-7 Sinnott, who had battled strep throat, played in place of starter Jake Madden, who sat out with a thigh contusion.
With the Senators trailing 47-0 and 9 minutes, 24 seconds remaining in the game, Sinnott ran it in from one yard out to score the Senators' first touchdown in nine quarters. Junior Robert Figueroa set up the four-play, 12-yard drive with a 38-yard punt return.
"Mark's been sick all week," Roman said. "He had a tough time practicing. With Jake out, Mark carried the load for us tonight. He did some good things and he's only going to get better."
Reed got rolling early, as senior wideout Anthony Tremaine bookended a 5-yard Pine touchdown run by pulling in a 10-yarder and 4-yarder from his talented quarterback to put the Raiders up 20-0 in the first quarter.
Tremaine had all four of his receptions (for 42 yards) in the first quarter.
Senior Casey Yocom, who finished with five catches for 97 yards, hooked up with Pine for a 41-yard touchdown and Lennox Pierce caught a 5-yarder from Pine to give the Raiders their 33-0 lead at the half.
Pierce led all players with 10 receptions for 156 yards and two TDs, including a 24-yarder to make it 40-0 with 9:04 left in the third.
Christian Thompson led all Raiders with 50 yards on seven attempts and rounded out Reed's scoring with a 16-yard touchdown run to give Reed a 47-0 lead with 6:33 to go in the third quarter.
"Defensively, we've played two good offensive teams (including McQueen) in a row," Roman said. "We need to work on our one-on-one tackling and make the play when we need to make the play. Defensively, we need to improve."
The Senators did own the final 12 minutes, holding Reed to 12 fourth-quarter yards, while gaining 61 of their own.
Carson's defense was not without its bright moments: Junior defensive lineman Justin Barlow and senior defensive lineman David Laumea had back-to-back sacks of Pine in the second quarter before Figueroa added an interception to end a Reed drive at the Carson 24.
Junior defensive back Zach Vannucci fell on a Raiders fumble with 2:30 to go in the game and two plays later, junior Blake Plattsmier found senior tight end Blake Davidson on a cross and a 12-yard score to make it 47-14.
Plattsmier got off to a shaky start but ended up finishing 12-of-31 for 95 yards, one interception and a touchdown.
"I saw an improvement from the guys up front," Roman said. "We were able to move the ball better. In the second half I thought Blake went down and threw some good balls. He showed what he's capable of doing."
In contrast to Reed's no-huddle, spread attack, the Senators added some wrinkles to their new Pistol formation as Plattsmier went under center to hand off to Sinnott or find junior Ean Witter or Davidson downfield.
Witter was a good outlet for Plattsmier, catching six passes for 29 yards and Davidson added four receptions for 61 yards and a score.
"Blake (Davidson's) definitely a guy that we've been wanting to incorporate into our offense in the first three games," Roman said. "Last week (in a 52-0 loss to McQueen), he didn't have many chances. This week, we got it to him in the second half. We hope to keep him involved."
Carson will now have a bye week before opening Sierra League play at South Tahoe against the Vikings on Sept. 27 at 1:30 p.m..
Roman said the second half " especially the last quarter " could give his team a bit of much-needed confidence.
"I said when I got this job back in January that people need to be patient," Roman said. "We had a tough nonleague schedule. I feel we can only get better from the experience."