Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal
None of the Carson players or coaches knew it when the game ended, but the Senators got a little help from their arch-rival Douglas on Friday night.
Carson's easy 45-14 homecoming win over Galena, coupled with the Tigers' 28-21 win over Bishop Manogue, threw the Sierra League race into a three-way tie with two weeks left in the season.
All three teams are 4-1 in league play. A share of the championship, barring any upsets next week, will be determined when Carson hosts Douglas a week from Thursday. Manogue finishes with Damonte Ranch and Galena.
"It was a heck of a way to end it in the fourth quarter," said Carson coach Blair Roman, whose team improved to 6-2 overall. "We turned it on at the end. I attribute that to our mental toughness. It was 24-14 with eight minutes left and ends up 45-14."
That was set up by a couple of stops by the Carson defense down the stretch. Carson was dominant in the first half and got pushed around in the third quarter before settling down.
"We didn't play very well, and I attribute that to Carson," Galena coach Steve Struzyk said. "The offense turned the ball over too many times, and when you play a good team you can't do that. My hats off to Carson. They played hard."
Galena had a slight edge in yardage, 274-256, and nearly half of that came on the Grizzlies' first drive of the second quarter and their first two drives of the second half.
Carson gave a clinic on defense in the first half, limiting the high-powered Grizzlies' offense thanks to the efforts of Justin Barlow, Erik Roberson and Taylor Silva. Carson did an outstanding job containing Galena quarterback Beau Bickel, who finished with 190 yards. He completed 15 of 30 passes.
Carson, which managed just one first down on its first two possessions, finally got on track during its third drive.
Carson drove 61 yards on 11 plays with Mark Sinnott scoring from the 4, after a penalty, to take an early 7-0 lead. The key plays in the drive were a 17-yard pass to Tyler Collins for a first down at the Galena 25, and a 15-yard run by Dylan Sawyers down to the Galena 1 on a third-and-1 play.
Carson's second score was set up by an offensive pass interference call on Galena, which moved the ball back to the Galena 12 and cost the Grizzlies a down and forced them to punt.
Levi Bloxton took a short punt at the Galena 42 and returned it 14 yards to the Grizzlies' 28. Carson scored five plays later on another 4-yard run by Sinnott. Witter's PAT made it 14-0 with 11:56 left in the half.
Galena went three possessions without a first down before waking up. The Grizzlies put together an impressive 10-play 80-yard drive. The big play was a 53-yard pass to Eric Johnson, who was tripped up at the 1. Bickel scored on the next play to cut the lead to 14-7.