It was nice to see the Carson High offense have an impressive game in its playoff victory Friday night.
Carson gained 392 yards overall, including 281 on the ground, in the 55-42 win over the Hunter Fralick-led Spanish Springs Cougars, earning a home game to the regional semifinals against Damonte Ranch. Carson beat Damonte 38-35 during the regular season.
“That was one of our best offensive games,” said tackle Aaron Cowee. “We knew we had to step up after that Douglas game.”
The benefactors were Joey Thurman (74 yards) and Nevin Elliott (212). The 212 was a career high for Elliott, whose previous best this season was 120 yards.
“It starts with the offensive line,” Carson coach Blair Roman said. “Nevin had a great game.”
Elliott had a 23-yard scoring run, and a 36-yard run to set up Carson’s third score and a 32-yard burst to set up the Senators’ next score. On the final scoring drive of the first half he had a 17-yard run, and followed that up with a 9-yard scoring run.
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And while we’re on the subject of football, where were all the fans on Friday?
For a playoff game, I was very disappointed with the attendance. Was it the raised ticket prices? I don’t know.
I suppose the fans would have to tell me. Folks, you missed one of the most entertaining and exciting football games I’ve seen in my 10-year career in Northern Nevada. I’ve covered high school football for more than 30 years, and Hunter Fralick is one of the best I’ve seen.
He not only plays quarterback, but he’s a safety on defense and even returned a kick-off. If the game had been at Spanish Springs, you might have seen him selling hot dogs at halftime.
This Carson team is 8-2 and deserves a lot more student and community support than it’s currently receiving.
No offense to our fair city, but unless you’re of drinking/gambling age, there isn’t much to do. I’d like nothing more than to see a packed house Friday when Damonte Ranch comes to town. You would be surprised what a good rooting section can do to a team.
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Cristian Hernandez finished with 19 goals for Carson’s boys soccer team, which was eliminated 1-0 by Spanish Springs in the regional semifinals. The talented forward-midfielder scored in 14 of Carson’s games, and he missed one game because of a red card. Hernandez had two hat tricks and four multi-goal games this season.
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Have you looked at Carson High’s girls roster? The team only loses Kiahna Pimental, Katherine Leist, Jamie Perez and Josilyn Daggs. Granted those are big losses, but one thing Carson has is a lot of depth.
Coach Greg Lehman will return 13 players to next year’s team. Among those coming back are Chantel Torres, Sammi Gutierrez, goalie Karla Reyes, defender-midfielder Melissa Glanzmann, defender Valerie Sue Meyer, forward Mayra Oliveras, midfielder Lorena Gomez and defender Lindy Lehman. Also coming back will be defender Bailey Zuber, who missed this season because of a knee injury.
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The finish of the Stanford-Oregon game was one of the best I’ve ever seen. The Ducks appeared out of it after falling behind 26-0, but rallied and lost 26-20.
Shame on ESPN for scheduling that game on a Thursday night. West Coast teams get screwed a lot because of location. That should have been a Saturday afternoon or early Saturday evening game. That way the East Coast folks who think they know football could have seen the game. Right now, the Pac-12 is probably the second-best conference in the nation behind SEC. Besides Oregon and Stanford, UCLA has played well, Southern Cal is better without Lane Kiffin and the Arizona schools have played well.
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I would also like to see the NFL play on Friday instead of Thursday. This would give he players an extra day of rest. Three days between games isn’t enough. Players get hurt more when they are tired, and I imagine most NFL players are tired when they suit up on Thursday.