Carson High's Elijah Fajayan runs during Saturday's game against Clayton Valley.
LOOMIS, Calif. – It doesn’t take a genius to figure the reasons behind the Carson football team’s 55-7 loss to Clayton Valley Charter Saturday night at the annual Honor Bowl at Del Oro High School.
The Senators did the following:
Turned the ball over four times on interceptions that led to 21 points.
The inability to finish drives when blessed with good field position.
The inability to contain Miles Harrison, who unofficially ended up with 232 yards rushing and three scores . Unofficially, Clayton Valley gained 531 yards on offense, more than 460 of that on the ground.
“I felt like we left some drives on the field, especially in the first half,” coach Blair Roman said after the loss. “We weren’t able to finish some drives. I’ll have to look at the film on the interceptions.
“He (Harrison) is really, really good.”
That may be, but the Ugly Eagles did score on eight of their 11 possessions, and that was with Harrison missing the entire second quarter after getting hit in the throat.
“We work on offense all the time,” said interim coach Mike Dominguez, who was filling in for the suspended Tim Murphy. “We have enough players that we can platoon, so we can really spend a lot of time on offense. Coach Murphy has these guys clicking on all cylinders.”
Carson used more than four minutes of the clock on its opening drive, converting two first downs, one on a 5-yard run fake punt by Vic Castro V and a 13-yard run by Asa Carter. The drive bogged down when Sean Vaisima sacked quarterback Nolan Shine for an 8-yard loss. Two plays later, Corey Reid pinned the Ugly Eagles back at their own 9.
For many teams that might have been an issue. When you have a runner like Harrison, it isn’t.
Harrison showed why he gained more than 2,000 yards last year. He ripped off a 6-yard gain to the 15, and then bolted 85 yards on the next play for a score, as Tyler Rogers grabbed a handful of jersey but couldn’t hold on. Daniel Ferrell’s PAT made it 7-0.
Carson had a couple of good scoring opportunities, but came up empty.
Clayton Valley went for it on fourth-and-13 from its own 39 and was stopped after a 5-yard gain.
Carson was unable to capitalize. An 8-yard run by Colby Brown and a Shine to Brown pass for 13 yards moved the ball down to the 23. Two plays later, Shine’s pass was picked off by Ricky Helena at the 12 and returned to the 21.
Clayton Valley returned the favor when QB Nate Keisel fumbled and Gerardo Labato recovered at the CV 47.
Again, Carson came up empty.
The Senators used some trickery on the first play of the possession as Carter hooked up with Dilyn Rooker on a halfback option pass for 32 yards to the 12. Had the ball not been under thrown, Rooker might have scored. The drive quickly bogged down, and Johnny Barahona missed badly on a 25-yard field goal attempt.
Clayton Valley drove 80 yards on the ensuing drive to take a 13-0 lead, as Ryan Cooper scored on a 1-yard run.
Cooper had runs of 22 and 10 yards, respectively, at the outset of the possession, and Keisel completed a 35-yard pass to Chandler Wakefield to give the Ugly Eagles a first down at the Carson 9.
Carson drove down to Clayton Valley’s 28 on its next possession, but Shine’s pass was picked off by Elijah Breon at the 30. He returned it to the Carson 49.
Luis Ramos gained 31 yards down to the 10, which set up Keisel’s 5-yard scoring run. Cooper’s two-point PAT made it 21-0 at the half.
“I don’t think the first half was indicative of that type of score,” Roman said.
Roman was more ticked about the second half when Clayton Valley scored 21 points in 7-minutes 13 seconds to increase its lead to 42-0. Harrison had TD runs of 9 and 19 yards, while Luis Ramos caught a 14-yard scoring pass.
“We lacked intensity on defense at the start of the third quarter, and they took it to us,” Roman said.
Carson avoided a shutout late in the third quarter when Colby Brown, who finished with 67 yards on 13 carries, scored on an impressive 18-yard run which saw him break at least three tackles.