When you look at the past three regional championship games between Carson and Reed, there’s one familiar thread.
The Raiders have gotten the early jump on the Senators en route to wins in 2011 (49-0), 2013 (47-39) and 2014 (28-23). In 2011, Reed led 28-0 at the half, and in 2013, the Raiders led 26-17. The regional final last year was 14-7 at the intermission.
In nonleague wins this year (44-27) and 2013 (64-26), Reed also had the lead at the half, 41-6 this year and 21-19 in 2013. In the 2013 game, Reed scored 35 unanswered points in the third quarter to take control.
“We can’t afford to get behind 21-0 (like we did this year or back in 2011),” Carson head coach Blair Roman said Tuesday morning. “Last year, we were down 14-0 and then 21-7 and fought back. We need to do a better job of starting. That has hurt us the last three games. We’ve fallen behind and had to play catch-up.”
And, playing catch-up against Reed is extemely difficult because the Raiders’ offense is so explosive. Teams rarely, if ever, outscore the Raiders, who are averaging 53 points per game.
Gunzburg contributes
If you’re a No. 2 wide receiver at Carson High the opportunity for playing time is limited, especially when the offense runs the ball as well as the Senators have this year.
That is the situation senior wide receiver Gage Gunzburg has had to deal with. He gets a play here and a play there spelling starter Connor Pradere, and his numbers reflect that.
Entering last week’s Reno game, Gunzburg had just three catches. In the 27-17 win over the Huskies, Gunzburg had two catches for 17 yards. His 19-yard catch came prior to a 53-yard TD pass from Joe Nelson to Asa Carter which gave Carson a 20-17 lead with 5:53 left in the contest.
And, Gunzburg has been seeing a lot of action as a kick returner, averaging 10.8 yards on four returns.
“I like getting the ball,” Gunzburg said of his role on the return team. “They wanted two return guys back there, so they sent me out there.”
Roman was pleased to see Gunzburg come through.
“I was so happy for him last week,” Roman said. “It was good to see all his hard work come to fruition. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to show what he can do because we haven’t needed to spread people out until last week.
“We’ve run a lot of quasi hands team because teams are kicking the ball all over the field. We needed another returner. Gage has done a nice job with that.”
Defense is No. 1
By virtue of its 27-17 win over Reno last week, the Carson High defense is No. 1 in Northern Nevada in terms of points allowed.
Carson has yielded 16.6 points per contest. Reno has allowed 208.
Reed has played one more game than Carson, and the Raiders allow 19.1 per game.