Poor air quality canceled the final day of Carson High’s three-day camp with Sparks, Douglas and Bishop Manogue high schools.
Carson coach Blair Roman said there would be no make-up for the final day. Carson is participating in a 7-on-7 passing tournament at Douglas on Friday afternoon. After that, the Senators will be off the field until Aug. 7 when summer practice officially starts.
“Being off a day and then coming back was not something anybody wanted to do,” Roman said. “It was unfortunate, but you can’t control Mother Nature.”
Roman said the plan is to have one lengthy morning practice per day until the teachers have to start preparing for the school year starting Aug. 16.
One of the big question marks entering this season was at quarterback. There’s Daniel Morrison, last year’s back-up to Jace Keema. The other candidate is JV starter Blake Menzel, whose older brother, Logan, was an outstanding lineman for Carson a couple of years ago.
Roman said both quarterbacks are ahead of where he thought they would be.
“I feel both have turned the corner,” Roman said. “They have taken pretty good steps.”
In Roman’s eyes, the bare minimum would be for the quarterback to manage the game, not win it. “I feel both guys have proven they are past that,” Roman said.
Translation. Roman can open up the playbook a little more than he originally thought.
That’s critical because the Senators need to find a way to take some pressure off standout running back Abel Carter, a two-way all-league performer, and one way to do that is to be able to have a good intermediate passing game.
Morrison completed 16 of 36 passes for 209 yards and one score, and Carter rushed for 1,889 yards and 24 scores. Carter rushed for more than 100 yards in each game. The only other returnee in the offensive backfield is Kyle Rudy, who carried 15 times for 89 yards.
On the offensive line, neither Blaise Bonomo or Brandon Macias suited up on Tuesday, thus execution suffered, according to Roman.
“We are/were not where we need to be (on the offensive line), but we were playing with younger kids,” Roman said. “The effort and intensity was there.”