Carson quarterback Jonny Laplante throws during Thursday's game.
RENO — Abel Carter, his eye black running, had tears in his eyes as he hugged assistant coach Steve Nelms.
Carter made his last high school football game a good one individually, rushing for 151 yards on 27 carries in Carson’s season-ending 36-0 first-round playoff loss to High Desert champion Reno on Thursday at Foster Field.
Carter said after the game that a baseball scholarship offer had arrived from Washington State, and he’s expected to sign his national letter of intent sometime this week.
“It’s hard,” Carter said when asked about playing possibly his last football game. “It (the football experience) was everything I wanted. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Carter ended the season with 1,903 rushing yards, a school record. He ended his career with more than 4,900 yards.
“Over the last three years I’ve had the best seat in the house watching Abel play,” Carson coach Blair Roman said. “He is the best player I’ve ever coached, and I’m going to miss him on and off the field.”
GAMIZ IN THE BOOKS
Junior wide receiver Miguel Gamiz made his first catch of the season, a 36-yarder from Jonny Laplante in the second quarter.
The catch gave Carson a first down at the Reno 21, but the Senators turned the ball over three plays later.
“We’ve been waiting for him to come around,” Roman said. “The last three or four weeks in practice, he showed he was ready.”
TOUGH SLEDDING IN 2017
The Senators suffered their second straight non-winning season, but there were a lot of factors – injuries and the schedule were two of the biggest.
“We had a tough schedule,” Roman said. “We played Reno twice, played a very physical Lewiston team, a good Damonte Ranch team, Reed and McQueen. We had no breaks.”
The only non-playoff teams Carson faced were Douglas and North Valleys, and the Senators easily won both of those games.
Carson lost five starters – quarterback Dan Morrison, defensive back Bradley Maffei, lineman Blaise Bonomo, lineman Chandler Tiearney and defensive back Kyle Glanzmann – to season-ending injuries.
You can actually make it six because Landon Truesdale suffered an injury in baseball, and he had surgery over the summer and never stepped on the field for the Senators.
“The injury to Dan (Morrison) really set us back,” Roman said.
Neither of the backups, Blake Menzel or Laplante, had any varsity experience.
BAD SPORTSMANSHIP?
When you have a team down and out like Reno had the Senators, you had to wonder why Reno would throw the ball in the fourth quarter.
Sawyer Jacksick threw a 38-yard pass down to Carson’s 37 on Reno’s last drive of the game. The Huskies ran two straight times before throwing an incomplete pass.
Didn’t make a whole lot of sense in a running clock situation to put the ball in the air, especially with your starting quarterback still in the game.