Staff report

OLIN — Carson scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a 26-13 road victory on Friday and extended North Iredell’s losing streak to 21 games.

“Our kids played hard,” Carson coach Joe Pinyan said. “But we were on and off. We’d play good for a while, and then we’d relax and let them stay in it. And we had too many penalties. We won’t beat many people in this league making penalties.”

The win snapped a five-game  losing skid for the Cougars (2-5, 1-0) and put them in a tie for first place in the North Piedmont Conference with West Rowan and South Iredell.

“I give our guys a lot of credit for just hanging in there through a lot of adversity and through a brutal non-conference schedule,”  Pinyan said. “Now we’re in conference and maybe we can win some.”

Cole Sifford’s return from a knee injury helped the Cougars. He threw three touchdown passes. Gerardo Cipres had a receiving touchdown and a rushing TD.

Cipres rushed for 105 yards on 11 carries; Josh Lee, back at running back with Sifford healthy,  powered for 72 yards on 14 carries. Hunter Courtney chipped in with 10 carries and 67 yards.

The Cougars took a 7-0 lead barely a minute into the game when Josh McCurry forced a fumble and Zain Tucker recovered.

That turnover led to Sifford’s 10-yard scoring pass to Ben Coulter, and Juan Espinosa added the PAT.

“We couldn’t have started any better,” Pinyan said. “A quick turnover by the defense and a touchdown by the offense.”

North Iredell got even at 7-all midway through the second quarter on Donya’ Stevenson’s 7-yard run and Spencer Morrison’s PAT.

A 7-yard TD run by Cipres with 50 seconds left in the half offset two field goals by Morrison, and it was 13-all at halftime. Morrison’s second field goal came three seconds before the break and gave North Iredell the momentum at halftime.

The third quarter was a scoreless struggle as the teams traded punts.

A mistake on a punt by North Iredell proved the turning point early in the fourth quarter. A snap sailed well over the punter’s head, and set up Carson for the go-ahead score. Sifford hit Cipres on fourth-and-goal from the 4 with the go-ahead touchdown with 8:55 remaining, and Espinosa added the point.

“Then we put a drive together, ran the ball hard behind good blocking, and used a lot of time,” Pinyan said.

Carson finished the drive when Sifford connected with Jamarius Hairston for a 14-yard score, and Carson’s defense did the rest.

“They were out there for five series in the second half, and they got stops,” Pinyan said.

An offensive player of the game autographed ball was presented to Cipres following the game.

“That’s a pretty neat thing that they do here,” Pinyan said. “One of their guys got the defensive player of the game.”

Carson plays East Rowan next.