By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE ó Carson thumped West Davidson 33-0 Friday night in a game that many expected to be far closer.
The Cougars ground out 249 rushing yards and capped that with some opportune first-half passing to put away the Dragons on a picture-perfect football night.
Carson quarterback Zack Gragg said the seeds for Friday’s win were planted in a 50-6 shelling the Cougars endured a week ago at the hands of Salisbury.
“Everybody wanted to prove we were a better team than that,” said Gragg, a junior who was 7-of-14 for 132 yards and a single touchdown. “We knew we had to step it up.”
The Cougars (2-2) were methodical, if not flashy, on a night on which West (2-2) never seemed to quite get it in gear.
“We just couldn’t move the ball, and every time we did, it came back on penalties,” said Dragon quarterback James McCandies, who almost single-handily produced all the offense West managed. McCandies rushed for 55 yards and threw for 44 more, a figure that would have been far higher had his teammates held onto a couple of balls that should have resulted in easy touchdowns.
“They overwhelmed us with their blocking, their scheme,” said West coach Dale Barnes. “We’re a young team. When things go a little negative, our boys start looking around for someone to blame. We’ve got to be more disciplined.”
Carson didn’t overwhelm the Dragons from the get-go. The first quarter ended in a scoreless stalemate.
The Cougars got on the scoreboard on the first play of the second period when Gragg hooked up with Cody Clanton on a 46-yard strike. Carson rolled from there, Shaun Warren carrying 13 yards for another score on the Cougars’ following possession.
“We’re just turning up the tempo a little,” Carson coach Mark Woody said of the work that went into getting rid of the bad taste of last Friday’s pasting at the hands of Salisbury. “This week, we took a big step in that direction.”
West threatened to play back into the game late in the second quarter after falling behind 14-0. Carson’s Deonte Moses fumbled a punt, and the Dragons fell on the ball at the Cougar 43.
West quarterback McCandies scrambled for a first down at the Cougar 21, but things went bad for the Dragons from there. A holding penalty against West pushed the Dragons back to a third-and-20 situation at the 31.
That’s when Carson’s Micah Honeycutt and Garrett Smith broke through to drop McCandies for a 5-yard loss.
The Dragons punted to the Carson 4, but the Cougars almost drove the length of the field in the waning minutes of the first half.
Gragg’s passing and Warren’s running moved Carson to West’s 31 where the Cougars faced a third-and-10 play with only one second remaining. Gragg connected with Clanton who was dragged down at the 3-yard line as the half expired.
Carson got a break at the start of the third period when Zack White recovered a fumble at the Dragon 25. Warren carried in from 4 yards out a few plays later to stake Carson to a 20-0 lead.
The Cougars’ final touchdowns were scored by Warren and Jacorian Brown.
Penalty-wise, it was a sloppy night for both teams, West accumulating 115 yards on 15 calls. The Cougars weren’t much better, flagged 14 times for 115 yards of their own.
Warren finished with 176 yards on 28 carries. West lost two fumbles. In addition to White’s recovery, another Dragon miscue was recovered by Derrick Sewell.