Cougars end season as Warriors easily advance
By Mike Hoffman Contributing sportswriter

Take him down Carroll's #8 Justin Matthews and #19 Riley Eller work together to bring down the North Miami running back Friday night. North Miami did not have to work too hard to win this first round sectional contest against the Cougars. Final score was 34-8. Bill Stauffer photo

In Football Sectional 35, the Carroll Cougars (3-6) vs. North Miami Warriors (7-2) squared off to see which one moved onto round 2. The bottom line in this game was win or go home.

The North Miami Warriors did just that as they beat the Cougars 34-8, sending the Cougars home. The Cougars were sloppy, having no answer to the Warriors' offense or defense.

The lone Cougar score came on a 2-yard touchdown run by Riley Eller. The extra points came when Skylar Bagwell threw a 2-point conversion pass to Ben Bennington for a short-lived lead.

The Cougars found out that physically they were no match for the Warriors. They could not defend against the pass. Warrior quarterback Joe Grant threw four touchdown passes - two to Josh Roth and two to Dion Burney. Their final score came on a 3-yard run by Don Burnett.

The Warriors have a young lady who does the extra point kicking. She was good on four of them and the Cougars blocked one.

Bennington rushed for 79 yards on 16 carries for the Cougars. As a team the Cougars finished with 191 yards on 37 attempts. The Cougars had no passing yardage.

Defensive leaders for the Cougars were Deric Finley, who had 15 tackles, and Eller, who had 12 tackles. Both players are juniors. Andrew Butcher had 8 tackles and Justin Matthews had 3 tackles.

The Cougars were without the services of Thomas Gillam, who was out with appendicitis, and Adam Spesard, who had recent surgery. They should both be ready for basketball season.

A lot of Carroll players played hard this season, despite the problems early on.

Four young men played their last game in a football uniform as a Cougar - Matthews, Andrew Hughes, Butcher, and Paul Yerkes.

There were also some injured Carroll players who dressed and played - Josh Pine and Josh Holda, who re-injured his ankle.

The Cougars won't need to rebuild for next year, just reload. Their defense needs to be more physical and aggressive. They need to focus on pass defense. Learn the playbook. Over the next few months, hit the weight room; there is no room in football for under size players.

Next year should be a great year for the Cougars. Can't wait.