Sa vs. Carroll: Week 4
Vols Rally, Win 26-21
So what was Starkville Academy senior lineman Kaleb Prather really thinking as he watched his team fall behind Carroll Academy by three touchdowns in the first half Friday night?
“Honestly, I was having mostly bad thoughts at the time,” he said, shaking his head.
Prather wasn’t the only one. So, too, were most of the other SA faithful on hand here at J.E. Logan Field. How could they not? Carroll could seemingly do no wrong for the first 18-plus minutes, SA could do no right. Murphy’s Law was in full effect.
Turns out, the Vols had the depth-deprived Rebels right where they wanted them.
SA scored 26 unanswered points – rallying from a 21-0 first half deficit – to register an improbable, much-harder-than-expected 26-21 victory over visiting Carroll. That whooshing sound heard from this part of the Golden Triangle was a collective sigh of relief from all those clad in orange and blue.
Whew!
Following a key stop by the SA defense with just under five minutes remaining, senior running back Luke Johnson raced untouched 74 yards down the right sideline for what proved to be the game-winning points. It was the first time the Vols led the entire game.
“It was crazy,” Johnson said. “My super back went out, he arced and blocked for me and I don’t even know what happened from there.”
What happened was SA somehow, some way found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat despite a horrid start that included three first half turnovers. All three resulted in Carroll touchdowns, including a Pick-6 from Nathan Matthews, who actually batted the ball first in near proximity of the quarterback and was then able to come down with it and scamper for a touchdown.
Cohen Blaylock’s 30-yard touchdown run with 5:25 left before halftime – set up by another interception - extended the Carroll lead to 21-0. It certainly looked at that point as if the Rebels were on their way to their first win of the season, and the Vols were about to suffer defeat for the third time.
Instead, as fate would have it, Carroll went scoreless the rest of the way and SA mustered enough mojo to stage the epic comeback minus Luke McKenzie. The starting quarterback was sidelined for a second straight week after sustaining an injury to his throwing shoulder late in a narrow Week 2 win over Chambers Academy (Alabama).
“Our guys bowed their backs and found a way,” SA head coach Chase Nicholson said. “They dug deep. I saw them literally leaning on each other for support, and they started believing that together they could pull it off. And they did.”
Said Johnson: “Our coaches preach all the time about keep fighting, and fighting for each other, and that’s what we did. That was the main thing that helped us come back and win the game the way we did.”
SA improved to 2-2 overall entering next week’s MAIS Class 5A District 1 opener against Bayou Academy. The Colts are 1-3 following a 49-13 loss to Leake Academy. They have scored only 16 points in those three losses.
It is unclear if McKenzie will return in time for the district opener. If not, Nicholson will likely once again turn to sophomore Sam Wall, who made his second consecutive start in McKenzie’s absence. Things didn’t go nearly as smooth as Wall or his teammates would’ve liked, at least not in the early going.
SA fumbled inside its own 5-yard line late in the first quarter, leading to a short touchdown run from Matthews for a 7-0 Carroll lead. It marked the fourth straight game the Vols have fallen behind by a touchdown in the early going. That lead eventually grew to 21-0. To say things looked bleak for the home team at the point would be a massive understatement.
However, SA concocted the comeback behind Wall’s lone completion of the night, a timely blocked punt by the special teams deep in Carroll territory, a pair of long touchdown runs – one by Johnson and the other by his backfield mate Graham Hancock – and an interception and two huge stops late by the defense.
Wall and Johnson hooked up for a 17-yard scoring strike with 2:26 remaining before halftime to cut the deficit to 21-6. Graham scored on a 1-yard run three plays following the blocked punt to make it 21-12, then followed that with a 65-yard touchdown run a few minutes into the fourth quarter to pull SA to within two points, 21-19. Graham’s long scoring run came two plays after the second of Nate Fratesi’s two interceptions in the shadow of his own endzone, and one play following a 34-yard run by Johnson.
SA’s defense forced a Carroll punt on the following possession leading to Johnson’s game-winner, then also turned the Rebels over on downs on their final drive. Miller Shy’s sack on third down proved crucial as it set up a 4th-and-16 that Carroll couldn’t convert.
The Rebels, who only dressed out 22 players and played fewer, probably deserved a better outcome. “We’ve got no depth,” Carroll coach Bo Milton bemoaned. “We just ran out of gas.”
Johnson finished with 201 yards on 17 carries. Hancock, meanwhile, had 120 yards on 10 carries. Johnson has a team-leading 481 yards and six rushing touchdowns through the first four games.
“From the moment the game started I knew he was here ready to play,” Nicholson said. “There was no question about it. You could tell from the first play to the last play. He brings it every week. He’s the kind of guy who wants that . . . put it on my shoulders, let me do it. Give me the opportunity to make the play. He always gives that extra effort, and the guys gravitate to that.”
