| Carbon quarterback Joey Keller carries the ball earlier this season. His coach says he is impoving with each game. |
In a season that had such high preseason hopes, Carbon is finding itself in a familiar role. The Dinos dropped another road game by the score of 53-12 to Canyon view Friday night.
It didn’t help that they had to face Canyon view’s senior running back, Austin Minefee on his home turf. Minefee is having an all-star year so far and Carbon was the recipient of some of his success. The good news is that Carbon slowed him down from his previous week’s 361 yards against Milford. They held him to 292 yards.
The other good news for the Dinos is that their offense found a way to score after two consecutive shut outs. In the third quarter of play, Andrew Jackson took the ball into the end zone on a 1 yard run. In the fourth quarter of play Brandon Branch carried the ball across for the final score of the night.
The real tale of the game though was dropped passes and missed tackles. If either or both hadn’t happened on a regular basis in the game, the entire outcome would have been different.
Quarterback Joey Keller continues to improve as he hit his receivers on the numbers again and again. The receivers just didn’t make the catches taking Carbon out of plays over and over. Branch caught a pass for a big gain late in the game that helped Carbon score one of its two touchdowns on the night.
Canyon view had no respect for Carbon’s passing game. They loaded up the box and gave the Dinos open lanes to pass. Carbon could not take advantage of the gift. Colton Howes played an outstanding offensive game. Keller is also proving to be a great player for his first year as a starter.
“Keller threw a heck of a game” lamented head coach J.P. Salisbury, “they just didn’t catch his passes.”
Minefee was good, but the Dinos had him pinned in the back field on several occasions. He squirted out of tackles and kept on running. Adam Archer and JD Sherman played some good defense, stopping Canyon view on the inside and holding them to only two completed passes.
But no one could stop the outside sweep.
Carbon’s special teams were still not able to get the point after across on either touchdown, but getting points on the board is a plus for a team struggling to find itself. The rest of the special team play was great and they improved their play over the opening game considerably.
Still trying to find the key to winning, Coach Salisbury made some coaching changes.
Offensive coach Reese Barrick was moved to take over the defensive coaching duties and Salisbury will take over calling the offense. Since the defense has had struggles in stopping the outside sweeps, the team will make some defensive adjustments. They are going to try running a type of 4-4 defense to try and shut down the outside runs.
Friday night the team will travel to Emery to play the Spartans. With the Spartans only 1-3 this year, it is a game that could give the team the boost it needs to get back on track.
Game starts at 7 p.m. at the Emery field in Castle Dale.