| Joey Keller follows his blocker, Davey Cox, down field for a gain. Carbon could not find the end zone in the Friday night game against Union. |
The rain may have been falling, but the Dinos found themselves in a scoring drought against the highly ranked Union Cougars.
They were shutout Friday night 42-0 on a miserable night.
In front of a sparse crowd, the Dinos took the field as the skies opened up. Both teams had trouble keeping the ball in their hands in the first quarter.
Union was able to come up with most of their fumbles and hung onto the ball long enough to put two touchdowns on the board before the quarter ended.
They came back and put up another minutes after the second quarter began.The Dinos made a few good marches down the field, but struggled with the weather much more than the Cougars did.
They turned the ball over in the second and gave Union great field position for them to add seven more.
Battered and beaten, the Dinos came out and gave it their all in the third, keeping Union empty handed in the quarter.
But Union capped off the game with one final touchdown in the fourth.
It was a tough loss for a team trying to get on track. But in all aspects, Union is ranked number two in 3A play and their play reflected that on Friday. They did not come in and take the small, but determined Dino squad lightly.
The Cougars out played Carbon in every category of the game.
Having one of the smallest varsity squads in all of 3A is taking its toll on the team. All of the players are battered and bruised and not able to play at 100 percent like they were earlier in the season. Coach Tiller is impressed with the heart this team is showing. He feels like the leadership the seniors are showing this season is making its mark of the underclassmen.
“The boys are always trying to keep up with the work ethic of Andrew Jackson,Tyler Bean and the others,” he stated. “They are working harder than ever in practices and the level is higher than it was at the beginning of the year.”
The JV team is reaping the rewards of the guidance from the seniors. They have a three game winning steak going. They pounded the Union JV 27-0 on Thursday night.
But despite the effort the players have shown, Tiller admits that some of the loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the team. “Union came to play and,” he admitted, “we didn’t. Special team’s play killed us again. And I think some of the kids spent too much time worrying about the weather, while Union did not.”
“We still have a shot at the playoffs if we win the next two games. These boys play better when they have found themselves in a hole. And we are in a hole,” Tiller explained. He thinks that Carbon is well matched up with their next opponent, Juan Diego. They play them this Friday in Price. Kick-off for the Friday game will be at 7 p.m.