| Brandon Jackson is hammered as he releases the ball Friday night . |
For the second week in a row, the Carbon Dinos faced a top five team in the 3A rankings and it took its toll. The Dinos, already beat up and limping, lost another game to Juan Diego 34-3. They also lost two more starters for the season.
Tyler Bean went down on a hard hit with a shoulder injury and Jordan Tatton suffered a concussion that will keep him sidelined.
After a disastrous first possession that saw the Dinos head backward for three times as many yards as they went forward, the defense came out and stopped Juan Diego cold. After a seesaw first quarter the Dinos made it close enough to the goal post to let Damien Olsen kick a field goal to rack up three and the lead for Carbon.
For the first time in a while, Carbon had a lead ending the first quarter of play. It was short lived when Juan Diego swept outside on a long run to punch in their first six and an extra point within minutes of the start of the second quarter. The soaring Eagles came back and scored twice more before the half to head into the locker room up 21-3.
The second half was more of the same, with Carbon unable to generate enough offense to move the ball across the goal. Their closest chance came in the fourth when Juan Diego racked up 25 yards in penalties in one fine swoop and put Carbon first and goal at the five yard line. The usually reliable Andrew Jackson got hit hard and coughed up a turnover and the drive was over.
In the end Coach Tiller still was pleased with the performance of his team. “The program is going in the right direction,” he stated.”The kids stepped up and played their hearts out again. After the game the Juan Diego coach came over and told me this was his team’s toughest victory yet this season. We shut down their money play and no one else has been able to do that this year.”
Tiller also had praise for many of the younger players that had to step in and play as the injuries continue to pile up for the Dinos. “I really need to point out the play of Lance Deeter tonight. He had the flu all week up until game time. He had to step into Tyler Bean’s position when he went down and Deeter went on to lead the team in tackles in the game.”
The team is still in the hunt for the final playoff berth. Emery took down North Sanpeter on Friday night. So it will be between the Hawks and the Dinos next week to determine the team that is in and who is out. That game will be in Mt. Pleasant with kick-off at 7 p.m.