| Andrew Jackson squares off against an opponent in an earlier game. His injury during the Dinos last contest and a few other downed players early in the game against North Sanpete left the defense unable to stop the Hawks as Carbon lost its final game of the season. |
Already down, key injuries to three more starters in the first couple of plays of the game took the Dinos out of any chance they had of stopping North Sanpete last Thursday night. Carbon went down 47-12 to finish out their season.
Andrew Jackson sustained a shoulder injury but stayed in to play. He only had the use of one arm and that limited his effectiveness. Dan Massmen sustained a possible torn ACL and he was out as defensive tackle. Joey Keller also had to leave the game and that left many holes in the defense and the Hawks took advantage of it.
The Dinos also had some chances to score early in the game, but dropped passes by Jake Knighton and Tyson Stevens left Carbon with what could have been. Stevens also left the game with an injury late in the game. Knighton did score twice in the fourth on long passes from Brandon Branch to keep the Dinos from a shutout.
Tiller summed up the teams season as one of progress. He wants to thank each and every player for coming out and giving it their all day in and day out. “They didn’t always understand my statement of staying true to the game, but they accomplished it in their work ethic. If we stick with this direction, next year we will see results on the scoreboard as well.”
Tiller challenges his team to keep up the weight room work all year round. He will look to Lance Deeter, Keller, Knighton, and Stevens to step into the role of team leaders to guide the younger boys coming into the program.
He also knows that he can’t put the responsibility on the boys and the weight room, but he and his entire coaching staff have to make some changes. He will start with a hard look at the coaching staff and realign some of the duties and positions. He is also looking inward to improve his coaching in areas he feels needs to be better.
In the next couple of years, there will be some regional realignments coming that will affect who Carbon competes with. Along with Emery and Delta, the Dinos are at the lower size limits of 3A schools. Robert Cox, who is with the Carbon School District office, is working at the state level and the UHSAA to find parity in the levels of all activities and athletics as the population distribution continues to change statewide.
Until that is resolved, Carbon will face the same schools in region eight play again for at least one more season. Tiller hopes that next season he can encourage more boys to come out and be part of the football team and help Carbon find its way back to a competitive level.