How Carolina Forest fared in its first relatively close game in nearly two months

In its first back-and-forth game in nearly two months, Carolina Forest rode its rushing attack to a 36-25 victory Thursday over River Bluff in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

The Panthers (10-1) attempted just one pass in the second half and only nine on the night, instead putting the strength of the team – its offensive line – to the test down the stretch. Carolina Forest had been on a tear of lopsided games, having only its sole loss of the season against Myrtle Beach on Sept. 20 to look back on for a close contest.

“I told those guys late in the game that if we wanted to win it, they would have to bring it home,” said Carolina Forest coach Marc Morris. “In big-time games, you want to trust the big guys up front and they were able to make some big plays for us. Mason (Garcia) and David (Legette) ran the ball hard and helped keep our offense on the field, but that offensive line was key to it.”

On the game, Garcia and Legette combined for 261 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 45 carries, effectively serving as the offense for the Panthers throughout the game.

“We want to be balanced on offense, but (River Bluff) took some things away that we wanted to do and we had to attack with what was working,” Morris said. “Give them credit, that’s a good football team. We just had to go with what worked and were fortunate enough to get a win.”

River Bluff did its best to stymie the Carolina Forest offense by keeping it on the sidelines. The Gators started the game with a drive of more than five minutes for a field goal. Carolina Forest came back with a four-minute drive of its own, capping it with a Garcia touchdown run.

The Gators would add a field goal on the first play of the second quarter, only to have Carolina Forest’s Trevor Lavallee return the ensuing kickoff for a score. Another River Bluff field goal and then a touchdown for each team made it 21-16 at the break.

“I’m proud of our defense, even though they probably aren’t feeling great about their performance,” Morris said. “That’s a very good team that we faced and to hold them to field goals is a great job. They tested our guys and we had to make plays to stop them.”

While River Bluff kicker Braeden Stiles knocked in four field goals, the Gator who did the most damage was Braden Walker, who rushed for 166 yards and a pair of scores.

The second half is where Carolina Forest’s offensive line took over, keeping the offense on the field for much of the final 10 minutes of the game. After Stiles’ final field goal of the game, which cut the Panthers lead to 29-25, the Panthers went on a four-minute scoring drive, recovered a poorly fielded pooch kick, and held the ball into the final minute of the game.

“That’s what we want to do as a unit, make big plays to win games like these,” said Carolina Forest offensive lineman Darin Goss, a Shrine Bowl player. “We worked hard all summer to be in this position in the playoffs and to open holes for our guys to make plays. This is what we worked so hard for. (River Bluff) wasn’t easy, they put up a good fight all game, but we had to bow up and show them the strength of the O-line.”

Following the victory, Morris charged his team to not get complacent with this taste of success and to show up ready to work Friday morning. The Panthers will host the winner of the Summerville-Goose Creek game in the third round next week.

Summary

River Bluff 3 13 6 3 – 25

Carolina Forest 7 14 8 7 – 36

First Quarter

RB – Braeden Stiles 32-yard field goal 6:49

CF – Mason Garcia 17-yard run (Cole Poirier kick) 2:42

Second Quarter

RB – Stiles 27-yard field goal 11:54

CF – Trevor Lavallee 90-yard kick return (Poirier kick) 11:41

RB – Stiles 31-yard field goal 6:42

CF – David Legette 60-yard run (Poirier kick) 5:17

RB – Braden Walker 2-yard run (Stiles kick) 00:38

Third Quarter

RB – Walker 6-yard run (Two-point try failed) 6:11

CF – Garcia 1-yard run (Kyle Watkins run for 2-point) 00:51

Fourth Quarter

RB – Stiles 34-yard field goal 9:56

CF – Legette 5-yard run (Poirier kick) 5:40

Statistical Leaders

Passing

RB – Jackson Stone 9-17-85-0-1

CF – Mason Garcia 4-9-26-0-0

Rushing

RB – Braden Walker 25-166 2TDs

CF – David Legette 26-184 2TDs

Receiving

RB – Tyson Trottier 4-28

CF – Kyle Watkins 3-25

This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 11:59 PM.