Carvers Bay rallies before coming up short against Lake View

One “yellow hankie” proved costly for Carvers Bay.

Down four to Lake View with about three minutes left, Xavier Drayton took off for what appeared to be a go-ahead touchdown for the Bears on Friday night. However, Carvers Bay was flagged for a block in the back, negating the score and contributing to the Bears’ 20-16 loss.

“We thought we scored there and look back and the yellow hankie was hanging on the ground,” Carvers Bay coach Nate Thompson said.

Lake View jumped out to a three-score lead thanks to some big plays.

“We let them get out of the gate early on us,” Thompson said. “They got two quick scores on two big plays and we got down. … We looked around and it 20-0.”

The Bears made a charge, though. Marquiese Goss scored on a 90-yard fumble return and also caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from John Fraiser to get Carvers Bay within striking distance.

And the Bears almost made the most of it.

“They got us on our heels early. But we fought back,” Thompson said. “We just didn’t have enough to finish at the end and they held on.”

Carvers Bay fell to 2-1 in Region VIII-A play.

“(It was) somewhat encouraging,” Thompson said of losing to a good Lake View team that improved to 3-0 in region play. “We thought we could match up with them pretty good. When our kids settled down and started to play (we were OK).”

Friday night’s game was the Bears’ second of the week as they beat Green Sea Floyds on Tuesday. Now, Carvers Bay will have a normal week as it prepares to play at Latta (2-1 Region VIII-A), a 51-0 winner over Creek Bridge on Friday.

“They’re a spread team. They throw the ball well and play really good defense,” Thompson said. “… What we want to do is try to improve (this week). We need to get better on offense and solidify the defense. We just can’t give up the big play. We’ve got to try to make teams earn it.”

Overall, Thompson believes his young team has shown growth up to this point.

“Like I told them, they’ve just got to keep plugging. Good things are going to happen if you just keep plugging,” he said. “The season is not over. We’re 2-1 in the conference.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 1:57 AM with the headline "Carvers Bay rallies before coming up short against Lake View."