Carvers Bay running game, defense stand tall in win over rival Hemingway

The Bears didn’t flinch this time.

After struggling to stop opponents in the red zone in crucial games earlier this season, Carvers Bay made three stops inside the 5 en route to a 12-2 win over Hemingway on Friday night that clinched third place out of Region VIII-A.

“Our defense rose up for that,” Bears coach Nate Thompson said. “That showed character and all year they’ve been fighting. We had been always losing the battle down there. This time we didn’t.”

The red-zone stops paired nicely with a Carvers Bay running game that was able to control the pace of the game and keep Hemingway’s spread attack off the field. Calvin Miller ran for 106 yards and a touchdown, Marquiese Goss had 55 yards and a touchdown on the ground, Taronn Clark added 66 yards rushing and Tyrek Reed ran for 34 yards for the Bears.

“We mainly wanted to control the clock and we did,” Thompson said. “We ran the ball and picked up first downs. We wanted to grind it out and control the clock, and that’s what we did. That made the difference in the ballgame.”

Shamari Sumpter had six tackles, including one for loss, and Darius Franklin added 10 tackles for Carvers Bay (4-6, 3-2 Region VIII-A).

“We tried not to give them the ball. We wanted to limit the quick strike and quick throws, and that’s what we did,” Thompson said. “Our defense played great tonight. They played hard. We made a few mistakes, but not many.”

The game against Hemingway, Carvers Bay’s biggest rival, again proved to be a “knock-down, drag-out” game, Thompson said. On top of the rivalry, the Bears overcome potential distractions in it being homecoming and senior night.

“They showed some character,” Thompson said. “They showed that they come to play. Even with all the hoopla going on around (them) they still had a to play a football game, and they did.”

Carvers Bay won’t have a game next week as it gets a bye while other teams will finish up games rescheduled because of the rain and flooding earlier this month. That gives the Bears two weeks to prepare for what will be a road game to open up the Class A playoffs.

Thompson said it will give his team time to heal up and get their minds right.

“Hopefully they understand they can play with anybody in (Class) A,” Thompson said. “We might have a shot.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 11:42 PM with the headline "Carvers Bay running game, defense stand tall in win over rival Hemingway."