Carrollton romps past Camp Central 46-0 to advance in Class 1A football playoffs
CAMP POINT - Camp Point has been a place of happiness for the Carrollton community over the past couple of seasons.
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The stage was set to be a great WIVC clash between an eight seed and a nine seed, but the visiting Hawks pounded the Camp Point Central Panthers on offense and made a statement on defense with a 46-0 shutout in the first round of the IHSA Class 1A playoffs.
Carrollton will host the #1 Tuscola Warriors at 2 p.m. next Saturday.
“We continue to play great defense; I don’t think anybody thought we were going to shut them out. Head coach Nick Flowers said. “These guys have been playing great power football.”
Quarterback Wade Prough threw for 205 yards and two touchdown passes and one interception. Jerrett Smith ran for 93 yards on 12 carries for two touchdowns and caught both of Prough’s touchdown passes.
A lot of credit goes to the line play. The Panthers run a wing-t offense and for years have dominated teams in the trenches, which was somewhat expected today, but the Hawks were not to be denied this time.
“It feels great. I have no words,” Cameron Blair excitedly said. “Defensively we changed some guys around and put people in different positions that had never played before.”
The Hawks forced three turnovers including two interceptions by Jayce Arnett and a fumble recovery.
Carrollton received the ball to start out and found themselves within the 5-yard line, but Prough took a hit and fumbled, which the Panthers fell on. However, that’s what challenged the Hawks defense to assert their authority. It’s difficult to proclaim which aspect of the Hawk’s unit was more impressive, their offense or defense. Coach Nick Flowers thought about it for a second and selected his preference.
“I’m going to say defense today and here’s why; that opening drive we fumbled and some teams at that point would’ve let that get to them, and our defense came right back at them and did well,” Flowers said.
Prough was convinced the Hawks should’ve done more on offense.
“Could’ve been a lot better,” Prough said. “I started out both halves with turnovers.”
However, the senior quarterback, who played an under-average game against Red Hill a year ago, led the Hawk’s to a great victory against a well known foe on the road. The shifty signal caller also had his work cut out as he was fleeing pressure every so often, but never once did he get sacked, which even earned him praised from Central coach Brad Dixon.
“When the line broke down they had my back and bought me enough time; Prough said. "Their coach was a little impressed. He told me after the game I was a little slippery.”
After Carrollton had stalled Central, on a fourth and two at the Hawks 42-yard line, Jerrett Smith took a handoff, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage, and took off downfield. As he was getting brought down at the Central 15, he lateraled to Brenden Settles, who was trailing behind him and the wide receiver scampered to the end zone to complete the crazy play.
“That’s just athletes being athletes,” Flowers said. “That drives me crazy in practice, but when they do it out here on the field, and it works, how can you say don’t do that?” It’s a great play and Jerrett’s done that before.”
That was the start of a long day of offensive execution. Later in the second quarter on another fourth down, this time at the 10-yard line, Prough hit Smith in the end zone, and the two-point conversion was good to give Carrollton a crucial two score 16-0 lead. It would keep piling on as the Hawks got stops on defense and Smith scored to straight, short rushing touchdowns to build the Carrollton lead to 30-0 at halftime. The Hawks last scoring drive in the half was a three play, 29-second drive.
“I thought we did a lot of good offensively,” Flowers said. “We mixed it up with the run and the pass and the screen game. The perfectionist in me says we left some scores out there, but man, I’m very proud of the boys.”
The second half started out with three turnovers on the first three series on both sides of the ball. In the fourth quarter, Prough connected on a 14-yard pass to Smith all the way across the field, and he strode to the end zone. The last scoring came on a fumble recovery by Byron Holmes as he scooped up the ball from midfield and hit pay dirt.
Carrollton is on a seven-game winning streak, and they seem like they are improving week by week, and it’s a perfect time to do it at this point in the season.
“We keep saying we’re getting better and better and I feel like we have,” Flowers said. “Maybe this team will continue to improve through the playoffs here too, I hope. I think we darn near peaked today with the performance we had.”
The Hawks will play host to Tuscola, who knocked them out in the first round in 2007 and 2010, but they’ll be coming to Carrollton for the first time after a 52-7 victory over Oblong.
“That gives me chills, and playoff football is awesome,” Flowers said. “It really brings our boys and the community together, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
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