Saturday, November 14, 2009
Warriors continue surge
Magna Vista has won six games in a row after beginning the season with a 1-4 mark.
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HILLSVILLE -- It was only fitting that Magna Vista headed up Lover's Leap to the high ground for its Region IV Division 4 first-round game at Carroll County. The Warriors have been on the rise for more than a month now.
Having entered the season on a 21-game slide and having dropped 25 of its last 26 games entering October, Magna Vista notched its sixth straight win Friday by knocking off Carroll County 36-13 at Tommy Thompson Field.
The Warriors (7-4) advance to Friday's semifinals at Salem (10-0), which had a first-round bye as the region's No. 1 seed.
"It's all the kids," said second-year Magna Vista coach Joe Favero. "They've worked hard and believed in each other. We finally figured out how to be a good football team."
It took a series to figure out Carroll County's wing-T offense as Dillon Caviness scored from 18 yards out less than three minutes into the game for the Cavaliers (6-5).
"We haven't seen the wing-T all year," Favero said. "As the kids got a little more comfortable with it and they regrouped, I think the rest of the game they were pretty dominant."
That started with the first two times running back T.C. Carter touched the ball. Carter ripped off gains of 25 and 35 yards on the Warriors' first two snaps, and Magna Vista was in the end zone four plays later when Xavier Myers hauled in an 8-yard Harvey Taylor pass.
The play ignited a run of 36 unanswered points for the Warriors.
Carter gave Magna Vista the lead for good with a 10-yard touchdown run early in the second period and had 126 rushing yards by halftime, with a large portion of the yardage coming after contact.
"Coach told us before the game that he wanted us to go out and play physical," Carter said "This is a playoff game, and it's either win or go home, and we didn't want to go home."
Carter finished with 161 yards on 15 carries.
"We missed some tackles, but basically it was his speed," Cavaliers coach Tom Hale said. "He got outside on us a couple of times. They blocked us up front, but his speed on the perimeter outran our kids."
Taylor added a 7-yard scoring run and a 30-yard touchdown strike to Trevor Kellam for a 26-7 halftime lead.
Carter added a 12-yard touchdown run and Kevin Reid booted a 28-yard field goal before Carroll capped the scoring with Adam Nester's 15-yard toss to Tyler Reavis.
The loss was Carroll County's's third straight to end the season.
"We certainly didn't play these last two games like we did up to the Richlands game, but I'm not taking anything away from Magna Vista," Hale said. "They came in here tonight and took us to the woodshed, basically."
Magna Vista 7 19 7 3--36
Carroll County 7 0 0 6--13
CC -- Caviness 18 run (King kick)
MV -- Myers 8 pass from Taylor (Reid kick)
MV -- Carter 10 run (kick failed)
MV -- Taylor 7 run (pass failed)
MV -- Kellam 30 pass from Taylor (Reid kick)
MV -- Carter 12 run (Reid kick)
MV -- FG Reid 28
CC -- Reavis 15 pass from Nester (kick failed)
MV CC
First downs 17 13
Yards rushing 34-265 50-194
Passes C-A-I 6-10-0 2-6-2
Yards passing 108 30
Penalties-yards 3-20 3-27
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Punts-average 1-13.0 2-37.0
Individual statistics
RUSHING -- Magna Vista, Carter 15-161, Taylor 14-108, Kellam 2-2, Becker 2-1, Redd 1-(-7). Carroll County, Caviness 18-87, Moreno 13-51, Surratt 7-43, Bowman 8-13, Huff 2-5, Ayers 1-(-1), Goad 1-(-4).
PASSING -- Magna Vista, Taylor 6-10-0-108. Carroll County, Nester 1-2-1-15, Bowman 1-3-1-15, Caviness 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING -- Magna Vista, Davis 1-38, Kellam 1-30, Myers 2-21, Holland 1-10, Hayden 1-(-1). Carroll County, Reavis 2-30.
