CALDWELL - In a rare Thursday night tilt, turnovers and mental mistakes did the Caldwell High football team in against visiting Buckeye Trail, as the Warriors were victorious 29-7 over the Redskins at the Noble County Fairgrounds.
Caldwell jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter. Junior quarterback John Carpenter got into the end zone from three yards out on a keeper. Junior Alexi Cubas converted on the PAT to make the score 7-0 with 9:24 left in the first quarter.
The game remained scoreless until the second quarter. Buckeye Trail drove down the field and time expired in the first quarter. As the second quarter began, Buckeye Trail running back Lane Starr broke a couple tackles and bounced to the outside to put the Warriors on the board. Seth Doudna scored the two-point conversion to make the score 8-7. That was all Trail needed, but they got a lot more.
Article Photos
JORDAN HOLLAND
The Marietta Times
Caldwell quarterback John Carpenter (4) looks to pass against Buckeye Trail in a PVC football game at the Noble County Fairgrounds Thursday night.
After a light malfunction delayed the second half about 20 minutes, Trail came out attacking. From 10 yards out, quarterback Morgan Dougherty hit Doudna for the score.
The extra point was missed, making the score 14-7 in Buckeye Trail's favor.
The Warriors got the ball right back when Caldwell fumbled the kick return. Dougherty hit Doudna again, this time from 22 yards out, and Jeffrey Simmons ran in the two-point conversion to give Trail a 22-7 lead.
Fact Box
Buckeye Trail 29, Caldwell 7
BT 0 8 14 7 - 29
C 7 0 0 0 - 7
1st quarter:
CALD- John Carpenter 3 run (Alexi Cubas kick), 9:24
2nd quarter:
TRAIL- Lane Starr 2 run (Seth Doudna 2 pt. Conv.), 11:52
3rd quarter:
TRAIL- Doudna 10 pass from Morgan Dougherty (kick failed), 3:57
TRAIL- Doudna 22 pass from Dougherty (Jeffrey Simmons 2 pt. Conv.), 0:38
4th quarter:
TRAIL- Simmons 1 run (Ian Wildes kick), 11:34
Team stats:
Caldwell- First downs- 5; 32 carries, 79 yards; Passing- 1-4, 3 yds; 82 total yds; Fumbles/Lost- 4/4; Penalties/Yds- 9/75 yds; Punts/Avg.- 6/27 yds
Buckeye Trail- First downs- 11; 37 carries, 58 yds; Passing- 9-18, 107 yds; 165 total yds; Fumbles/Lost- 2/1; Penalties/Yards- 9/70 yds; Punts/Avg.- 2/33 yds
Individual stats:
Caldwell- Rushing- Kale Rayner- 10 car. 39 yds; Bricker Lor- 7 car. 53 yds; John Carpenter- 10 car. -5 yds, 1 TD; Passing- Carpenter- 1-4, 3 yds; Receiving- Andrew Minosky- 1 rec. 3 yds
Buckeye Trail- Rushing- Starr- 8 car. 25 yds, 1 TD; Dougherty- 6 car. 29 yds; Passing- Simmons- 3/5, 34 yds; Dougherty- 6/13, 73 yds, 2 TD; Receiving- Brett Shipman- 2 rec. 38 yds; Doudna- 3 rec. 40 yds, 2 TD
Defensive stats:
Caldwell- Tackles- Kale Rayner 16; Kameron Rayner 13; Austin Cobb 13; Jared Leasure 9; Bricker Lori 6; Justin Hardesty 6; Fumble recoveries- Austin Cobb 1; Justin Hardesty 1; Forced fumbles- Bricker Lori 1; Tyler Willey 1
Caldwell lost another fumble on its next drive, which led to more Warrior points. After a 24 yard pass completion from Dougherty to Brett Shipman put the ball at the one yard line, Simmons punched it in for pay dirt and the Ian Wildes PAT made it 29-7.
Caldwell head coach Josh Perkins pointed out several facets of the game that have to improve for the Redskins to be more successful.
"Turnovers and penalties," Perkins said. "Gotta be able to move the ball on offense. We've got pretty veteran kids. We're gonna have to bounce back."
Caldwell produced just 82 yards of total offense and turned the ball over four times. Trail had 165 yards of offense and had one turnover. The Redskins did hold the advantage on the ground with 79 yards to 58 yards for Trail. Trail dominated in the air with 107 passing yards to just three from the Redskins.
"We handled adversity well tonight," said Trail head coach Dale Broomhall. "We played well. It was a team effort. We worked really hard tonight."
The Warriors improve to 1-1, while Caldwell drops to 0-2. Buckeye Trail will look to go over the .500 mark at Frontier next week, while the Redskins will look to get off the schneid when they travel to Harrison Central next Friday.
