Carrollton's Wade Prough tossed two touchdown passes on Friday night against Brown County at Mount Sterling.

MOUNT STERLING - Two plays into his first career start at quarterback, Wade Prough couldn’t have dreamed a better beginning. He completed an 18-yard pass and then threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Alex Bowker for a quick 6-0 Hawks lead.

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“I was on top of the world,” Prough said.

Unfortunately it would be downhill from there for Carrollton for the majority of the game as they fell to the upstart Brown County Hornets 26-14 in Mount Sterling on Friday night.

“We were prepared today. It didn’t come away with the outcome we wanted, but we’ll be working hard next week,” Prough said.

On the ensuing possession the Hornets proceeded to quickly drive down the field and scored on a 1-yard run and converted the 2-point conversion to go up 8-6.

After both teams scored on their first possessions the first half was flooded with turnovers. Carrollton had two interceptions and a fumble while Brown County fumbled three times with the Hawks recovering two of them.

“You can’t win big ballgames if you turn the ball over,” Carrollton head coach Nick Flowers said. “Overall I thought it was a sloppy game for both sides.”

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Brown County’s defensive line made life difficult for Prough who was sacked four times. The offensive line for the Hawks is a completely new unit from last season, but Flowers liked what they brought to the table overall.

“Their defensive line really brought it tonight on us. Our offensive line I thought at times did a nice job and we definitely can build on this game,” Flowers said. “With replacing as many guys as we did coming into this season, we did a lot of positives out here.”

Before halftime, Brown County converted on two fourth-down plays, one of them was called for a pass interference on Carrollton. Eventually Jack Hulvey rumbled in for another 1-yard score to put the Hornets up 14-6. Hulvey finished with 17 carries for 98 yards.

Later with 8:59 to play in the third quarter, Carter Lewis busted a run up the gut and sprinted away for a 52-yard touchdown to put his team up 20-6. Lewis would finish with 11 carries and 122 yards.

Carrollton still trailed 20-6 going into the fourth quarter, but finally conjured up of scoring drive. Prough found Jayce Arnett in the end zone for a 5-yard passing touchdown. Prough got the 2-point conversion himself by running it in on a quarterback draw to make it 20-14. The Hawks would get the ball back with under 8 minutes to play. Carrollton quickly drove down the field, but got to the Hornets 23-yard line and would go no further as the Hornets got a big third down sack and stopped a hook and ladder attempt by the Hawks.

Brown County proceeded to kill most of the clock. On a fourth and goal from the 4-yard line, Jared Fry connected with Lewis on a play-action to make it 26-14 with 49.7 seconds to play.

Prough was 14 for 31 through the air and threw for 205 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He had 13 carries for 44 rushing yards. “After that (first) touchdown then I kind of let it get to my head then started making mistakes,” Prough said. “In the second half I buckled down and got with it. It could’ve been better.”

Carrollton had three receivers with over 40 receiving yards. Jerrett Smith caught 6 passes for 48 yards. Brendan Settles had 4 catches for 45 yards and Bowker finished with 1 catch for 42 yards.

“We left some opportunities out there on the field tonight so we’ll definitely get back to work on Monday and have a good game plan for Mendon,” Flowers said.

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