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CARROLLTON - You wouldn’t think a running back would have to throw two passes in a game.

Byron Holmes was forced to come in when starting quarterback, Hunter Flowers had to sit out for a play on account of his helmet coming off. Holmes completed a 13-yard pass. The next pass he’d throw was when the game was on the line, and he delivered.

With 26.7 seconds left in a week two contest, Holmes completed a four-yard halfback touchdown pass to Zach Flowers to propel the Carrollton Hawks to a stunning 29-23 victory over the Class 3A and perennial WIVC North favorites, the Beardstown Tigers in Carrollton on Friday night.

“I wasn’t expecting it, but it was fun,” Holmes said. “We’re always in these kind of situations. It came down to a [final] play, and we prepped for it. I saw them go after Nathan [Walker] then I knew my target was Zach. As I threw it, I didn’t think the ball got there, honestly. We got down there, and we did the job.”

The junior running back rushed for 7 yards on eight carries, but was on the end of two big screen passes that ultimately led to touchdowns.

After Carrollton took a 21-17 lead with just over six minutes to play, Beardstown marched down the field and scored on a 10-yard run to take the score to 23-21 with just under three minutes to play, but with two timeouts and 65 yards to go, it was plenty enough for the Hawks fast-paced spread offense.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Carrollton head coach Nick Flowers said. I paced the sidelines and said we got a lot of time. It came down to a fourth-down play and had to get the ball in the hands of guys that you feel comfortable making plays. Byron had a run-pass option, and sometimes those plays work just the way we practice them.”

With a fourth down and goal from the four-yard line, Flowers wanted to challenge the Tigers and make them cover the entire end zone with the hope to free somebody up for Holmes.

“Anytime as a defender when you have to defend the whole end zone it’s so hard,” Flowers said. “We had trips formation out there, and I thought with Byron running toss-sweep like that I thought it might pull a linebacker to open a window somewhere. Our receivers don’t stop and watch the play; they get open.”

Coming off of a fourth quarter comeback against Triopia in week one, the Hawks, despite losing just one regular season home game in the last three seasons were not favored to come out on top against Beardstown. They returned nearly everyone on their roster, including super sophomore, Pascal Guilavogui, who was one of the most explosive and productive freshman at any level in Illinois last year.

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“It was okay coming in and people telling us we were the underdog," Flowers said. "We know what kind of team we have, but I think everybody else looked at who they returned coming into this year thinking about how good Pascal [Guilavogui] is and their running backs. They left it all on the field tonight. It’s going to be a game the seniors will remember for a long time,” Flowers said.

It was a close ball game the entire way.

Carrollton’s offense seemed like they were still feeling the momentum from the fourth quarter a week ago as they drove downfield and scored on a Hunter Flowers one-yard quarterback keeper to put the Hawks up 6-0. Beardstown got into the red zone on the ensuing possession, but Logan Shaw recovered a Brady O’Hara fumble. That was a sign the Hawks meant business, especially the defense, which gave up 23 points and forced four turnovers against a high-functioning Tiger rushing attack.

“Defensively, I thought it was a complete turnaround from last week,” Flowers said. “We started off tough and rallied to the ball. To hold that team to 23 points tonight says a lot about our defense.”

While the defense held Beardstown in check, the Carrollton offense was stifled by the Tigers. After a Guilavogui 30-yard field goal early in the second quarter, the Tigers chipped away and took a 10-6 lead on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Riddle to Drake Wrobleski. Things looked promising for Beardstown as they forced the Hawks into another three and out as they took over with 121 seconds left in the first half to take a two score lead.

The drive lasted for one play as Alex Bowker intercepted Riddle at the Tigers 40-yard line. With 15.1 seconds to go, Flowers hit Bowker on a 29-yard bomb in the corner of the end zone to give the Hawks a 14-10 lead after they converted the two-point conversion. Flowers finished with 225 passing yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

On the Tigers first possession of the second half, on third and seven, Guilavogui finally broke loose by skipping away from a handful of pursuing Hawks and found the end zone on a 30-yard run. Unfortunately, that would be his last contribution in the game as he limped off the field with a thigh injury. Guilavogui was on the field for one more series but never touched the ball.

“Pascal is a great player, but it takes more than one to win,” Holmes said. “[The injury] didn’t matter because they had two strong fullbacks and they're going to keep pounding the ball. All we had to do was stop them, and we’d win.”

Both teams traded scoreless drives, but it was Carrollton knocking on the door for two series in a row and eventually scored on a five-yard touchdown pass from Flowers to Walker with just over six minutes to play.

After catching the game-winning touchdown pass, Zach Flowers sealed the game with an interception with seconds to play.

It’s a little bit hard to believe while Carrollton was trailing Triopia 30-19 that they would stand at 2-0 a week later. The win over Beardstown speaks volumes of how good and how far these Hawks can go moving forward.

“I don’t know what this says about this team, but we learned once again that the game is never, never over until it’s over,” Flowers said. “If that last fourth-down play was the one the play we had in us to finish then the sky's the limit for this team. If we can keep everybody healthy, we’ll keep getting better. This team is going to go as far as they want to go.”

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