CARROLLTON - One can assume that Nick Flowers and the rest of the Carrollton Hawks coaching staff’s blood pressure was significantly lower Friday night than the past three Fridays on the sidelines and in the press box.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
That’s because the Hawks weren’t trailing after three quarters nor were in any danger of losing a lead late on as they downed their Greene County rivals, the Greenfield-Northwestern Tigers 39-0.
“It was a different approach tonight,” Flowers said. “Pitching a shutout against a rival county school is a good feeling. We wanted to work on some stuff defensively. I said [after week one] we can’t give our defense a good looking practice. We need some games under our belt defensively, and I think we’re starting to see that now.”
The Hawks defense held the Tigers to 13 total yards at halftime and 52 as the final whistle sounded. It was a complete 180 from a year ago when the Tigers bossed the Hawks Nathan Leonard and the rest of the defensive line. The senior linemen remembered and made sure that wouldn’t happen his senior year.
“We were pretty hyped up going into this game because we lost to them last year and I was on that starting line,” Leonard said. “I was bummed out, but we rallied together and went all four quarters.”
Carrollton was all over Greenfield-Northwestern’s star running back, Jacob Foiles as he carried the ball 17 times and gained 52 yards.
Another aspect the Hawks changed up was establishing the run game early, and it paid off during the first drive with a 56-yard touchdown run up the middle by Byron Holmes. The junior running back turned in his best game of the season with 13 carries for 116 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s [Holmes] very explosive, and I thought he played very well back there,” Flowers said. “He’s a downfield type running, breaks tackles, and strong. The great thing is he’s just a junior, and it’s going to be fun watching him another off-season to get stronger.”
With the offensive line opening up holes for Holmes, that forced the Tigers to commit more players up front and inevitably free up receivers for the quarterback, Hunter Flowers to connect with. The sophomore had his best overall outing of the season going 12-for-17 with 220 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown of his own.
He was 11 yards shy of breaking through the 1,000-yard benchmark for the season, but not that it matters to him. He was more concerned about winning and winning comfortably.
“It doesn’t matter to me as long as we won,” Hunter Flowers said smiling. “There’s a lot of stress off of my shoulders and everyone else's. It’s great. The line has settled in, and everything is starting to click.”
All three of his touchdown passes were to Nathan Walker, who for the fourth straight game has hauled in over 100 yards receiving. Last night he caught five passes for 156 yards and now has 591 on the season.
“It’s great, and I’m glad Hunter keeps finding me in these spots and I make plays out there,” Walker said.
His first touchdown catch came early in the second quarter when Flowers lofted a pass down near the corner of the Hawks sideline, and Walker came down with it trotting to the end zone. Flowers added to Carrollton’s lead on their next possession with a 12-yard designed quarterback run to the end zone to make it 20-0, which the Hawks took into halftime.
The third quarter started off with a Flowers to Walker touchdown from 17 yards out, and on the ensuing possession, the Hawks defense forced a Tiger fumble at the 25-yard line. Shortly after, Holmes punched it in from three yards out to give the Hawks a 33-0 lead.
The play of the game came with seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Flowers threw a short pass to Walker who proceeded to maneuver past a handful of Tigers, cut back up field and sped away for a 57-yard touchdown.
“He made four or five guys miss and right when he accelerated he exploded out of there,” Coach Flowers said. “He’s very athletic. We need catches and yards after the catch is icing on the cake.”
