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CARROLLTON - Alex Bowker’s right leg was already beaten up before he even stepped onto the field before the walk-through an hour-and-a-half before kick-off.
Late in the game, he was being carried off to the sidelines because of a nasty cramp, but he came back out shortly after.
“It’s very sore, but it should be better by next week,” Bowker said. “[I wanted] to get back out there for the next play. I want to get in every play that I can because it’s my senior year. I was just happy to play.”
Bowker didn’t have any quit in him.
Of all the teams he’s coached at Carrollton, Nick Flowers has never had a team quite like the one he’s coaching this season.
“This team’s got an extra gear in them,” Flowers said.
Down 22-12 early in the fourth quarter, the Hawks were in a similar situation two weeks ago and scored 20 unanswered points, while shutting out the Triopia Trojans to win 39-30. Last night they scored 13 straight and held out against their rivals, the Calhoun Warriors 25-22 in a gritty contest in Hardin on Friday night.
“As the old saying goes you can pull the dog out of a fight, but you can’t pull the fight out of the dog,” Flowers said. “That’s what these boys are like; they have fight in them.
After holding the Warriors to a three-and-out with under five minutes to play, Nathan Walker received a punt, broke a tackle, and beat another would-be-tackler right as he was chased to the sidelines. However, Walker switched directions, cut up the field and had daylight before he was dragged down by Reese Kiel at the Calhoun three-yard line. On the very next play, Byron Holmes took a handoff and rumbled into the end zone for what proved to be the game-winning score.
“We’ve been working really hard on special teams, and it showed tonight,” Walker said. “The side I was on was clogged so I had to cut it back across the field and there was a lot of opening there.”
“Nathan’s a great athlete, and we needed a special teams play coming into tonight,” Flowers said. “We have some weapons with Walker, Barnett, Holmes, Bowker, and Zach Flowers. I thought he scored, but we didn’t waste any time, got a play called, and we punched it in.”
In a contest between two undefeated rivals, the atmosphere was high and so was the contrast in styles offensively.
“This brought back old school football years and years ago,” Flowers said. “It’s been years since we started off south conference play with Calhoun. With us both being 2-0 coming into tonight, I think this was deserving of a game of the week for sure.”
Carrollton runs a fast-paced spread offense, while Calhoun operates under a triple-option they’ve been using for years. There were times when the Hawks would score in a little over a minute while the Warriors took almost a quarter to complete a drive.
After getting down to the Calhoun five-yard line, the Hawks committed two straight infractions, and on the next play, A.J. Hillen sacked Hunter Flowers that caused a fumble, which the Warriors recovered. They drove down 80-yards, and Ty Bick scored on six-yard quarterback keeper 90 seconds into the second quarter.
A minute and 16 seconds later, the Hawks answered back with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Flowers to Walker in which he broke a tackle and dashed 40 yards to the end zone. The two-point conversion was no good, and Carrollton trailed 8-6. After a stop on defense, the Hawks made it 12-8 on a screen pass to Tyler Barnett, who read his blocks and then cut up the field for a spectacular 47-yard touchdown.
“We’ve been waiting for Tyler to have a big play. We had some linemen downfield who made a cutting lane, and he squeezed right in behind them and hit the seem,” Flowers said. “Once he gets out in the open he’s fast.”
After taking two quick touchdowns to the chin, Calhoun managed to respond. With 29 seconds left until halftime on a fourth and goal from the seven, Bick ran across the field with running back Trey Hart beside him as an option, but the quarterback used his speed to squeeze his way into the corner of the end zone. Calhoun’s two-point conversion was successful and led 16-12. However, Carrollton made their way downfield in rapid time that included a 40-yard pass to Walker that he caught at the 10-yard line. The Warriors managed to hold off Carrollton when they sacked Flowers again.
“We did a lot of great things offensively, but defensively [Calhoun] burned some clock on us. I looked up and the first quarter was over,” Flowers said laughing. “They had a good game plan of keeping the ball away from us so the only problem with that is we can score fast.”
Flowers was throwing like he was one of the better quarterbacks around as he went 9-for-11 with 227 passing yards and two touchdowns in the first half. However, he would end up not completing a pass in the second half and threw an interception as well.
“I still think our offensive approach with our no-huddle style and the way that we can call plays is hard to defend. Even when they had the lead we were giving them fits,” Flowers said.
After a scoreless third quarter, the fourth was much more enticing. It was immediate as Cole Lammy scored on a 22-yard touchdown run to give Calhoun a two-score lead at 22-12. Lammy finished with 141 yards on 22 carries. The other main man in the backfield for Calhoun was the fullback, Jacob Watters who rushed for 66 yards on 23 carries.
Carrollton was in trouble, but Walker came to the rescue with a huge kickoff return that set the Hawks up at the Warrior 20-yard line. In two plays, Holmes found the end zone from a yard out and made it a four point game at 22-18.
Holmes tallied 71 yards with 14 carries and two touchdowns, while Walker accumulated over 100 yards receiving for the third game in a row with 124 on the night. Lammy had 142 yards in 18 carries and one touchdown to lead all rushers in the game. Jacob Watters carried 24 times for 67 yards for the Warriors and Bick had 14 carries for 33 yards and two touchdowns.
Both schools will play other rivals coming off victories, in week four.
The undefeated Hawks go back to Carrollton and play Greenfield-Northwestern, while Calhoun takes on an upstart Pleasant Hill side on the road.
