Conway lifts Trojans past Mikes, 26-21
COAL CENTER – Friday night’s Tri-County South showdown between Carmichaels and California was a study in contrast. While the Trojans looked to air the ball out with junior quarterback T.D. Conway, the Mikes were determined to pound the line of scrimmage with their power running game.
Even the look of the plays themselves swung wildly from one extreme to another. For every handful of well-executed offensive and defensive efforts, there were costly penalties, turnovers and missed opportunities.
When the dust finally settled at Trojan Stadium, California managed to pull out a key 26-21 victory over the Mikes.
“We won that game with pure effort,” said California coach Brady Barbero. “We had way too many fumbles and we had a lot of mental mistakes, but we were able to overcome them. “
Though there was chaos all around him, Conway stayed poised and precise. The third-year standout came roaring out of the gate by completing 13-of-19 first-half pass attempts for 154 yards and two touchdowns, both of which went to his older brother and senior wide receiver, Dakota Conway.
Cal (2-0) needed everything it got out of the younger Conway as Carmichaels (1-1) jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the first play of the game. The Mikes’ T.J. Harkins took the game’s opening kickoff and sprinted 81 yards for a touchdown.
Conway and his offense responded immediately on the ensuing possession. The Conways found the end zone for the first time to cap with a nine-play, 71-yard scoring drive. The final play of the march was a picture-perfect rainbow pass from the younger Conway to his big brother into the corner of the end zone. After the extra point by Naz Victori, the game was tied at 7-7.
With 2:44 to go in the opening quarter, Carmichaels regained the advantage thanks to a seven-yard touchdown run by senior Zach Mundell that capped a 10-play, 57-yard march to pay dirt and put his team up 13-7. Momentum swung back to the Trojans’ favor thanks to a big special teams play. Early in the second quarter, junior Dylan Hunter blocked a Carmichaels’ punt, scooped up the loose ball and ran 18 yards to the end zone. Victori’s extra point gave California its first lead at 14-13.
Once again, the Mikes were up to the challenge as Mundell hammered home his second score of the contest. His three-yard plunge put an exclamation point on Carmichaels’ 10-play, 59-yard drive, and made the score 19-14 in favor of the visitors. Junior Tim Prince ran in the two-point conversion and made the score 21-14.
With time winding down on the first half, Cal’s Conway-to-Conway connection struck again. The dynamic duo hooked up on a 21-yard scoring toss with 1:44 left in the second quarter. The pass ended an impressive 10-play, 80-yard possession, but Carmichaels blocked the extra point to maintain a 21-20 edge going into the locker room.
Continuing with the theme of contrasts, the second half was almost a polar opposite of the first. While the first two quarters featured effective offensive attacks and big scoring plays, the final two periods were all about stout defensive efforts.
After more than 15 scoreless minutes, T.D. Conway zipped the eventual game-winning touchdown to senior Josh Boothe from eight yards out with 6:43 remaining in the contest. Again, Cal failed to tack on any extra points, keeping the scoring differential at just five points (26-21).
The Mikes had one last shot to pull out the win after forcing a Cal punt with just around two minutes to play. However, Dakota Conway intercepted a Carmichaels pass with under a minute to go to finally seal the win.
T.D. Conway completed 20 of 36 attempts for 249 yards. He hit his older brother Dakota with seven of those completions for 73 yards and two scores.
While the Trojans relied on the aerial attack, Carmichaels stuck to their ground game, out-rushing their opponents 184-38. Prince led the rushing attack with 102 yards on 16 touches. Mundell added 65 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
“We made enough mistakes to lose three games tonight and that comes down to me,” Carmichaels coach John Menhart said. “We made a lot of mistakes last week and we knew that if we repeated that performance, we would lose.”
California (2-0, 2-0) looks for its third-straight win this week when it travels to Riverview, while the Mikes (1-1, 0-1) will try bounce back from the heart-breaking loss when they host Monessen.