Carrollton football falls to Garfield, volleyball sweeps four matches

It’s been an up and down season for the Warriors on the gridiron. Odd-numbered weeks have been marked by losses, while even weeks have led to Carrollton wins.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, it was an odd-numbered week when they welcomed Akron Garfield Sept. 19 for a nonconference match. Result? The Golden Rams blanked Carrollton 20-0 to continue the trend.

A scoreless first quarter looked as if it would turn into a scoreless half, but Garfield’s Darius Sales broke the stalemate with a 39-yard TD pass to Avanti Caldwell with a little over a minute remaining in the second quarter.

Sales would strike again late in the third quarter, this time from 5 yards out to Ziiyahn Blair. The PAT was no good and the Golden Rams led 13-0. Garfield’s signal caller hit the trifecta early in the fourth quarter to effectively close the door on the Warriors, who had trouble moving the ball.

Carrollton finished with 187 yards on 48 plays compared with the Golden Rams’ total output of 358 yards. Warrior quarterback Hunter Allison finished 14-of-28 for 131 yards through the air along with two interceptions, and did a good job distributing the ball as he connected with eight different targets in the game. Jaden Murphy led all receivers with four receptions for 64 yards, Jayven Johnson gained 26 yards on three passes, and Isaac Husted finished with two catches for 17 yards.

On the ground, Garfield (2-2) bottled up the Warriors’ usually effective rushing attack for much of the game as leading rusher Levi Kiko was held to 27 yards on 12 carries while Allison rushed for 29 yards on five touches.

Defensively, Nolan Deitrich was a workhorse with seven tackles, including three for a loss. Hayden Thomas was close behind with six tackles, with one for a loss. Gabe Fernwalt had a productive evening, posting a stat sheet of four tackles (one for a loss), as well as a sack and a fumble recovery.

With the non-conference schedule in the books, the Warriors (2-3) must turn their sights to a more competitive Eastern Buckeye Conference. Teams such as Minerva, Alliance, and Marlington – Carrollton’s next opponent – have already matched or surpassed win totals from 2024.

Cross Country

The Warriors posted one of their best performances of the season at the Sandy Valley Invitational Sept. 20. The Lady Warriors competed in the small school division and placed second overall with a score of 72, behind only Dalton, which won with 51.

Leading Carrollton was Gabi McCort, who finished seventh in 21:08.30. She had a troika of Warriors close behind as Olivia McCort (22:02.21) placed 14th, Ella Barkan (22:14.10) was 15th, and Norah Kerr-Jung (22:25.90) was 16th. Allie Brown capped the scoring for Carrollton in 40th place.

On the boys’ side, the Warriors competed in the big school division, and finished seventh out of eight schools with 172 points. Minerva won the team title with 32 points. Pacing the Carrollton attack was John Childs in 26th place with a time of 18:03.80, while Landyn Wade-Perkins (18:21.40) was 34th. Carson Murphy finished in 41st place, Andrew Childs placed 47th, and rounded out the team in 69th place.

Volleyball

The Warriors had a busy week, playing two matches and one tri-match. After winning all four, it’s possible their coach would be OK with several more, however.

First, Carrollton hosted Alliance in an EBC showdown Sept. 16. The Warriors swept the Aviators, winning 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-8). Haley Leslie totaled 10 kills and three blocks to lead the Warriors’ attack, while Juliaunna Miller was the defensive catalyst with 20 digs. Emma Eddy scored 12 point and served two aces, and Emma Shafer dished out 10 assists.

Two days later, Carrollton stayed in the conference and visited Salem, racking up another 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-19, 25-17) to move to 4-4 in the EBC. Rhemee Beadnell had a gem of a game, serving for 17 points and five aces while also collecting 12 assists. Haley Thomas and Kara Bowers had seven kills each, while Leslie had four blocks, and Miller finished with 12 digs.

On Sept. 20, Carrollton and Toronto visited Richmond Edison for a tri-match, and the Warriors capped their perfect week with sweeps of both Edison (25-13, 25-10) and Toronto (25-16, 25-16). With the wins, the Warriors evened their overall record at 8-8.

Against Edison, Miller scored eight points, including an ace, while Leslie accounted for seven kills and four blocks. In the match against Toronto, Thomas had a big game, scoring eight kills while serving for nine points and three aces. Meanwhile, Miller had 17 digs and Beadnell distributed 13 assists. Shafer also reached an impressive milestone as she reached 1,000 assists for her career.

Girls Soccer

The Warriors had a week they would as soon forget, dropping both matches by four goals. First, Carrollton visited Salem Sept. 17 in an EBC match. The Quakers scored twice in the first half and then twice more in the second to record a 4-0 shutout.

Salem (8-2-2, 2-0-1) enjoyed a 19-10 advantage in shots on goal as well as a 9-4 edge in corner kicks. Gianna James finished with 14 saves for the Warriors, who drop to 0-3-1 in the conference.

Carrollton then hosted Cloverleaf in a nonconference contest Sept, 20, and the Colts followed up a 2-0 lead in the first half with three more goals in the second. The Warriors finally got on the board after Chelsea Pesta scored off a pass from Isabella Nuzzolillo with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game for the final score of 5-1.

Cloverleaf (5-3-1) recorded 19 shots on goal to three for the Warriors (3-5-1). James had a busy day manning the goal for Carrollton as she registered 14 saves.

Boys Soccer

The beginning and end of the week? Not so good. The middle, however, was excellent.

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first half en route to their second victory of the season Sept. 18 with a 4-1 defeat of St. Thomas Aquinas. Troy Rutledge found the back of the net twice while Paycen Havens and Bayden Neeley each scored as the Warriors snapped a seven-match losing streak. Rylan Barrick recorded 11 saves.

Carrollton coach Tanner Goss said the team finally put everything together in this match after what has been a tough year.

“We started to find some good attacks putting the ball in the back of the net,” Goss said. “We also had a few key players step up on the back line to hold down St Thomas Aquinas’ offense. Namely Duval Citro, who has played solid defense all year, Isaac Day, Cameron Dayton, and Dominic Shockey.”

The Warriors led off their week by hosting Salem in an EBC contest and the Quakers sprinted to a 4-0 first half lead. The floodgates opened after than as Salem (7-1-2, 2-0-1) scored eight more times in the 12-0 shutout. In goal, Barrick notched six saves, while Brian Welch added five and Brayden Penrod recorded two.

Carrollton (2-10, 0-3) finished its week Sept. 20 as Cloverleaf (6-5-1) visited for a nonconference match. The Colts led 8-0 at intermission and ended up winning 9-0. Barrick collected 10 saves in goal for the Warriors.