Carrollton football stumbles against Salem; volleyball finishes season at .500

The first quarter — and really, the first half — of Carrollton's football game against Salem is one that most Warrior faithful will want to forget.

The visiting Quakers put up points in bunches, scoring 20 points in the first quarter and two more touchdowns in the second to enter intermission with an imposing 34-0 advantage on their way to a 48-20 win over the Warriors Oct. 10 in Eastern Buckeye Conference action.

Never saying die, Hunter Allison and company put together consecutive scoring drives in the third quarter to narrow Salem’s lead to 20 at 34-14. First, with 7:32 remaining in the period, Allison tossed a 17-yard TD to Jaden Murphy. Less than 90 seconds later, Allison found Isaac Husted in the end zone for a 6-yard scoring strike.

The Quakers, however, responded with a 34-yard TD run in the quarter’s closing minute to go back up by 27 points. Approximately five minutes later, Allison threw his third TD of the night, this time to Jayven Johnson for 4 yards, but the PAT was no good, so Carrollton trailed 41-20. Salem then returned the onside kick off for a score to restore its four-touchdown lead.

Allison finished his evening going 17-of-26 with 206 yards passing, three scores and one interception. Murphy and Johnson were his primary targets as each receiver hauled in five passes, Murphy picking up 74 yards and Johnson gaining 48. Johnny Bajornas caught three passes for 48 yards.

On the ground, Levi Kiko gained 58 yards on 13 carries while the Warriors as a team rushed for only 73 yards. Defensively Marcus Brooks had a busy night with 13 tackles to pace Carrollton (3-5, 1-2), while Johnson added 12, Bajornas recorded 10, and Nolan Deitrich logged nine.

Salem (5-2, 2-1) outgained Carrollton 495-352 in total yardage.

Cross Country

It was close, but a tiebreaker kept the Carrollton boys’ cross country crew from a third-place finish at the EBC Cross-Country Championship, hosted by Marlington Oct. 11. Minerva outlasted Salem to win the team title with 26 points while Carrollton tied Marlington with 105. However, the Duke’s sixth runner finished ahead of the Warriors’ sixth runner, giving the nod to Marlington.

John Childs paced Carrollton, placing 13th in 17:41.8. Carson Murphy and Andrew Childs squeezed into the top 20, placing 18th and 19th, while Andrew Husk and Landyn Wade-Perkins capped the scoring for the Warriors, finishing in 31st and 32nd.

The Lady Warriors also placed fourth as a team with 113 points while Minerva won the overall title. Gabi McCort led a pack of Carrollton runners as she crossed the finish line in 19th place in a time of 21:59.9. Hot on her heels were Ella Barkan in 21st place, Olivia McCort in 22nd, Heather Allbritain in 26th, and Norah Kerr-Jung in 29th.

Volleyball

The Lady Warriors wrapped up their regular season with a thrilling nonconference home win. In the Oct. 9 match, Carrollton defeated New Philadelphia 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 12-25, 25-21, 16-14) to even its overall record at 11-11 on the season.

Haley Leslie paced the Warriors with 11 kills and five blocks, while Rhemee Beadnell scored 13 points in serving along with four aces. Haley Thomas also had 13 service points. Emma Shafer led defensively with 19 digs while also doling out 16 assists.

 Boys Soccer

Carrollton won its final match of the regular season with a shutout of St. Thomas Aquinas, breaking a losing streak that stretched back five matches. First, however, the Warriors hosted Tusky Valley Oct. 6 and lost 6-1.

In the match, Aiden Fierstos scored Carrollton’s only goal in the first half. Rylan Barrick manned the goal for the Warriors, collecting 10 saves.

Three days later, Carrollton visited the Crusaders and won 1-0 on a second-half goal to finish the regular season on a high note. Khalil Payne scored the winning goal off an assist from Paycen Havens. Barrick was steadfast in goal, notching eight saves for Carrollton (3-14).

It would be a vast understatement to say Warriors’ coach Tanner Goss is proud of his players.

“These young men have poured it all out this year fighting each and every game and ending the regular season on a win on the road is a great way to set up for the playoffs,” he said.

Girls Soccer

The Lady Warriors had two nonconference road matches schedule for their last week of the regular season and lost both of them. First up for Carrollton was a trip to Ridgewood which resulted in a narrow 3-2 loss.

The score was 1-0 in favor of the Generals following the first half, but Addison Jurkiewicz tied the match off an assist from Chelsea Pesta. About 15 minutes later, the Warriors took the lead on a Pesta goal with Mikayla Thompson assisting.

However, Ridgewood scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the match to snatch the victory from Carrollton. In goal, Maria Nuzzolillo logged 11 saves for the Warriors.

Carrollton (4-11-1) then visited Canton South Oct. 11 and promptly fell behind 4-0 in the first half. The Lady Warriors recovered and played even with the Wildcats from that points, but could not make up any ground in a 7-3 loss. No results were made available for the match.