A quick start is always important in a high school football game and C.J. Carlisle made sure New Philadelphia got off to a quick start.
A 6-foot junior, Carlisle took the opening kickoff and put the Quakers in early scoring position in what would become a 42-24 win over Dover last Friday at Woody Hayes Quaker Stadium.
Carlisle wasn’t done.
He finished the night with five receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns while adding over 140 return yards. The efforts earned Carlisle the nod as the Klar’s Excel Printing Player of the Game.
“This is very big for us, we were 10-point underdogs coming into this game and you can see the scoreboard,” Carlisle said. “We came out and played on our terms and I can’t wait to see what the playoffs have in store for us.”
After the long early return, the Quakers got on the board when Kolston Fox ran in from the 5 on a fourth down play.
The Quakers cashed in on fourth down again, scoring on a short pass from Keaton Fausel to Pete DiDonato. A third touchdown followed early in the second quarter when Carlisle took a shovel pass from Fausel on a sweep and raced 80 yards for the score that made the game 21-0.
“This is very big for us, we were 10-point underdogs coming into this game."
After Dover got on the board on a score by Daylen Clark, the Quakers answered quickly. Carlisle returned the kickoff to the 48 and three straight pass completions put them on the 10 with :22 seconds left in the half.
Fausel launched a pass to the right corner of the end zone that Carlisle pulled in for a score that made it 28-7.
Dover got a 43-yard field goal as time ran out, but the score was 28-10 at halftime. The Tornadoes cut it to 28-17 with an early third-quarter score and, following another Quaker touchdown – Fausel to Carson Long – got back to 11 points at 35-24 on another touchdown by Clark.
“We knew from Week 1 that we were a physical team and we showed it all year long,” said New Philadelphia coach Mike Johnson. “But this was the cleanest and most physical we’ve played all year and that allowed us to finish our drives where we wanted, which was in the end zone.”
Both teams finish the regular season at 7-3 and will be in action again Friday night in the Region 11 playoffs.
LOOKING AHEAD
A number of area teams qualified for a Week 11 game.
Here’s a quick look at who is in action:
DIVISION III
Region 11 – Dover at Granville; New Philadelphia at Jackson; Carrollton at Tri-Valley.
DIVISION IV
Region 15 – Heath at Indian Valley; West Holmes at Chillicothe Unioto.
DIVISION V
Region 17 – Fairless at Canfield South Range; Cortland Lakeview at Garaway.
DIVISION VI
Region 23 – Mechanicsburg at Ridgewood; Newcomerstown at Grove City Christian.
DIVISION VII
Region 25 – Lucas at Malvern.
Region 27 – Strasburg at Beaver Eastern; Lancaster Fairfield Christian Academy at Conotton Valley.
All games are scheduled for Friday at 7.
WRAPPING UP
Indian Valley junior Grady Kinsey finished the regular season with 2,347 yards to lead the state in rushing, according to stats posted at maxpreps.com. Owen Jurjavcic of East Palestine finished second at 2,042 yards. They were the only two to top 2,000 yards.
Kinsey also led the state with 33 touchdowns (Jurjavcic had 30), and was second in the state in scoring with 198 points.
