Eleven up. Eleven down.
On Friday night, Tri-Central will be the 12th opponent trying to knock off Carroll when the two square off at TC in the championship game of Class A Sectional 43. So far, no team has beaten Carroll, and moreover, no team has even pushed the No. 3-ranked Cougars. Carroll’s smallest margin of victory came in a 24-0 victory over Sheridan that clinched the Hoosier Heartland Conference title on Oct. 13.
Carroll is chasing its third straight sectional title.
“They are loaded,” TC coach Shane Arnold said of Blake Betzner’s Cougars. “Coach Betzner has done an amazing job building an incredible program. He’s got an incredible staff and they’re loaded.”
Carroll has steamrolled opponents so far in amassing an 11-0 record. Keegan Ellis has run 170 times for 1,456 yards and 27 touchdowns. Griffin Viney has run for 430 yards with 11 TDs. As a team, Carroll has rushed for 3,037 yards. Quarterback Luke Tanner has completed 49 of 73 passes for 1,098 yards with 12 TDs and three interceptions. Trent Metzger has nine catches for 303 yards, Viney 10 catches for 228 yards, and Clark McClain 10 catches for 205.
“The Tanner kid at quarterback, he does an amazing job leading them,” Arnold said. “He is a really, really good quarterback. He throws it well, he runs it well. You add in the Ellis kid at fullback there, he is a big, strong running back and is a load to bring down. And then the Viney kid, he’s the one that tore us up last time. They run the wing-T and run it really well.”
The Cougars average 48.5 points per game and give up just 3.7 — the state’s No. 1 defensive average. Linebacker Dominic Barnes leads with 97 tackles. Coy Lytle has 55 and Emery Deaton and Carter Mullins 52 each.
“Defensively, their front guys do an amazing job … and their linebackers are dynamic,” Arnold said. “The Barnes kid, he’s all over the place. Just a really well-coached team and they play great team football.
“The [Andre] Hernandez kid up front, he is a grown man up there. You can take three guys and try to block him and he’s still going to be in on the play. And that allows the Barnes kid to just run. Their defensive line does such a good job that their ’backers scrape and are clean and are all over the place.”
Tri-Central is the 12th team to take a shot at Carroll, and was also the sixth, falling at Carroll 42-0 on Sept. 22. The Trojans (5-6) were in transition then, moving key offensive personnel around and trying to get a grip on Carroll while down a pair of linemen out of action. The next week TC lost to Eastern to fall to 1-6. They’ve won four straight since then.
“I think they’ve got a lot of skill guys. They’re running some different stuff offensively, showing some different looks,” Betzner said of TC. “They moved their quarterback [Owen Tolle] to running back. They’ve had a lot of success the last few weeks. They can run with a bunch of different guys. They’re huge up front. You know what you’re going to get with them: They’re going to try and run three yards a carry and try to wear you down and make it sloppy.”
Betzner said Carroll’s defense has done well the previous three games of adjusting when opponents came out with different looks than what they showed on film earlier in the season. Offensively, the Cougars had an iffy first postseason game against Tri-County, turning the ball over four times in the first half. Last week against Caston, the Cougars cleaned that up and led 35-0 at halftime.
Gatlin Hinkle has run for 627 yards for TC and Tolle, now a running back, has 605. Jacob Cline has run for 411 yards. Brody Arnold has taken over as QB. Cline is TC’s top tackler with 77 stops. Aaron Hoback has 66.
“We have to come out and we have to establish that we can stand toe-to-toe with them,” Arnold said. “We have to try to limit what we call big plays — just like last week against West Central. … If we can come out and establish the run game so we can be two dimensional we could be in the game in the end, but it’s going to take a herculean effort for us to do that. They’re senior-heavy and we’re playing sophomores and freshmen.”
Imposing physical play and winning the line has proved difficult against Carroll. Arnold raved about the Cougars’ line play. Betzner said Carroll’s linemen have improved through commitment in the weight room, and their play is critical for Carroll’s success.
“Our offensive and defensive lines are very strong and athletic and can get on people,” Betzner said. “We’ve told them, ‘If you win the first 6 inches, you can have a lot of success. If you don’t win the first 6 inches, it’s going to be a long night.’ Our linemen, I told them [Monday], ‘As soon as you lose up front, our season’s over.’ That’s really where we’ve attacked it all year.”
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