Published: October 06, 2008 09:41 am      

Prep Football Notebook: Terriers took chances

By JEREMY HALL

jeremy.hall@register-news.com

CARBONDALE — Carbondale played the first two minutes of Friday’s game against Mt. Vernon like they were the last two minutes. Fortunately for the Rams, they weren’t.

The Terriers kicked off to start the game, recovered an onside kick and immediately scored on a long touchdown pass.

But a breakdown on defense prevented the hosts from capitalizing on its early fortune, as Mt. Vernon’s Torrey Pollard ran up the middle for a pair of long scoring runs on consecutive carries.

“They tried to gimmick us,” said Rams coach Dan Mings. “They went to a seven-diamond, which hasn’t been played since the 1920s, I don’t think. And we went [for] two touchdowns right up the middle.”

The result was Mt. Vernon stealing Carbondale’s early-game thunder as Pollard scored on runs of 68 and 45 yards.

The Terriers managed to knot the score at 14 before halftime before the Rams scored 10 points in the game’s final 10 minutes to secure their fourth straight victory.

While neither team picked up a first down in the third quarter, the Rams took the lead on a 35-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. Mike Swinnen, who had a field goal blocked earlier in the game, made the lead-taking kick look easy.

Mings said he was confident in Swinnen after seeing the junior’s impressive showing in practice a day earlier.

“We knew that he was going to have a chance to be a factor for us in this football game,” the coach said.

Mings said he was pleased with his team’s kicking game, in general, with Swinnen attempting field goals and Josh Sears punting and kicking off for the Rams.

PHYSICAL: Mings said his players might not have anticipated the Terriers would be as physical as they were on Friday.

“We hadn’t played a physical football game since Week 2,” he said. “We’ve got to prepare for every opponent like it’s your last opponent. We didn’t do that [last] week and that’s a little aggravating to me.”

Nonetheless, Mings said he was “ecstatic” that his team managed the win, and is in control of its own destiny in terms of playoff eligibility.

NOISE REDUCTION: Between plays at Bleyer Field, the Terriers’ public address broadcast snippets of music that made concentration difficult for the Rams’ offense.

After complaints to the officials, a warning was issued to the Terriers with the threat of a 15-yard penalty.

“That was a little bit of a point of aggravation,” said Mings.

HOMESTAND: With consecutive trips to Marion and Carbondale behind them, the Rams now host their final three regular season games, with Cahokia visiting this week before games against Centralia and Geneseo.

But being at home does not mean anything will be easy. The Comanches were ranked No. 3 in last week’s Associated Press Class 5A poll, while Geneseo was ranked No. 9.

“We’ve got some quality opponents in the next three weeks,” said Mings. “It’s going to be nice to play at home. Hopefully we get some people in the stands and the kids can hear you and the band’s rocking.”