After a slow first quarter, Bath Haverling’s Nick Carroll tore things up with 235 yards rushing, four touchdowns and an interception as the Rams moved to 3-0 on the season with a 33-0 win over Wayland-Cohocton Friday.
Carroll scored on runs of 74, 1, 67 and 2 yards without having a carry in the final quarter.
“He had a career night tonight and I’m happy for him,” Bath head coach Wayne Carroll said. “He’s paid the price all year to have this kind of night.”
The first quarter saw both defenses rule.
Both Wayland-Cohocton and Bath got the ball three times apiece, but the Golden Eagles were the only squad to muster a first down. With the ball on the Rams' 20-yard line, Bath defender Brian Gable put an end to Wayland-Cohocton's best drive with an interception in his own end zone.
“That’s typical LCAA Div. I football. If you don’t prepare for every game, you’re going to get beat,” Wayne Carroll said. “That’s a good football team. I know they’re 0-and-3, but they don’t play like an 0-and-3 team.”
Pinned by a punt on their own 3-yard line to begin the second quarter the Rams got a big effort from Nick Carroll to get onto the scoreboard. On his fourth carry of the five-play drive, Carroll got behind the defense on at third-and-one play and sped away for a 74-yard touchdown run. A Tyler Hutcheson kick gave Bath a 7-0 lead.
Bath rode another big play to its second score of the quarter when quarterback Daniel Leonard completed a nicely-thrown 29-yard pass to Luke Burns on a 4th-and-9 play – setting the Rams up on the Wayland-Cohocton 1-yard line – where Nick Carroll needed just one carry to punch it in and give Bath a 13-0 halftime lead.
“I was happy with 13 points, but I was hoping to get another (touchdown) before half, but it just didn’t happen out for us,” Wayne Carroll said.
Bath’s first two possessions of the second half ended with turnovers – one by fumble and one by interception, but Hutcheson recovered a Wayland-Cohocton fumble on the Golden Eagles’ next series of downs.
One play later, Nick Carroll was off to the races again – this time, down the right sidelines for a 67-yard score.
“When you see that daylight, it’s just turn the burners on and go,” Nick Carroll said.
Nick Carroll’s final score came on the final play of the third quarter from two yards out.
“Nick has made some plays at fullback and the line’s done a nice job blocking,” Wayne Carroll said. “It looked like there were some decent holes out there and he hit them.”
Bath’s other runner, Kiele Wilson, carried the ball 20 times for 93 yards. Matt Nevius closed the Rams’ scoring with a 14-yard TD run – set up two plays earlier by a Carroll interception. Caleb Hann also had a pick for Bath – who will host Dansville Saturday for Homecoming.
Bath’s defense has now gone 11 quarters without allowing a score.
“I don’t know who was the star tonight, but it looked like we played pretty good team defense,” Wayne Carroll said. “Everybody seemed to make plays here and there. Everyone just looked like they contributed. We had a couple of interceptions from our backs and we had a couple of sacks from our D-line – so I’m happy with the performance.
“When you can shut someone out in the LCAA, you’re a good football team.”
Bath seeking new ways to score
By ERIC WENSEL | THE LEADER
Dan Leonard takes the helm as quarterback at Bath.
Corning Leader
Tue Sep 01, 2009, 04:19 PM EDT
Bath, N.Y. -
Turnover in high school football is sometimes frequent, yet always inevitable.
Rarely, though, does a program experience the mass exodus of skill-position players as Bath Haverling did following graduation last June.
And it wasn’t as if the Rams lost just a few key players from last season’s Class B state semifinal squad. In terms of offensive scoring, Bath lost everything.
“This is an unusual team this year in that nobody coming back this year has ever scored an offensive touchdown,” Bath head coach Wayne Carroll said.
With its offense on the field, Bath players located the end zone 48 times in 2008 – a mighty impressive feat for a 12-game season. A far more worrisome stat, however, with 2009 on the horizon is the zero offensive touchdowns accumulated last year by the team’s new offensive starters.
“Nick Carroll had three defensive (touchdowns), but they’re not offensive ones,” Carroll said. “Usually you have a couple backs who come back and have scored some touchdowns and have had some yards coming into the season. So we really don’t have any kind of offensive stats to speak of coming back this year.”
Perhaps the most emblematic starter among Bath’s fresh-faced skill-position players is Dan Leonard, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound freshman quarterback.
Leonard isn’t up from the JV squad, as he did spend last season backing up last year’s starting QB Jake Kuver. And while Leonard did see some limited playing time in relief of Kuver last season, he now possesses the keys to the offense as just a ninth grader.
“He was our backup last year and he did play in a few games, so we got him in a couple of big games up in Rochester, so we’re hoping he’s not going to play like a freshman,” said Carroll, who noted Leonard will be the first freshman varsity starting quarterback at Bath since he took over in 1992.
While Carroll has modest expectations for his freshman signal caller this season, the longtime Bath coach is encouraged by the potential he sees in Leonard.
“He’s a good athlete, he hasn’t developed yet physically, but every year, he’s going to get better physically,” Carroll said. “He’s not the biggest quarterback I’ve ever coached right now, but he’s going to be coming up.”
Carroll hopes a stable offensive line – that returns four of six starters – and a running back by committee approach to the ground game will help take some of the heat off his freshman quarterback.
“I’m hoping that our offensive line steps up – I’m hoping our offensive line is our strength,” Carroll said. “I have been telling these guys all preseason, we have got to protect this guy, he’s a ninth grader, he’s not that big. I expect our offensive line to protect this kid. We’ve got to, or otherwise we’re dead.”
There certainly is some promise in the Rams’ offensive line, considering four starters return from a group that helped Bath runners amass nearly 4,000 yards on the ground alone in 2008.
Seniors Drew Seager, Mark Bart and Kraig Soles, along with junior tight end Tyler Hutcheson return as starters on the offensive line for the Rams. Seager is a 6-1, 220-pound tackle, while Bart (5-10, 250) and Soles (5-10, 190) are back as guards. Junior Mike Conner (5-10, 240) will step in as a starting tackle, while Brady Gleason (5-9, 240) will take over at center. The Rams’ five-man front certainly has decent size, averaging 5-10 and 228 pounds.
“We’re going to have to protect (quarterback) Dan (Leonard) and we have a big O-line, so it’s going to be fun,” Seager said.
The big guys up front will look to clear lanes for a rotating backfield, which will feature junior Nick Carroll at fullback and a trio of senior tailbacks in Luke Burns, Alex Venuti and Kiele Wilson.
The Rams’ backfield certainly has some enormous shoes to fill left by quarterback Jake Kuver, fullback Cody Hutcheson and tailback Andre McCloud, the school’s all-time leading rusher, who amassed 4,366 yards and 69 touchdowns in his career.
Last year’s state semifinal game loss, which saw McCloud leave the game in the first half with an injury, prompted Carroll to employ a running back by committee approach in the backfield this season. McCloud carried the ball just five times before leaving during the second quarter of Bath’s season-ending 27-0 loss to Oneida in the state semifinals.
“They all can help us,” Carroll said of his running back stable. “You can’t go into a season with just one running back. We learned that last year. When Andre (McCloud) got hurt in that final four game, we were all done. We just weren’t the same football team.
“So that’s why I feel confident that those four guys, if one of them goes down, we still have three, so that’s why I want to have four backs and I want them all carrying the football and they all have to be tough, and share the time with the football.”
Junior Brett Partridge and senior Mark Martuscello figure to be Leonard’s main targets when the Rams air it out.
Defensively, returns just three starters.
Although three starters on defense doesn’t seem like much, it’s more about who’s back, than how many. Bath returns its top two tacklers in brothers T.C. Carroll and Nick Carroll, along with defensive tackle Drew Seager, a key cog on the defensive line.
Considering the Rams’ offense could be a work in progress with new starters at each skill position, Bath may need to rely more heavily on its defense than normal.
“We’re hoping to play tough defense like we did last year,” Carroll said. “The biggest thing with our football team right now is, we can’t get any injuries. We just can’t. Our numbers are not that great where we could get injuries. So that’s the one thing I’m really concerned about.”
With the Carroll brothers, the Rams have two of the area’s most well-rounded defensive players in the area. T.C., a senior linebacker, recorded a team-high 129 tackles last season and also had a sack and an interception. In addition, T.C. was named the Section V, Class B Defensive Player of the Year, while also garnering All-Leader Defensive Player of the Year honors.
The older of the two Carroll brothers has become a student of the game and is one of the surest and hardest-hitting tacklers around.
Nick Carroll is a junior defensive back, who probably could have just as easily garnered the same postseason honors older brother T.C. did. Nick ranked second on the team last season with 90 tackles and led the Rams with five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns. In fact, he’s the only player back on Bath who scored a touchdown last season.
“Nick and T.C. are back on defense – that helps,” Wayne Carroll said of his two sons. He’s also excited about the return of Seager on the defensive line.
In 2008, Seager registered 61 tackles and three sacks.
Joining Seager on the offensive line will be sophomore nose guard Kyle Weaver, who brings great size with a 6-foot-1, 275-pound frame. Senior Mark Bart and junior Mike Conner will also see time on the defensive line.
“Both our lines are pretty big and we have some experience,” Seager said.
T.C. Carroll will be joined at linebacker by Jake Weldy and Brian Gable will play in the defensive secondary for Bath.
“It’s going to be interesting this year,” Carroll said. “I’m hoping that these guys have watched the defense we played last year and try to play the same type of defense. But I can’t promise it’s going to be the same. And I’m hoping that we’re stingy and be able to do that stuff, but our numbers are just kind of a problem this year. I don’t know why we have the numbers problem this year.”
Reloaded Haverling may be the real deal
By Bob BenzCorning Leader
Sat Sep 12, 2009, 08:37 PM EDT
Corning, N.Y. -
Normally, I’m reluctant about opining on a team I have not yet seen in action.
But circumstance has led me to take liberties with that personal guideline as it pertains to the 2-0 Bath Haverling football team.
Let me explain.
When the high school football season kicked off last weekend, I was squeezing in my last full week of vacation before things really start to heat up on the scholastic schedule.
So therefore, I missed the Rams’ season-opening 17-7 victory against St. Mary’s.
And since we traditionally don’t make lengthy road trips to report on local teams live on tight deadline early in the season, the 180-mile round trip to cover Bath’s 35-0 trouncing of LeRoy Friday night didn’t make much sense from a logistical standpoint.
Although I wouldn’t have objected to being there in person, we certainly had enough going on closer to home to keep us busy, while relying on a Bath official to call in Friday’s results.
So what is there to say about a team I’ve only seen in practice and read about?
Well, considering the mass exodus of skill-position talent from last season’s Class B state semifinalists, the Rams’ offense – through two games at least – appear to be in very capable, competent hands.
Understandably, there was some concern about turning over the keys to the offense to a freshman signal caller as the 2009 season commenced.
However, judging by the numbers through two games, freshman quarterback Dan Leonard has quieted many of those fears. Leonard has given the Rams a steady hand at QB, is obviously giving Bath a chance to win and seems to be managing the game well – all encouraging traits for a young quarterback.
Through two games, Leonard has completed 6 of 9 passes for 87 yards and one touchdown. And most importantly, Leonard has 0 interceptions, while helping the Rams to six offensive touchdowns and a team total of 52 points through two games.
“We were hoping he would get better each week,” Bath head coach Wayne Carroll said of Leonard. “He’s really showed some poise the last couple games.”
While it’s usually very difficult to decipher how a high school team will fare – especially with the amount of turnover Bath had – the Rams have certainly made a statement through two games.
Considering the team’s top two tacklers – brothers T.C. and Nick Carroll – were back in the fold, many figured Bath would do well defensively. The Rams pitched a goose egg Friday and allowed just one touchdown in the first game.
This was to be expected.
And while the 2-0 start might not be classified as shocking, I really thought the Rams might be winning uglier, low-scoring affairs until the team’s inexperienced offense got its footing.
Keep in mind, the Rams scored 48 touchdowns on offense last year, yet none of the players who accounted for all of those 48 scores are suiting up for Bath this season.
However, Nick Carroll, Kiele Wilson and Luke Burns appear to performing admirably while taking on far more prominent roles within the offense.
Carroll, who scored three defensive touchdowns last year, already has found the end zone four times in 2009, and has scored in a variety of ways. In the opener, Carroll’s 60-yard punt return kick-started the Rams and he gave Bath the go-ahead score with a 3-yard TD plunge, as he finished with a team-best 53 yards on the ground.
Against LeRoy, Carroll rushed for 95 yards on 13 carries and opened the scoring by hauling in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Leonard. He followed up with a 60-yard touchdown run and the rout was on.
Wilson also looked impressive against LeRoy, amassing 86 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 10 carries. Wilson found paydirt on runs of 36 and 10 for the Rams.
Burns has provided the Rams 54 yards from scrimmage through two games and like Carroll, Wilson and the offensive line, is helping take some of the heat off of Leonard.
And don’t be misled into believing LeRoy is a patsy opponent because of its 0-2 start in 2009. Before this season, LeRoy – a perennial state power – owned a 43-game home winning streak, dating back to 1998.
It’s only two games, but against a pair of formidable opponents, the new-look Rams appear to be the real deal.
Hopefully, I can judge for myself sometime soon.
* Bob Benz, assistant sports editor for The Leader, can be reached by e-mail at rbenz@the-leader.com
