LAPORTE | LaPorte's offense struck early in their Class 5A sectional against Fort Wayne Carroll on Friday night, but the Slicers were not able to keep up with the Chargers. The Slicers fell 49-7 to Carroll on a night that saw the Slicers commit four turnovers, and Carroll scoring 21 points off the turnovers.
“We had some turnovers tonight, and they didn’t, which on a night like this is pretty remarkable,” LaPorte coach Bob Schellinger said. “We had several and we didn’t take care of the ball, and it came back to haunt us.”
The Slicers scored on their first play from scrimmage on a Charles Salary run for 84 yards to give LaPorte an early 7-0 lead.
The Chargers answered midway through the second quarter, after a Salary fumble at their own 33 yard line. On the next play, quarterback Chris Terry ran for a 33-yard touchdown, tying the game at 7-7.
Fort Wayne Carroll had a third and goal from the seven yard line two minutes into the second quarter, and Terry connected to Skylar Piepho for a seven-yard touchdown. The Chargers led 14-7 at the half.
“We were in the ball game (at halftime), and if we came out and stopped them and got back in the board, we would have been in the game,” Schellinger said.
Carroll scored three times in the third quarter, including a 38-yard run from Jimmy Crumley to put the Chargers up 21-7 two minutes into the third quarter. Two scores came from fumbles by the Slicers, leading to a short field for the Chargers.
“Even though we gave up a touchdown (at 21-7), we’re still in at 21-7,” Schellinger said. “We just didn’t move the ball offensively and we couldn’t stop them defensively. It snowballed on us.”
The Chargers added another touchdown with 9:50 to go in the game off an 18-yard rush from Justin Tranquill to put Carroll up 42-7. Tranquill had three total touchdowns on the night, including a 51-yard punt return that gave Carroll a 49-7 lead.
The Slicers only had two first downs and 98 yards on offense—97 of those coming from the running game. Salary had 87 of those yards.
“It was hard to throw the ball tonight, and obviously that hurt us,” Schellinger said. “Our running game didn’t do what it should have either. It was the same weather conditions for Carroll, and they got the job done and we didn’t.”
LaPorte finished the season with a 1-9 record.
“I have to give our guys credit, they worked hard and it would have been very easy to quit tonight,” Schellinger said. “... I’m proud of all of them, but with the game tonight we just didn’t execute.”
Chris Terry was 6-of-15 for 86 yards, threw for one touchdown for Carroll (8-2). He also ran for 88 yards and a touchdown. Crumley ran for 105 yards and one touchdown.
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