Cro’s feat: Bears capitalize on four turnovers
Published 8:00 am Saturday, September 10, 2022
- The Bucs’ Jamaal Levi, bottom, has a pass broken up by Carencro’s Joni Martin during a District 3-5A game Friday night at Barbe High School. (Rick Hickman / American Press)
Turnovers on their side of the field doomed Barbe Friday night in its District 3-5A opener, a 50-29 Carencro victory.
The Bears (2-0, 1-0) turned four Barbe turnovers into 28 points, with all of the touchdown drives lasting fewer than 30 seconds.
After a Bucs (1-1, 0-1) rally to tie the score at 29-29 in the third quarter, Bears defensive back Joni Martin intercepted a pass and returned it 69 yards to the Barbe 11. Carencro took the lead for good on a 6-yard touchdown run by Chantz Ceaser,
Ceaser added scores on runs of 2 and 8 yards in the fourth quarter as the Bears put the game away.
“You can’t turn the ball over against a good football team like that,” Barbe head coach Mike Cutrera said. “They took advantage of it. They are a good, well-coached team. They capitalized on the mistakes we made. We gave them a short field and they turned it into points.”
Carencro jumped to an early 16-0 lead, opening the scoring on a safety by racking a Barbe receiver in the end zone on the third play of the game.
Barbe lost fumbles inside its own 20 on the next two possessions with Carencro converting each mistake into a touchdown. Kennon Ryan scored on a 1-yard run and Cashmire Batiste on a 12-yarder.
The teams traded scores the rest of the half. Barbe scored on a 41-yard catch-and-run by Reed Boyd and receptions of 27 and 49 yards by Jamaal Levi.
Carencro added a pair of second-quarter touchdowns on an 18-yard pass from Ceaser to Batiste and a 4-yard run by Ceaser.
Levi had six receptions for 108 yards in the half. Barbe quarterback Will McClain completed 13 of 19 passes for 174 yards in the first half.
Carencro ran for 151 yards in the first half. Ryan led the way with 73 yards on nine carries.
“The type of offense they run (veer option) is hard to simulate in practice with the speed they do it with and how they come off the ball,” Cutrera said.
“We started slow but kept competing and we’re able to get some stops and get back in the game. Our kids competed all night. We learned that they are fighters.”
Levi finished with eight receptions for 117 yards.
McClain threw for 230 yards and accounted for four touchdowns.
