For only the second time since 1993, there will be no undefeated football champion of the Grand River Conference.
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For just the second time since 1993, there will be no undefeated football champion of the Grand River Conference. For the first time in 3 seasons, there will likely be at least co-champions for the league crown. Last Friday night’s results made that a near certainty.
Gallatin’s 45-0 victory over Tarkio was almost a sidebar to what was playing out around the rest of the GRC. Albany upset state-ranked South Harrison, 20-13, thanks to a last-minute Warrior touchdown.
Maysville came away a 17-12 winner against Hamilton after both teams entered the contest with only one league loss. Hamilton failed to score in the 4th quarter on first and goal from the 7 and first and goal from the 3.
The conference race this week shapes up with Gallatin, South Harrison and Maysville all sporting one loss. Hamilton and Rock Port each have a pair of league losses. No GRC team has fewer than 3 conference games left. Only Tarkio and Princeton, each with 3 league losses, appear out of the hunt. However, both are capable of affecting the outcome of the title face-off.
Carroll’s big night
Friday night’s Bulldog clash with Tarkio turned out to be a mismatch following a scoreless 1st quarter. At that point Gallatin’s offensive and defensive lines took total control of the contest. No GHS player benefitted more from the offensive line’s push and defensive line’s relentless pressure than senior Quentin Carroll.
Carroll’s 6-touchdown night possibly stands as a GHS scoring record, at least it does back through the championship years of the early ’80s. Carroll scored on runs of 1, 13, 23 and 45 yards. He added another TD with a 6-yard pass reception from Nate Henderson, and still another on a 53- yard pass interception return, made possible by a teeth-jarring block from Silas Fitzmaurice on Nate Defenbaugh near the Bulldog bench.
The Bulldog offensive line: center Jack Taylor, guards Robert Heldenbrand and Randy Eaton, tackles Justin Kerns and Daniel Wilson established themselves in the 2nd quarter after Gallatin failed to pick up a 1st down in the game’s opening segment. In addition to Carroll’s pair of long scoring runs, halfback Ben Hubbard and fullback Justin Vyrostek were able to rip off scampers of 20 and 55 yards, respectively, against a crumbling Indian defense.
Gallatin’s defense delivered big hits and spectacular sound effects all night long. Twice in the opening half, Indian punter John Moss withered in the face of the oncoming Bulldog rush and was forced, unsuccessfully, to run the ball on 4th down. The Bulldogs piled 2nd half quarterback sacks by Heldenbrand, Kerns and Silas Fitzmaurice onto sacks by Eaton and Austin Story in the 1st half. Bone-crunching tackles were the rule in the 2nd half as Indian backs struggled for any yardage they could get.
In addition to scoring Gallatin’s final TD on a 14 yard quarterback keeper, Jacob Humphrey kept the Indians in poor field position all night with punts averaging 38 yards. Heldenbrand placed one kickoff in the end zone and consistently pinned returners back to the 10 and 15 yard lines.
GRC week off
Friday night’s schedule of games finds half the league teams taking the week off and the other half taking on opponents from the KCI, Central River and Tri-Rivers conferences. Gallatin, Albany, Rock Port and Tarkio each have 2 weeks to prepare for district openers.
Princeton will host a tough 5-1 Milan team that currently shares the lead in the Tri-Rivers Conference. Maysville travels to Braymer to face the 3-3 and CRC rep Braymer Bobcats. Once-beaten South Harrison faces the unenviable task of welcoming the unbeaten and 2A state-ranked Lathrop Mules.
The Bulldogs will host the conference rival Hamilton Hornets a week from Friday in their final regular season home game. Hamilton hosts Mid-Buchanan this Friday during Hornet homecoming week.