Rough night for Senators against McQueen

RENO " The McQueen Lancers knocked down the Carson Senators early and often and then kept them on the canvas, romping to a 52-0 nonleague victory Friday at McQueen High School.

The defending Northern 4A regional champions played a near-perfect first half, scoring 28 points in the first quarter and 24 more in the second. The Lancers recorded six first-half sacks and capitalized on twoCarson first-half turnovers to cruise to victory.

"We played the No.1 team in the state. They're legit," said first-year Carson head coach Blair Roman. "They're a good football team. What impressed me the most was the speed at which they played. It's hard to compare teams sometimes, but from what I saw tonight, they're absolutely up there with the 2002 and 1997 (state-championship) teams."

Carson, which finished the game with a total of minus-3 yards offensively, including minus-58 yards on the six sacks of starter Jake Plattsmier, was unable to get past its own 29-yard line in the first two quarters.

McQueen senior running back/defensive back Tyler York scored four touchdowns in the first half. In the first quarter he carried the ball only three times, but scored each time, from 16, 14 and 1-yard out.

In the second quarter, York picked off Plattsmier and took it in from 18 yards to put McQueen up 45-0, with 3 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the half.

York gained 70 yards on eight carries and caught two passes for 22 more. Junior Anthony Martinez, who gained 81 yards on nine carries, added two touchdown runs, from 1 and 15 yards, kicked seven extra points and added a 24-yard field goal.

Senior quarterback Anthony Stolo went 7-of-10 for 101 yards and added a 20-yard touchdown pass to Mike LaGrone to round out the scoring for the Lancers, who gained 269 yards offensively and are now 2-0 on the season.

Still, with his team suffering its second loss in as many games, Roman was able to find some positives to take out of the one-sided contest.

"I told the kids that the scoreboard won't reflect this, but we came out of the game with no injuries, the kids went hard, and it's better for us playing a team at this level," he said. "There's no false sense of security playing McQueen.

"The biggest thing I'm proud of is that the kids never let down. They played hard all four quarters. The second half, they were down by 52 and they came out and fought. We did some good things in the second half."

The Senators, aided by the new running-clock rule, which applies if a team is down by at least 45 points going into the second half, managed to force three second-half fumbles, but were unable to penetrate the end zone.

Following a fumble recovery by junior defensive back Zachary Vannucci, with 5:20 to go, Carson found itself 12 yards from the goal line, but was unable to capitalize and junior placekicker Ean Witter missed a 27-yard field goal.

A McQueen player ran into Witter and the Senators had another chance to score, but could get no closer than the McQueen 8.

"We never quit. We're going to look at some film and see some things we need to correct," Roman said. "The mistakes we had, you need to credit McQueen. They had a great plan. They looked outstanding."

On both sides of the ball. The Lancers offense, especially in the first half before bringing in their backups, was incredibly efficient and their defense was able to slice through Carson's offensive line almost at will.

"We're still not there yet. Hopefully, by the time we start league our offensive line will start jelling," Roman said. "It's what happens with young kids who are learning everything. It will take a little bit of time. When we click, we'll click good."

Platsmier was 1-for-8, for minus-4 yards and an interception. Senior Jake Madden finished with 18 yards on 14 carries. Junior Mark Sinnott had a team-high 41 yards on eight attempts, breaking loose for a 29-yarder in the fourth quarter.

"They both ran hard. I'm proud of Jake and Mark," Roman said. "For Jake, in the first half, he didn't have a lot of holes there. He's a tough kid."

If nothing else, the Senators proved to be resilient and their sidelines never grew quiet. They will try and carry that enthusiasm with them next week, when they travel to Reed High School to meet the Raiders in another nonleague game.

Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m.