Huge 2nd half propels Carey by Chieftains

CAREY — On a night where the home team acknowledged the 2021 state championship with a hearty cheer prior to the game, it was time to reload.Both Carey and Hopewell-Loudon made deep playoff runs last season and both had many question marks heading into Friday's opener with new faces in key places.After a first half filled with mistakes, Carey came out ablaze in the second half, shutting the Chieftains down in every phase on the way to convincing 37-8 win.The Blue Devils avenged their only loss of last season — a week 1 defeat in Bascom — but coach Jonathon Mershman said it's time to look forward, not back."This wasn't about revenge," he said. "This was about these guys this year. It was about us finding ourselves and coming together. I'm really happy with beating a quality team. We came out of halftime and we did what we do."What Carey does is play swarming defense, and this victory begins and ends there. With H-L driving up 8-3 late in the first half, Doug Pinkerton picked off Evan Kreais near the end zone to keep the game close at halftime.In the second half, it was defensive highlight after defensive highlight.Butch Brodman, Landen Kemmerly and Gage Summit flew around with multiple sacks and tackles for loss. The lasting image came on a play early in the fourth when Summit pressured and sacked Kreais, with the ball popping out of his hands into the waiting arms of Brodman, who caught it and rumbled 31 yards for a score. That put Carey up 30-8 and was the cherry on top of a second-half-long party for the Blue Devils and their ferocious crowd.Senior Hayden Welly, a senior All-Ohio back, was grounded for minus-1 yard on nine carries. In the second half, the Chieftains did not record a first down."We have to go back and see some of the mistakes we made," H-L coach Brian Colatruglio said. "I'm extremely disappointed in our run game. We just didn't execute at all. That's on me. It's something I take great pride in. Hayden had no chance tonight to get started. We have to do a better job up front of letting him get started."The first 16 minutes had the makings of a classic. Carey fumbled twice in the early going, with recoveries by Welly and Blake Berrier. On the second, the Chieftains took advantage, with Kreais hitting Braylon Martinez for a 13-yard score, followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Adam Kreais.Carey rumbled back but stalled in the end zone before quarterback Lance Rickle kicked a 35-yard field goal that barely scraped past the crossbar.The H-L passing game got going on the final drive of the half before Pinkerton's key interception. Had the Chieftains scored there, it likely would have been a very different game.Carey attempted just one pass in the second half, using its multiple sets and multiple ballcarriers to wear H-L down."After halftime, we couldn't generate anything," Colatruglio said. "They just wore us out. They were mentally and physically tougher than us tonight."In the second half, Rickle scored twice, while freshman Eli Steen and junior Carter Smiley also scored rushing touchdowns around Brodman's electric pick-6."Momentum is so big in a game, especially in high school football," Mershman said. "We had so many guys just play spectacular and played as a team. The team we had last year, we played as a team. This year we came out and I was really proud of them."Rickle did a fine job steering the offense, completing 2 of 4 passes for 54 yards and adding a team-high 111 yards on 12 carriers. His biggest pass play came on an early 38-yard pass to Alex Putnam.Carey spread the ball around, with Steen, Brodman and Connor Norden all picking up more than 35 yards.Kreais finished 8 of 19 passing for 124 yards, with Martinez catching four passes for 59 yards, and Jagger Endicott adding two grabs for 37 yards.Colatruglio said his team will improve, and it will look to make strides heading into next week's home opener against Mohawk (0-1). "We're going to get better," Colatruglio said. "We have a young team and a lot of new starters and play a ton of guys both ways. This environment is tough."The Blue Devils look to continue their upward trend at home next week against Galion (0-1)."We've been saying all season the cupboard is not bare," Mershman said. "As coach (Dave) Steen put it well, 'we just need some seasoning.' So we need to get the experience of playing the season and tonight was a good first step."