By Kyle Phipps
sports@salisburypost.com
The Carson ground game gashed Statesville’s defense for 399 yards as the Cougars rolled to a 40-14 win in the North Piedmont Conference opener for both squads Friday night at Greyhound Hollow.
Carson junior speedster Shaun Warren showed the way for the Cougars, finishing the night with 250 yards and three touchdowns.
Junior fullback Clifford Long added 82 yards and a touchdown, and Jacorian Brown totaled 51 yards and a score.
“(Warren) is special,” Carson coach Mark Woody said. “All three of those boys are special. Those kids right there, I’d take them all home with me if I could. They are fantastic young men.”
The Cougars (4-2, 1-0 NPC) have already surpassed the number of wins they had in their first three years, including two 0-11s, and now own the first three-game winning streak in school history.
“We’ll probably have to make some changes defensively,” Statesville coach Randall Gusler said. “We’re just young. We’re a very young football team upfront.”
Carson’s defense limited the Greyhounds defense to a mere 142 yards of offense and forced three turnovers.
Carson jumped to a 21-0 lead in the first half with a pair of 5-yard TD runs by Warren and Cody Clanton’s 20-yard TD reception from Zack Gragg.
“We came out very flat. I don’t know if it was the bye week or what it was,” Gusler said. “We just came out flat and we never got started.”
Statesville (2-3, 0-1 NPC) got on the board with less than a second left in the first half on a 1-yard scoring run by Keyon Harris (11 carries, 46 yards).
The Cougars pushed their lead to 33-7 in the fourth on Warren’s third touchdown run and a 7-yard score by Long.
That blew the NPC opener for both teams wide open.
“Our kids are believing in what we’re doing,” Woody said.
“We expect to win, and we expect to be able to handle people like that. “But I’ll be honest, we played pretty good.”
The Cougars finished the night with 19 first downs, compared to just nine for the Greyhounds.
Carson was slowed only by penalties, amassing 15 flags for 146 yards for the game.