Staff report

NEW LONDON — After Friday’s unusual events and postponement, Carson and North Stanly managed to play a normal football game on Saturday afternoon at R.N. Jeffrey Stadium.

1A North Stanly (1-3) played a lot better than Carson early and smacked the 3A Cougars 34-14. Carson (1-4) dropped its fourth straight since rolling against South Rowan on opening night.

Carson attempted a surprise halfback pass on the game’s first snap. Jake Harris sprinted well behind the North Stanly defense, but Zeb Burns was hit as he threw, and his pass went straight up in the air and was picked off.

“Just not catching any breaks right now,” Carson coach Daniel Crosby said. “Jake is open by 10 yards, but they get the interception, and then they score on the next play. Two plays into it, and we’re down 7-0.”

Turnovers caused most of the issues for the Cougars. Interceptions and fumbles helped North Stanly take a comfortable 28-0 halftime lead.

Carson got on the board in the third quarter when Alex London threw a touchdown pass to Harris. Carson got its second TD in the fourth quarter on a short run by Logan Rogers.

“We actually didn’t play badly at all from the second quarter on,” Crosby said. “But we dug a deep hole.  It was 28-0 in a hurry.”

Carson has been bitten hard by injuries. losing four starters in the North Rowan game and two more on Saturday. Most of the injuries have been to Carson’s defensive unit.

Receiver/linebacker AJ Jackson has experienced the worst luck. He broke a finger against North Rowan and broke his collarbone on Saturday.

“AJ was playing with a club on his hand and was having a heck of a game on defense,” Crosby said. “He’s out for the season, as are most of our injured players (including Chase Drinkard and Jordan Garland). We do hope to get (linebacker) Jake Nichols back next week. We’ve just got to keep working and moving forward.”

Carson is home against North Piedmont Conference opponent North Iredell on Friday.