By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE —  The death of Dalton Gay, one of Carson’s captains and leaders, left every Cougar wanting to play this season for him and his family, but it was difficult to get over the shock of tragic and sudden loss.

With those “DG 43” decals on their helmets, Carson played hard and played well in the second half at Mount Pleasant but lost to a good team.

Carson played hard and played better at West Stanly but got no breaks and fell in overtime.

There hadn’t been any sunshine for weeks in China Grove, but the Cougars broke through the clouds for their first win on Friday.

They used a shutdown defensive effort to beat Piedmont, 21-3.

Gay’s family members served as honorary captains, so it was an emotional night in front of the home fans.

“The biggest factor was being at home for the first time,” Carson head coach Jonathan Lowe said. “The crowd support was fantastic. Our defense played inspired, just played incredible all night, and our offense made some plays. We ran well, we threw well and guys did a great job blocking.”

Carson had 360 yards of offense, split almost evenly between running and passing.

After two average games to start the season, QB Michael Guiton came though with a big one. He was 14-for-26 passing for 189 yards.

“By far his best game,” Lowe said. “We know he can play like that.”

Guiton threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Carson Aman and kept the ball on an option play for a rushing TD to propel Carson to a 14-3 halftime lead.

Jay McGruder broke a 70-yard scoring run on a third-down trap play for the only TD of the second half to give Carson a 20-3 lead, and Julio Moctezuma kicked his third PAT.

Those were Carson’s first PAT kicks of the season.

Trevor Vaughn had five catches for 92 yards, while Foday Dyer had five for 55.

Dyer, a receiver/defensive back/punter/returner was all over the place.

McGruder ran 12 times for 96 yards. Makani Guida added 38 yards on 11 carries. Tristin Clawson got 7 yards on a third-and-4 to move the chains at a critical time.

Defensively, Carson did just about everything right, including a fumble recovery by Vaughn.

“We did a great job of stopping the run tonight,” Lowe said. “Piedmont has a really good quarterback, but we contained him.”

It’s always good to win in front of an open week.

Carson’s next game will be a huge one for both teams on Sept. 15.

The Cougars will be at home to start South Piedmont Conference play against West Rowan, a program the Cougars have beaten only once in their history.