Posted: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 12:00 pm

By RANDY CAVIN
Press Sports
Too much defense and just enough offense by West Carroll added up to a 21-6 win over Gleason in the District 13A opener for both teams Friday night in Atwood.
The War Eagles’ offensive line provided the push for the running game, and the defense held the Bulldogs in check for much of the night. Each time Gleason looked to be gaining momentum, WC found a way to put a stop to it or the Bulldogs stopped it themselves.
The first quarter was all West Carroll as the War Eagles controlled the ball with their running game and offensive line winning the battle in the trenches.
Gleason was stopped on a three-and-out on both of its possessions in the first quarter. West Carroll, meanwhile, held the ball for 16 offensive plays and scored on a Jamal Glenn 14-yard pass to Robert Reynolds five minutes into the game.
Glenn found Jacob Wynn open for a 16-yard touchdown 46 seconds into the second quarter to put West Carroll up 14-0.
The Bulldogs then could not get a handle on the short opening kickoff, and the War Eagles fell on the ball at Gleason’s 38. But, the Bulldogs made some adjustments on defense and kept West Carroll from scoring.
“We made some adjustments to who had assignments on who had the quarterback and who had the fullback,” Gleason head coach, Noah Lampkins said. “We made those adjustments and were able to stop them.”
Gleason held West Carroll to 236 total yards of offense with 201 coming on the ground.
The Bulldogs were finally able to get some offense going after the defense held West Carroll.
Tanner Trevathan connected with Blake Taylor for a 17-yard gain, and Kyle Williams got the ball into West Carroll’s territory on a 16-yard run down to the 44.
Trevathan and Taylor connected once again for a 17-yard play to put the Bulldogs into the red zone, and Trevathan completed a 13-yard pass to Austin Perry for Gleason’s only score of the game.
The Bulldogs had 93 yards of offense in the second quarter after only gaining 15 in the first. The second half was not much better for Gleason with only 58 total yards of offense.
“Offensively, we could just never get anything going in the second half,” Lampkins said. “Poor execution by us and just not a very good night offensively. We are a ways away offensively.”
West Carroll extended its lead to 21-6 on the first play after the War Eagles took over on downs at their own 41 yard line in the third quarter West Carroll lined up in a shotgun formation and Glenn took off on a quarterback option for a 59-yard touchdown with 5:33 to play in the quarter.
After Trevathan was sacked early in the fourth quarter, Perry sent a monster punt 60 yards with the wind at his back. The Bulldogs forced the War Eagles to punt from their own 17 and Taylor broke through the line to block it, giving the Bulldogs a great opportunity to narrow the score.
The Bulldogs could not take advantage of the golden opportunity. Trevathan saw Perry back in the left hand corner of the end zone, but Perry could not make the grab.
“We just could not finish,” Lampkins said. “We could not get it in the end zone. We were just not able to execute down there when it mattered.”
Gleason finished with 163 total yards. Clark led Gleason with 30 yards on five carries. Copeland ran the ball five times for 24 yards. Published in the WCP 9.4.12