Dowling running game ends CF season just short of trip to UNI Dome

Photo by Oliver Rea

The seventh-ranked Tigers fell short 14-42, to Dowling Catholic last Friday Nov. 6 at Mediacom Stadium. The Tigers’ junior Carsen Gary returned the opening kick for a touchdown. Then after that it was all Maroons, with three touchdowns in the first quarter. The Tigers would then be held, scoreless until the third quarter. 

Tiger Baylor Petrie had a completion rate of 41.7 percent, and Dowling’s Ethan LaCava’s was 25 percent. There were a total 13 completed passes, and 10 of those were the Tigers. 

Dowling’s junior running back Henry Smid had himself a night, with 41 carries and 226 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry and five touchdowns. Their other running back, junior Grayson Pennington, had seven carries for 128 yards averaging 18.3 yards per carry. 

The Tiger defense did a good job taking the pass game away by making sure that Williams was covered tightly on every play, often having two or three guys defending him. Dowling’s offense was trying to make things as hard as possible for Hanks. 

On their run plays they had offensive linemen jumping to the next level and blocking Brayden. Hanks still racked up crazy numbers on Friday night with 15 tackles, 11 solo, and 1.5 tackles for loss. Kies was also making a lot of plays, with 11.5 tackles, 9 solo, and 2.5 tackles for loss. 

After his 93-yard kick return, for a touchdown, Gary had one catch for 14 yards. Senior Starton Range had four receptions for 35 yards, averaging 8.8 yards per catch. Taylor Carter had three receptions, 41 yards and 13.7 yards per catch. 

The leading tackler for Dowling was Carlos Blount Jr. The senior Air Force commit had five tackles and two of his tackles were solo.