Four things to know from Bishop Carroll’s first win over Northwest football since 2017
Here are four things to know coming away from Bishop Carroll’s 37-27 road victory over Wichita Northwest on Thursday to kick off the 2021 Kansas high school football season.
1. Carroll beats Northwest for first time since 2017
Bishop Carroll had lost five straight games in the west-side rivalry and had its season ended for three straight years in the state playoffs against Northwest.
That pent-up frustration was visible on Thursday at the conclusion of a 37-27 upset, as Carroll’s sideline erupted in celebration for its first win over the Grizzlies since 2017.
“This is everything for us,” Carroll quarterback Chase Smarsh said. “Everyone is excited. Everyone is hungry for a state championship this year.”
Since winning the Class 5A championship in coach Dusty Trail’s first season in 2017, Northwest has been Carroll’s downfall in the postseason ever since. After losing in just about every way to Northwest — from 23-22 and 21-17 heartbreakers all the way to being on the wrong end of an 84-67 shootout — Carroll felt like a significant barrier was taken down in Thursday’s win.
“I think we just proved that we can play against one of the best teams in the state,” Carroll senior defensive lineman Andrew Bye said. “Northwest is fast. They’re physical. They’ve got some really good players. We just played a great game.”
Carroll was particularly proud of its defense, which was monumental in helping Carroll turn a 13-0 deficit after the first quarter into a 30-13 lead midway through the third quarter. The defense forced a total of three turnovers with the first two directly leading to 10 points, as Carroll converted a Reed Hanberg interception into a field goal and cashed a Bye fumble recovery in for a touchdown.
“We just tried not to get too down on ourselves,” Bye said. “We were questioning how good we were as a team there for a little bit, but we rallied back and found our confidence and we started making plays.”
Defensive lineman like Bye and transfer Walt Gray were crucial in containing Northwest’s dynamic rushing attack, which opened up lanes for linebacker Haden Sage and defensive backs like Michael Polley and Cooper Buessing to make plays.
“We knew it was going to be a dog fight and that there were going to be good things that were going to happen and there were going to be bad things that were going to happen,” Trail said. “I’m proud of how our kids responded. We graduated a pretty big senior class, so this was definitely a confidence boost for us to get a win. We’re both trying to retool things a little bit after last season. This is going to prepare our guys going forward and I’m sure Northwest is going to be right there in the mix again when the playoffs come.”
2. Geremiah Moore is a gamer
It was common knowledge before Thursday that Northwest senior Geremiah Moore was going to be one of the most dynamic threats in Kansas this season and his play in the season-opener only solidified that.
But Northwest’s diminutive 5-foot-8 quarterback somehow gained even more respect following his performance on Thursday, as Moore played the entire second half on an injured ankle and still turned seven second-half carries into 112 yards and two touchdowns.
Moore finished the game with more than 360 total yards and four rushing touchdowns, rushing for 246 yards on 21 carries and throwing for 120 yards on 11 of 21 passing. While that may seem normal to Northwest, Carroll’s coach and defense were left in awe following the battle.
“Even on one leg, he’s probably faster than anyone on the field,” said Carroll senior defensive lineman Andrew Bye, who scored a touchdown on a fumble return. “(Moore) is a great athlete and he showed some great toughness.”
Carroll’s defense found success when it was able to keep Moore in between the tackles. But when Moore escaped and Carroll’s containment was broke, he was almost an automatic touchdown like when he faked a pass in the first quarter to get Carroll’s defense leaning, then took off, making three defenders look like they were stuck in slow motion en route to a 66-yard touchdown run.
Even on a bum ankle, Moore still supplied a highlight-reel run late in the third quarter when he once again bounced outside, then juked the safety and ran by two more defenders for a 43-yard score to cut Carroll’s lead to 30-20. As soon as Moore crossed the goal line, he badly limped and needed help returning to Northwest’s sideline.
“That just shows you how special that kid is,” Carroll coach Dusty Trail said. “He’s such a tough tackle. He’s a strong kid and he can run through tackles. I was proud of our kids for keeping after him because that can get demoralizing when he rips off big runs like that on you. But our kids kept battling.”
That type of electric running style is what convinced Army and Navy to extend Division I scholarship offers to Moore this summer. Even though he was compromised for half of his season debut, Northwest coach Steve Martin was proud of the grit his leader showed in attempting to rally Northwest from a 30-13 deficit.
“Geremiah is just a competitor,” Martin said. “Anytime he touches the ball, you never know and he proved that tonight. Anytime you have the chance to put Geremiah on the field and create some stuff for him, it’s going to be good stuff.”
3. Carroll has found its next quarterback
It was an open competition this summer for who would be Carroll’s next signal caller in its hurry-up, spread offense. After winning the initial battle, senior Chase Smarsh stamped his mark on the position with his performance in the season-opener.
Smarsh threw for three touchdowns while completing 9 of 16 passes for 183 yards to go along with a team-high 47 rushing yards against Northwest’s top-notch defense. Not a bad debut for 6-foot senior.
“I had butterflies all day, but I was just trying to keep my mind right and remember that I just needed to go out there and execute,” Smarsh said. “Once I threw that (first touchdown pass), I knew we were going to keep it rolling from there.”
Most importantly, Smarsh kept his poise when Carroll’s first two drives fizzled out and Northwest led 13-0 after the first quarter. Once he had the wind at his back when the field flipped for the second quarter, Smarsh led Carroll on back-to-back touchdown drives to tie the game at 13 by halftime.
Both of his scoring passes went to senior Matt Holthusen, who finished the game with five catches for 133 yards. The second touchdown connection was the most impressive offensive play by Carroll, as Smarsh threw a dime down the right sideline 40 yards down the field that hit Holthusen in stride, then the receiver took off and twisted Northwest’s safety back and forth with cuts until he broke the end zone.
“It was just an awesome throw from Chase,” Holthusen said. “It was a perfect fade to the outside and I caught it and just started cutting in and out and got the score. I never expected those plays to come to me, it just happened. I think everyone saw tonight that (Smarsh) can really throw the ball well and put balls in spots that you need them.”
If Carroll was to remain a Class 5A and City League contender, finding a suitable replacement for all-state quarterback Aiden Niedens was a priority. On Thursday, Smarsh answered that question and in the process made the Golden Eagles look like they’ll be in the mix once again this season.
“Chase really impressed me tonight and we were hoping we would see that from him,” Carroll coach Dusty Trail said. “We hadn’t really seen that kind of consistency from him in practice, but he came out (Thursday) and showed a lot of leadership and poise and that’s going to give him a lot of confidence moving forward. I’m really pleased he stepped up the way he did and we’re hoping that continues.”
4. A ‘good wake-up call’ for Northwest
Northwest had won 29 straight regular-season games dating back to 2017 before Thursday’s stunning loss. In fact, the Grizzlies hadn’t suffered their first loss in a season until the state championship game for the last three seasons.
Returning to the state title game is still the expectation for Northwest, but coach Steve Martin wasn’t worried following his team’s season-opening loss. In some ways, he believes it could serve as powerful motivation.
“We’re not panicking. I think this is a good wake-up call,” Martin said. “It’s a good lesson. Like I told my guys after the game, we’d rather take this loss and take that big lesson now, rather than lose in Game 13. We have seven games to go to get ready for November and that’s how we’re going to approach it.”
Northwest had won seven of the last eight meetings in the matchup before Thursday and Martin had grown accustomed to the rivalry game bringing out the best in his team. That was far from the case on Thursday, as the Grizzlies committed three turnovers and racked up double the amount, 8-4, of penalties than Carroll.
The most costly mistake came in the third quarter when starting quarterback Geremiah Moore was on the sideline and Northwest botched the snap in its own territory. The Grizzlies had a chance to fall on the ball, but instead tried to scoop it to make a play and failed to retrieve the ball — ultimately leading to a scoop-and-score touchdown by Carroll’s defense to extend its lead to 30-13 late in the third quarter.
“Carroll did a good job. They out-efforted us tonight,” Martin said. “They played harder than us and we made some mistakes. I correlate that to practice. When you’re not getting challenged, you don’t practice to your best ability and then you come out and lose the turnover game because you’re pressing. I thought that’s what happened tonight. We put the ball on the ground too many times and we had too many missed assignments.”
Unlike most seasons, when Northwest has bullied the rest of the City League competition, the Grizzlies should find more challenges on the way. Their next three opponents — at Heights (Sept. 10), at Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Sept. 17) and against East (Sept. 24) — figure to make up a competitive top-half of the league this season.
Northwest’s Week 1 loss to Carroll certainly gives the Golden Eagles an early step-up on the competition in the City League race, but the Grizzlies can very much still be a factor if they can win out in September.
“We’ve just got to get back to playing our way,” Martin said. “We don’t have to go back to the drawing board. We’ve just got to execute.”
Bishop Carroll 37, Northwest 27
Carroll (1-0) — 0 13 17 7 — 37
Northwest (0-1) — 13 0 7 7 — 27
NW—Moore 7 run (kick blocked, 3:11, 1Q)
NW—Moore 66 run (Souter kick, 0:19, 1Q)
BC—Holthusen 20 pass from Smarsh (Polley kick, 9:15, 2Q)
BC—Holthusen 78 pass from Smarsh (kick blocked, 4:56, 2Q)
BC—Polley 27 field goal (9:05, 3Q)
BC—Williams 22 run (Polley kick, 6:30, 3Q)
BC—Bye 4 fumble return (Polley kick, 5:25, 3Q)
NW—Moore 43 run (Souter kick, 2:41, 3Q)
BC—Blasi 5 pass from Smarsh (Polley kick, 6:53, 4Q)
NW—Moore 2 run (Souter kick, 4:05, 4Q)
Individual statistics
Rushing—Carroll, Smarsh 16-47, Fernandez Nyafouna 6-36, Williams 10-20, Holthusen 4-10; Northwest, Moore 21-246, Phillips 16-104, Thompson 13-66, Lopez 5-30, Glasper 1-(-5).
Passing—Carroll, Smarsh 9-16-1-183; Northwest, Moore 12-21-1-120.
Receiving—Carroll, Holthusen 5-133, Blasi 4-50; Northwest, Bell 5-57, Lopez 3-24, Phillips 2-22, Miles 1-11, Salisbury 1-6.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 1:00 AM.
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