How Bishop Carroll football flipped the game in comeback win over Wichita Northwest
When it comes to the football rivalry between Bishop Carroll and Wichita Northwest, no deficit feels insurmountable
The annual Week 1 battle between West-side foes to kick off the Kansas high school football season almost always delivers in entertainment value, as both programs feature up-tempo, explosive offenses. After all, this is the matchup that produced 151 total points in a playoff game in 2018.
Even when Carroll had no momentum and looked dangerously close to being blown out, down 22 points early in the third quarter to Northwest, the Golden Eagles rallied behind the belief that they could still win a shootout.
“We knew anything is possible, given the games we’ve played against those guys,” Carroll coach Dusty Trail said.
A change at quarterback and a well-timed interception returned for a touchdown flipped the game in the second half, as Carroll rallied for a 53-41 win over the Grizzlies at home on Friday. The Golden Eagles outscored Northwest 44-10 after falling behind by 22 points in the third quarter.
It marked the second straight year Carroll has notched a double-digit, come-from-behind win over Northwest to start the season.
“Sometimes those big plays are tough to get, but it’s such a great feeling when they happen like that,” said Jackson King, who sparked Carroll in the second half with his play at quarterback. “We had a lot of guys step up and make those plays. I feel great about it and I just love this team.”
For the game’s first 30 minutes, Northwest’s fast-paced running attack overwhelmed Carroll’s defense. No one seemed to be able to catch the speedy Cencere Thompson and no one seemed to be able to bring down bruiser L.J. Phillips, while first-year quarterback Jayce Glasper added another threat in the backfield.
The combination appeared too much for Carroll early in the third quarter when Phillips scored a pair of touchdowns, the last a 72-yard run where he used his physicality and speed to evade defenders and reach the end zone.
“I think our guys were afraid to make a mistake,” Trail said. “We were playing really tentative on both sides of the ball and I don’t think we were attacking like we could. In the second half, we stopped doing that and that’s when good things started happening.”
King, who split time with starting quarterback Zach Steven in the first half, was one of those tentative players. King knew he was fast and could do damage with his running ability, but wasn’t being decisive enough in the first half. That changed on the first drive of the second half.
The 6-foot-3 junior said he put his trust in his offensive line and the group of Hank Purvis, Nathan Barrientos, Matthew Robben, Jacob Racine and Camden Hudspeth delivered. On the first play of the drive, a hole emerged and King planted and sprinted through all the way to the end zone for a 46-yard touchdown without being touched by a defender.
If that didn’t jolt Carroll out of its daze, what happened next certainly did.
A Northwest pass was batted up in the air and floated straight to Carroll senior defensive back Cooper Buessing, who bee-lined it straight from the middle of the field to the right corner of the end zone for a 30-yard interception return. In a matter of seconds, the 22-point deficit was down to nine.
“(Carroll defensive coordinator Jim Nance) says that when a Gang Green (defender) touches the ball, it better be a touchdown for us,” Buessing said. “So that was all that was going through my mind when I grabbed the ball and took off.”
While it didn’t put Carroll in the lead, or even draw it to within a single score, Trail pinpointed the play in hindsight as the play that changed the game.
“That really turned the momentum of the game in our favor and got us rolling,” Trail said. “If (Northwest) would have kept things rolling, I don’t think we would have been able to rebound from that.”
Phillips briefly silenced the crowd with a highlight-reel, 72-yard touchdown run to balloon Northwest’s lead to 39-23 midway through the third quarter. But Carroll’s offense would not be stopped with King at the helm.
King’s legs would propel Carroll toward the end zone, then junior running back Thomas Gorges would finish the drives with tough runs inside the 10-yard line. Gorges scored two straight times to cut Northwest’s lead to 39-37 entering the fourth quarter.
Northwest’s offense seemed to lose its punch when Glasper, its starting quarterback, exited the game with an injury in the third quarter. The Grizzlies would not score again on offense following Phillips’ long dash, as Carroll would capitalize on the short drives and good field position.
Carroll finally broke through on a 45-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep to receiver Tate Blasi, who found space down the left sideline and then weaved through Northwest’s secondary for the go-ahead score and 45-39 lead. A touchdown run by Van Haneberg capped flurry of points, as Carroll finished with five touchdowns after halftime.
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 7:39 AM.
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