Carver’s late rally comes up shy

It was a microcosm of an entire season.

In a game that could have gotten away from it, much like the season that nearly did the same, the Carver football team battled back as hard as it could. In the end, it just wasn’t quite enough.

The Tigers fell at Blessed Trinity 24-21 on Friday in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs, ending their season four wins short of their ultimate goal.

And while there were tears of disappointment and anger amongst the Carver players, coach Dre’Mail King reminded his group how far they had come throughout the season.

“We finished everything together,” he said. “The way we came back — that’s a testament to you guys.”

He could have been talking about the game. Or he may have been talking about the entire 2016 season, which was very nearly a disaster with three games remaining in the regular season. Sitting at 3-4, its first losing record since the 2005 season, Carver was on the precipice of being shut out of the playoffs entirely. Instead, much like in Friday’s second-round game, the Tigers battled back, winning their next four games, including a 35-6 victory over Cross Creek in the first round of the playoffs last week.

“It’s amazing the way they fought against the odds,” King said. “I hate to see them hurt. I think they deserved that win. But this is the start of something new, and they did some amazing things down the stretch this year.”

They did the same on Friday.

After taking an early 7-0 lead on a 14-yard run by quarterback Romello Kimbrough in the first quarter, the Tigers surrendered the next 24 points. They trailed 24-7 following a 17-yard scoring strike from Blessed Trinity quarterback Jake Smith to wide receiver Ryan Davis with just 49 seconds remaining in the third.

It appeared as if the Titans had seized control of the contest, but one kickoff return by US Beasley changed the momentum. Beasley tapped the ball at the goal line on the ensuing kickoff, preventing it from bouncing into the end zone for a touchback. Scooping it up just in front of the line, he took off, found a crease and erupted for a 100-yard return to cut into the Blessed Trinity lead.

After the Carver defense held the Titans off the scoreboard on their ensuing drive, Kimbrough led the Tigers on a 10-play, 73-yard drive that included a 36-yard pass and 6-yard touchdown run by Kimbrough.

The Tigers had one more shot, taking the ball near midfield with under two minutes to play, but turned the ball over on downs to fall just short.

Kimbrough finished with 115 yards and two touchdowns on the ground for the Tigers.

King said that he had no doubt the way Carver finished the season can be a sign of things to come for the program.

“No doubt about it,” he said. “We played the entire season from behind. We played tonight from behind. But we never quit.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2016 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Carver’s late rally comes up shy."