Tray Boone rushes for 301 yards and six touchdowns in Narbonne’s 48-32 victory over Carson.
By Jason Lewis
Sentinel Sports Editor
[email protected]
Narbonne and Carson’s first match up this season was an instant classic, with Narbonne winning the best game of the high school football season 38-37. The City championship game was also an instant classic, namely for Narbonne’s running game.
After the opening moments of the first quarter, it looked like this game would be an instant classic for Carson. Narbonne quarterback Troy Williams, who has played great all season, was intercepted by Carson’s Jerrod Moton on the third play of the game. The very next play Carson running back Roger Jones took their first offensive play from scrimmage for a 55-yard touchdown run.
Carson’s sidelines and their fans were going crazy and Narbonne’s players and fans could only watch in shock. On the next drive, Narbonne drove the ball into scoring position, only to see Moton intercept a second Williams pass, this time in the endzone.
From that point on in the first half Narbonne played great on defense, and on offense they handed the game over to running back Tray Boone.
Carson made several mistakes before halftime. A muffed punt set Narbonne up at the Carson six yard line, which led to a one yard touchdown run by Boone, which tied the game at seven all.
At the beginning of the second quarter Carson was forced to punt from their 15 yard line, but a botched attempt on the punt play gave Narbonne the ball at the Carson 11 yard line. That led to Boone’s second touchdown of the game, and gave Narbonne a 14-7 lead.
Carson was forced to punt from their two yard line on the next series, but a short kick set Narbonne up on Carson’s 25 yard line. A few plays later, Williams scored on a quarterback sneak, giving Narbonne a 21-7 lead.
Carson was desperate for a big play, and it looked like they got it when the kick off was returned 70 yards, all the way to the Narbonne 15 yard line. But on the second play of the drive they fumbled the ball, and Narbonne’s Aaron Afalava picked it up and ran 70 yards, setting Narbonne up at Carson’s 15 yard line, which led to Boone’s third touchdown of the game. That gave Narbonne a 28-7 lead.
To finish off the first half Carson fumbled the ball again, which set up Boone’s fourth touchdown of the half. Boone finished the half with 168 yards rushing, and Narbonne held a 35-7 lead.
Combining the first half of this game with the first half of Narbonne’s victory over Dorsey a week ago, Narbonne had outscored their opponents 76-7, and Boone rushed for 269 and scored five touchdowns. That’s against two of the best teams in the City Section.
The rout appeared to be on, but the pride in Carson was not going to allow them to go down without a fight.
Outside of Jones’ 55-yard touchdown run on Carson’s first play from scrimmage, he was pretty much contained for the rest of the game. So they turned to USC bound receiver Darreus Rogers, who put the offense on his back as they attempted a come back.
Rogers scored on a 73-yard touchdown off of a deep pass in the third quarter, and in the fourth he made a circus catch over two Narbonne defenders in the endzone off of another deep pass.
Rogers finished the game with 10 receptions for 212 yards. With his productive second half, Carson was able to close the gap to 42-32 in the fourth quarter, but each time it seemed like Carson was on the verge of coming back, Boone put the game out of reach again.
In the second half Boone had touchdown runs of 36 and 33 yards, each one answering a Carson score.
Narbonne shared the City title in 2008 with San Pedro when the championship game ended in a tie (overtime has since been added), but this time around, Narbonne won the title outright, 48-32.
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