Terriers clobber Soldan 53-8

The Carbondale Terriers football team was hitting on all cylinders last Friday against Soldan, Mo., as the CCHS offense ran up 40 points in just the first quarter of play en route to a 53-8 victory.

However, if you look at just the stats, you might say it was an even game.

The Terriers only had 211 total yards, but Soldan had an even worse 74. However, Soldan had so many miscues that it set the Terriers up for several scores within the red zone, and sorry Soldan even had two safeties in that first period

Those safeties had Soldan kicking off from their own 20 twice, thus giving the Terriers the ball inside Soldan territory even more. Carbondale coach Bryan Lee had mercy on Soldan, and a pregame agreement between him and the Soldan coach allowed a continuous clock running even in the first period.

“I pulled my starters before the first period ended,” noted Lee. “We also wanted to stay healthy (no injuries) for the next two crucial games.”

The score was 46-0 Carbondale at the half. What happened in the second half had more to do with compassion than football. Soldan not only was winless, but also had not scored a point in seven games. Soldan finally scored on an eight-yard pass play against Carbondale’s freshmen and sophomores. After the game, Lee gave the game ball to the Soldan team — quite a gesture by a winning coach.

“I was just trying to reward Soldan players for sticking it out through many hot and tiresome practices,” Lee said.

But there will be no charity gestures given by the Terriers the next two games. CCHS now sits at 3-4 going into their last two games at Marion and Mascoutah. CCHS must win both to qualify for the Illinois state playoffs.

Marion started off 4-0 but have lost their last 3 games. If they lose their last two, they will be out of the playoffs, too. Mascoutah is a mess, being three games under .500.