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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Pioneer (10-1) at Carroll (Flora) (7-3), 7 p.m.
(Winner plays West Central-LaVille winner in a Class 1A regional)
Pioneer’s wing-T ground game continued unimpeded over its opponents when it routed previously undefeated Frontier 42-6 at the Panther Pit last week in a Class 1A, Sectional 42 semifinal.
Pioneer did not complete a pass, but passing was not necessary on a night the Panthers ran for 415 yards on 11.2 yards per carry. Phillip McFatridge averaged 18.6 yards per carry, Shiloh Rine averaged 17.2 yards per carry, Noah VanMeter averaged 8.5 yards per carry, and Micah Rans averaged 5.7 yards per carry.
Pioneer coach Adam Berry, who is also the offensive play caller, said he hasn’t changed the offense since the end of last season but said they are “more balanced” where a greater number have success with the ball in their hands.
“I think that was key,” Pioneer coach Adam Berry said. “We were very balanced. I thought all four of our backs contributed. I thought Frontier had a game plan to take away more of Micah and Noah, and our wings (Rine and McFatridge) had a tremendous night. They cut hard. They ran hard. Their vision with the ball was the best it’s been all year. And credit to our wings as well: It was their best blocking night. … Then when you have a great rushing attack, you always have to give credit to the line. I thought their communication was great. I thought they fired off the ball well and simply executed.”
Defensively, Pioneer shuttered a Frontier offense who came in averaging 52 points per game and whose previous season low for points in a game was 32.
“I just think getting all guys to the ball,” Berry said. “That’s what our defense has been doing the entire season. We have eight guys who have 50 or more tackles. That’s just a testament to our guys doing their job on the defensive side of the ball. We stress all the time (that) you may not make the play. You may not make the tackle. But if you do your job, it might open up someone else to get the tackle.
“That’s what’s nice about our team. They’re not a selfish group. They don’t care about stats. They just care about what the score is at the end of the game. I just thought our coaches last week had a great game plan. Our players had a focused week of practice. I have to give credit to our scout team. It’s not an offense we see all the time because Frontier likes to spread it out more. But I thought our scout team offense did a nice job trying to do what Frontier wanted to do, and like I said, we just got guys to the ball.”
Pioneer’s win earned them a meeting at Carroll in the Class 1A, Sectional 42 final. It is a rematch of last year’s sectional semifinal, which Pioneer won 49-7.
Blake Betzner is in his fifth season as Carroll coach, and the 49 points remains the most Carroll has allowed in Betzner’s 60 games as coach. In fact, on only four other occasions has Carroll’s opponent even scored as many as 30 points in a game.
Rans ran for 322 yards and five touchdowns against Carroll last year. It was a school single-game rushing record until Rans broke his own mark with 325 in a win over North Miami Sept. 19.
Like Pioneer, Carroll also has a running-oriented quarterback in junior Cale Peters. Berry described Carroll’s offense as “similar to ours,” where the quarterback has some read plays and where there are also some wing-T elements.
“He’s a horse, man,” Berry said. “He’s a solid-looking player. He runs hard in between the tackles, but when he gets out in space, he has some speed to him as well. He is a great running quarterback. Carroll’s similar to us. They like to establish the run and maybe throw it when they try to catch a team off-guard, but their run game is their primary offense. He does a great job with that. He has some quick guys around him too to keep the defense on their toes. … It’s something that we see throughout the year. It’s something that our guys see daily in practice where it has a lot of similarities and obviously some tweaks that are a little bit different. But to the naked eye, you’re going to say, ‘Wow, those offenses look a lot alike.’”
Offensively, junior quarterback Cale Peters ran for two touchdowns, and Aiden Wiles ran for the go-ahead score that broke a 13-13 tie for Carroll in a 20-19 win over Taylor last week. Carroll also denied a Taylor 2-point conversion attempt with over seven minutes to go that helped preserve the lead.
Despite the win, Carroll’s defense allowed 408 yards of total offense.
“Talk about getting to the ball, and that’s what they do,” Berry said. “It starts with their size up front. It’s tough to move them. You’re going to have to stay low on their hip. You can’t go shoulder pad to shoulder pad, or they’re not going to lose any ground. Then, their linebackers do a great job of using their speed to get to the ball, and then their safeties aren’t accounted for, and they read it well and get to the ball.
You can tell that’s something they pride themselves on and something we pride ourselves on. It’s going to be a heavyweight battle for a sectional championship.”
Pioneer is seeking their 13th sectional title and their first since 2020. Berry is seeking his fifth sectional in 10 years as coach.
Pioneer is 9-2 against Carroll in sectional games all-time. Carroll won the first two meetings in 1985 and 1996, but Pioneer has won nine in a row since.
If Pioneer wins, they will play West Central on the road or LaVille at home in the regional.
