Carroll Stunned by Gratz

Tagged under: District 12, Scoreboard, Scores

Mike Livingston | September 6, 2024

AMBLER, PA – For the second straight week Carroll leaves the campus of Wissahickon high school shocked and defeated.

The Patriots came into their week three 35-14 loss to Simon-Gratz Charter 1-1, following a 56-21 beatdown by Wissahickon the week prior. The Pats were looking for a big turnaround heading into PCL play, next week against Archbishop Wood as they attempted to right the wrongs of the week prior, something they weren’t able to do.

The biggest problem that persisted through the last two weeks was the inability for the Patriot defense to stop the run, something that showed early on in the contest for Carroll. Gratz took home their first score of the game with just a few minutes gone in the second quarter running the ball all the way down field on a 12 minute drive and rushing it in from two yards out before botching the two point try making it 6-0.

“You know, that run defense is pooress and it’s a problem,” said Carroll head coach Kyle Detweiler. “That’s what I told them after the game, we have to get better in a hurry.”

The in-game adjustments didn’t seem to go all too well for the Patriots either, as just a few minutes later – after a recovered punt by sophomore Riley Francis that gave the Pats incredible field position, sophomore quarterback Jay Boyd was intercepted on a tipped pass. Gratz quickly capitalized, taking the ball downfield and running it in for another touchdown from 28 yards out.

Boyd, who struggled through the air throughout the game was under nearly constant duress from the pass rush all night struggling to get passes off and taking a couple nasty hits.

“O-Line and blocking was a big struggle on offense,” said Boyd. “(At one point) they rushed three and we had trouble blocking three. We got better in the second half, throwing the ball a couple times. We can fix it but we just need to lock in, there is too much joking and playing at practice. Now its league play. We can’t fold now, we can’t beat ourselves.”

Beating themselves was exactly what the Patriots did on multiple occasions Friday night, with turnovers and missed assignments galore.

That was put on display once again at the open of the second half when Gratz trudged down field for yet another score, this time a 25-yard quarterback run which made the score 21-0 Gratz.

Carroll quickly followed up with a three-and-out as Gratz took the ball right back and capitalized again. This time it was a 50-yard quarterback run that made the score 27-0 Gratz with time still to go in the third quarter.

“We knew from the film that these guys were a really good football team,” said Detweiler. “And they exposed where we had issues, and Gratz went at us and looked to exploit us. We thought we had a better week of practice, because we thought that the Wissahickon game was a reflection on our week of practice. We still have a long way to go this year.”

While the Pats have a long way to go this season, it was Gratz who didn’t have all too long of a way to go to score after sacking Boyd on a fourth down in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs took over and ran in yet another touchdown, topping it off with the two point conversion to make the score 35-0 Gratz in the middle of the fourth period.

Luckily on the next drive, the Pats were able to scrounge a little something up as Boyd ran through some defenders to make it 35-7 after a quick four play drive, set up by a great kick return from senior running back Aaron Barnes.

Carroll followed that up with a forced fumble on Gratz’ first play of the ensuing drive which was recovered by senior Nick D’Alicandro, setting Carroll up once again.

This time Boyd took to the air, dropping in a dime from 15 yards out to Ty Ty Mattison which made the score 35-14 after the PAT from senior kicker Alex Raker.

“We just have to come back and forget about the last two weeks,” said Boyd. “We have to come out there and handle business next saturday.”

“Next Saturday,” marks the Philadelphia Catholic League season opener for the Patriots who will face-off with Wood for a 12:00 PM kickoff from Norristown Area High School.

With the loss the club falls to 1-2 on the still young season and levels the playing field with Gratz at 1-1 all time between the two teams.

“We have to get back to our real true core fundamentals,” said Detweiler. “I think we can still be that team that we were two weeks ago, it’s just that we have a lot more issues now and the competition is only going to improve.”

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