FREEPORT — Chris Carney touched the ball just nine times Saturday afternoon, but it was more than enough.

The senior running back scored four touchdowns and caught a 2-point conversion pass to spark Wells to a 50-0 win over Freeport in a Western Class C football game.

“If he’s not a Fitzy finalist, there’s something wrong with the Fitzy, I guess,” Wells Coach Tim Roche said, referring to the Fitzpatrick Award presented annually to Maine’s top high school senior football player. “He’s got more than 550 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns in four games. I’d take that as a running back and I was never a running back.”

But Carney’s not thinking about any postseason awards.

“It hasn’t crossed my mind,” he said. “I’m more focused on the task at hand. Whatever happens after the season happens,” Carney said.

“The thing I love about this kid is he is really bugged when people give him attention,” Roche said. “He’s so sold on the team aspect that this stuff bugs the heck out of him. He wants it to be about everyone else on the field, and that’s a nice thing. That’s a good kid to have.”

Saturday’s team effort against the Falcons (1-3) included 100 yards rushing on three carries by Reid Chase, while Carney had 50 yards on his seven carries.

“Every day we have to go out and do what we do,” Carney said. “Everybody works as hard as hard as everyone else. It’s a total team effort.”

But it was Carney who set the tone.

The second time Carney touched the ball he returned a punt 55 yards for his first touchdown.

With two minutes left in the first quarter, he ran left 3 yards for a touchdown to cap a six-play, 32-yard scoring drive to send the Warriors to a 13-0 lead.

Wells (3-1) scored four times in the second quarter to turn the game into a rout.

Less than a minute into the quarter, quarterback Nate Booth sneaked in from the 1-yard line after throwing a 52-yard bomb to tight end Ryan Marsh. Five minutes later, Chase made it 27-0 by scampering 58 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown on the second play of the drive.

In the final five minutes of the first half, Carney scored on runs of 3 and 19 yards to give the Warriors a 43-0 lead.

“They’re a good football team,” Freeport Coach Rob Grover said. “They’re very athletic and much better than us up front on both sides of the ball. They won in the trenches mostly.”

The Falcons were outmanned. Freeport dressed just 19 players, while the Warriors had more than 40 players in uniform for the contest.

“I’m proud of my boys,” Grover said. “We played as tough as we could against them. (Wells) is definitely one of the top contenders for sure.”

None of the players in Wells’ starting backfield played in the second half, when the timekeeper went to a running clock, only stopping for scoring plays and timeouts.

Evan Whitten completed the scoring when he ran 15 yards for a touchdown to cap a 7-play, 58-yard drive following the second- half kickoff.

The Warriors held a sizeable statistical edge. Wells made 16 first downs while compiling 349 yards of offense.

Wells’ defense held the Falcons to two first downs and just 4 yards of offense while recording three quarterback sacks and allowing one pass completion.

Copy the Story Link