LA CORUNA (AP) — Pinckney didn’t have much to deal with Tarick Bower, who terrorized Fowlerville six nights earlier, but his twin brother didn’t offer much relief as the focal point of the La Coruna attack.
Junior quarterback Wyatt Bower rushed 22 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns Thursday night in the Cavaliers’ 35-28 win over Pinckney.
He also went 5-for-10 for 60 yards and a touchdown.
Tarick Bower only had one touch on offense, a 31-yard reception. In a 36-13 win over Fowlerville, he rushed for three touchdowns and intercepted two passes.
“He had a little injury, maybe a hamstring,” Pinckney’s trainer Jason Carpenter said. “His twin brother of his did a great job tonight with a lot of the quarterback reading schemes that they run. He did a great job running the ball for them and stepping up with his brother out.”
As much as Carpenter admired the La Coruna quarterback’s performance, it was unacceptable that the Pirates allowed 352 yards on 47 carries, an average of 7.5 yards per rush. Parker Isham had 134 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.
“That’s up to me,” Carpenter said. “I have to do a better job on the defensive side of the ball and take the run away.”
After Corunna scored first, Pinckney scored three straight touchdowns to take a 21-7 lead with 5:44 left in the first half. Quarterback Brady Raymond scored on runs of 59 and 6 yards, while running back Ethan Vanover had a 1-yard touchdown run.
A turning point came when Coruña managed to get two touchdowns in the last 37 seconds of the first half to go up 21-20 at halftime.
“You could see in our kids’ eyes that we were a little bummed out by that marker right before the half,” Carpenter said.
Two Wyatt Bower touchdown runs gave Corunna a 35-21 lead with 3:32 remaining in the game. Pinckney got within seven points on Raymond’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Carruthers with 40 seconds left, but Wyatt Bower recovered the onside kick.
Raymond rushed 15 times for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He was 12-of-23 for 192 yards and a touchdown, but also threw three interceptions.
“Brady will tell you he shouldn’t have thrown those three picks,” Carpenter said. “He knows it; he’s a leader. We should get more guys involved in the race, but some of that stuff Corunna gave us just opened him up for quarterback runs tonight. We’ve got to do a better job of lightening the load.” .
La Coruna is ranked #7 in Division 5 by the Detroit Free Press.
Pinckney will host Tecumseh next Friday.
Contact Bill Khan at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.