Carpenter shines in QB debut as Freddies earn 1st win of season

FREDERICKTOWN — Fredericktown head coach Will Hartley called the 24 hours after last Friday’s loss to rival Clear Fork “the lowest of lows.”

It wasn’t just any old loss. The Colts came into Fredericktown and dismantled the Freddies, winning 54-8 in the season opener. Fredericktown’s starting quarterback, junior Ben Mast, left the game in the first quarter with an upper-body injury and did not return.

The Freddies were battered and bruised – the optimism of a fresh, new season quickly replaced with doubt.

“Last week was just a really disappointing outing against Clear Fork, and then we lose Ben on top of that. …” Hartley recalled. “We talked about it on Saturday: ‘What are we gonna do?’”

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Hartley received a text.

It was from Kaid Carpenter, a junior wideout who had caught just one pass against Clear Fork. As one of the team’s premier athletes, he was being considered as a potential replacement for Mast moving forward.

“He texted me on Sunday and he said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a group of guys … Will you meet us over here at 5 o’clock and we’ll start going over some things?’” Hartley recalled.

The group included sophomore Trevor Bellman, who Carpenter would compete with for the starting position Friday, and several of the team’s receivers. Even Mast showed up – his arm in a sling – to help Carpenter and Co. prepare for the road ahead.

That meet-up – organized by the team’s leaders, on what was supposed to be their one day off – changed everything, Hartley said. It set the tone for the week ahead, and it made clear the expectation that this group would not be going down without a fight.

“That was just a real breath of fresh air in a really tough 24-hour period,” Hartley said, “for them to kind of take ownership of the process, which we always talk about taking ownership of the process, and reach out and say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna get this done.’”

Five days later, the Freddies’ persistence paid off. They put together a masterpiece on short notice, outlasting Northridge, 42-35, and earning their first win of the season.

“It was huge. We needed to bounce back after that big loss to Clear Fork,” Carpenter said after the win, grinning from ear to ear as his teammates rang the victory bell. “I don’t know, everybody’s just living on cloud nine.”

Carpenter got the nod in Mast’s place, and he delivered nothing short of a legendary performance. He threw 11-of-15 for 219 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also carried the ball 14 times for 126 yards.

For someone who hadn’t played quarterback since fifth grade, Carpenter appeared comfortable and confident under-center on Friday night. He launched pin-point passes and darted through gaps, tormenting the Northridge defense with his versatility and decision-making.

“It was really nice, the fact that he could throw the ball and run the ball, and be a dual-threat (quarterback),” junior wideout Teegan Ruhl said. “He stepped up really well. He stepped up and did his job – more than his job. He took care of what other people couldn’t (as a) junior, in his first time being under center.”

Ruhl had quite the night himself, carrying the ball 20 times for 165 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a screen pass from Carpenter late in the third quarter and took it 74 yards to the house, giving Fredericktown the cushion it needed to survive Northridge’s second-half surge.

“They just really had a great push and it opened up the holes for me, and I just hit it,” said Ruhl, giving all the credit to his offensive line.

Fredericktown (1-1) jumped out to a three-touchdown lead Friday before Northridge (0-2) joined the party.

Ruhl ran the ball in from 28 yards out to give the Freddies a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game (the extra point missed). He’d do it again from 5 yards out with 49 seconds left in the first quarter, and a two-point conversion from senior Trevor Jobes increased the lead to 14-0.

Ruhl kicked off the second quarter with a 21-yard touchdown sprint, as he glided into the end zone untouched to make it 20-0 with 5:14 left until halftime. Northridge senior Nic Minder returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to the house, narrowing the lead to 13.

But Fredericktown closed the half with one more scoring drive, capped off by a 34-yard missile from Carpenter to senior Brady Van Houten down the sideline. Jobes converted the two-point conversion to make it 28-7 Freddies at halftime.

“We got off to a slow start on both sides of the ball,” Northridge head coach Jay Campbell said. “And hats off to their coaches, I thought they did a really nice job of running their game plan early – on both sides of the ball they did a nice job. And I think their kids came out with a little more fire in the beginning. I think they came out initially and played a lot more physically.”

The Vikings got back on track to begin the second half, scoring twice in the first four minutes. Junior quarterback Lane Hess found senior tight end Isaiah Hartman in the end zone from 37 yards out; then, following Carpenter’s only interception of the night, Hess hit senior J.D. Miller in the flat and the wing back took it 75 yards to the house.

Fredericktown led 28-21 with 8:08 left in the third quarter.

“I thought the second half, I was really proud of the way our guys played. I thought they played a lot harder, they locked in. They didn’t quit, they responded,” Campbell said. “Being down three scores at half and scoring two to get right back in it there straight out of the half and (getting) a stop or two. So, I was proud of the way our guys kept fighting.”

Perhaps Fredericktown’s biggest offensive possession of the night came next. With their backs against the wall, the Freddies marched 66 yards in 4:25, converting twice on fourth down to keep the drive alive.

“We knew we weren’t stopping. We needed that first down,” said Carpenter, who took the matter into his own hands near midfield, bulldozing his way past the chains as the game hung in the balance.

“I guess our mentality just helped us out on that – the aggressiveness – and we got it.”

Carpenter would finish the drive moments later. The junior reared back and launched a 41-yard missile to Jobes, who caught the ball in-stride and waltzed into the end zone, sending the beach-themed student section into a frenzy. Fredericktown led 34-21 with 3:35 left in the third quarter.

Miller would narrow the lead once again on the next possession, bursting into the end zone from 25 yards out. But Fredericktown finished the quarter strong, as Ruhl took a screen pass 74 yards to the house and Carpenter found junior tight end Xavier Mullins in the end zone for the two-point conversion, increasing the margin to 42-28.

Northridge began the fourth quarter with an 11-play, 77-yard scoring drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown sprint from Miller. The Freddies clung to a 42-35 lead with 6:58 remaining.

After Fredericktown turned the ball over on downs near midfield, Northridge had a chance to tie the game late. But the Freddie defense found a way to close the deal. Dropping back to pass on a second down with 1:20 remaining, Hess was flushed out of the pocket by Fredericktown pass-rushers, and was forced to heave a pass blindly toward the end zone.

It turned into a jump ball, and fortunately for Fredericktown, Logan Small won it. The junior defensive back snagged the ball out of the humid August air, came down with it, and the celebration was on. The Freddies proceeded to run out the clock and come away with the victory.

“It’s just unbelievable,” said Hartley, watching as his team celebrated afterwards with friends and family. “I mean, you go from the lowest of lows (after the Clear Fork loss) to the highest of highs.”

Hartley said he was most proud of his team’s resilience on Friday night. The Freddies could have wilted under the late-game pressure, as their lead shrunk and Northridge gained momentum. Instead, they dug their heels in and fought back.

“I said, ‘Hey guys, we’ve gotta be able to answer the bell when teams strike back. Because they’re gonna strike back.’ I just think there’s a lot of good football teams around this year. I think there’s a lot of parity, and you saw that tonight. We’ve just gotta keep swinging,” Hartley said.

“The kids really did a good job offensively on those fourth down conversions; they believed in their assignments, they believed that they could get it done, and I think every time, they got it done tonight. … That was the difference in the game.”

And while Carpenter and Ruhl shared most of the spotlight, Hartley praised his offensive line for their role in the win.

“I think the kids and the coaches – I mean, we just took that personally last week,” Hartley said. “Throughout our scrimmages, we had really moved the ball well. We just got stuffed last week. So I think we really took it upon ourselves – we had a chip on our shoulder all week, and we wanted to come out and prove that we were a better ball club, especially up front. And I think the boys did that.”

Hartley said Friday that Mast is out “for the indefinite future, six to eight weeks.” The coach seemed confident that Carpenter could handle the starting role moving forward.

“Kaid’s one of our best athletes. If we can get the ball to him every snap, it seems like that’s our best option …” Hartley said. “Kaid’s an individual that, if you talk to the kid for five minutes, he’s just one of those kids that just has a natural presence. And that’s the type of kid that can really take control of the huddle and it seems like (he can) really bring confidence to the huddle as well.

“It’s reassuring … that it seems like we’ve got an individual who we can hang our hat on at quarterback. We’re in pretty good shape there at the quarterback spot, and I think the kids are gonna believe in Kaid from this point forward.”

Carpenter, who starts at power forward for the basketball team and pitches for the baseball team, said he felt nervous heading into his debut Friday night. But once he took his first snap – and proceeded to sprint 30 yards up the sideline – everything changed.

“I got a run on the first play and that helped me out,” he said. “After that, all the nerves were gone. It was just, ‘Let’s play football.’”

Fredericktown has not won back-to-back games since 2017. The Freddies will have the chance to do so next Friday, when they face Utica (0-2) on the road.

Hartley said the goal next week will be to get healthy and learn from this week’s mistakes.

“We had to rally tonight and fill in some spots there. So hopefully we get kids back healthy here throughout the week, and we’re ready to take that into another good week at Utica,” Hartley said. “Because if we can get down there and get a good outing against Utica, then it sets us up (where) we’re 2-1 heading into the league.”

Northridge, meanwhile, will aim for its first win of the season next Friday, when it hosts Grandview Heights (1-1). Campbell said the key will be stringing four solid quarters together – not just the first or second half.

“We’ve gotta be able to put four quarters together. This is the second week in a row we’ve played a really good second half of football but came out a little flat,” Campbell said. “We’ve gotta put the whole thing together.”