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RUFF RIDERS LOSE HEARTBREAKER IN SAN ANGELO, 65-58

New Stampede QB proves his worth; tosses game-winning TD with 4 seconds left

 
 

BILL NANCE Standard-Times Correspondent
Sunday, June 3, 2007

Donald Carrie wanted to make a good first impression as the newly signed Stampede Express quarterback.

He did.

Carrie hit JT Perry with a 32-yard touchdown pass with four seconds remaining to lead the Stampede to a 65-58 victory over the Katy Ruff Riders Saturday night at San Angelo Coliseum.

Forty-two days. That’s how long it has been since the Stampede last departed the field as winners of an Intense Football League game.

And it has been those same 42 days since the first-year Ruff Riders last walked off the field on the wrong end of the score.

Two streaks; one a string of losses, the other a winner’s ride.

The Riders have been a model of stability; the Stampede Express has experienced half a season of turmoil and change. Of the 22-man San Angelo roster, nine new players suited up for new Stampede coach Wali Mumin, including Carrie.

Carrie got off to a hot start, directing scoring drives on the Stampede’s first three possessions and completing his first four passes, all pinpoint completions. His only incomplete pass of the first quarter was a drop on a short pass into the flat.

Carrie opened the second quarter with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Henry Hunter — the wide-out’s second scoring reception of the first half — and staked the Stampede to a 20-14 lead.

And when he hit Perry with a 33-yard scoring strike, Carrie had completed eight of his first nine tosses. Three of those went for touchdowns.

He finished the half with 11 completions on 15 attempts good for 164 yards and the trio of touchdown tosses.

But even with the solid performance by the Alcorn State product, the Stampede trailed 37-36 at intermission.

“I just wanted to come in and get the job done,” Carrie said afterwards.

After the Stampede defense held Katy on a fourth-and-three play, Carrie needed just two plays to put the Stampede back in front 43-37, hitting Hunter with a 10-yard scoring strike with 6:26 remaining in the third quarter.

The Stampede gave Katy two free points when they were called for offensive holding in their own end zone, and the Ruff Riders took the lead with a Darren Brown 45-yard field goal at the 8:35 mark of the fourth quarter.

Carrie once again met the challenge, hitting a streaking Perry in the back of the end zone from 18 yards out with 6:46 to play, and the home team retook the lead, 50-45.

Katy went back in front 51-50 with a touchdown at the 3:36 mark of the fourth quarter.

Carrie went to work. A pair of completions had the Stampede with a first and goal at the 4-yard line with just over a minute to play. Demont Burdine carried inside for three yards and with under a minute to play it was second and goal from the one.

On third-and-goal, Burdine went around the right end and dove over a defender for the score and a 57-51 San Angelo lead with 52 ticks left.

Katy appeared to have their sixth consecutive win when Higgs hit Se’e Poumele with a six-yard touchdown pass with just 13 seconds on the clock.

But Carrie saved his best for last. On the first play after the kickoff, he found Perry over the middle for the winning score and the raucous home crowd went crazy.

“I knew the guys believed in me when they signed me to come play here. I wanted to step up and be the leader they expected me to be,” Carrie added.

That he was, that he was.

The Stampede next faces first place and unbeaten Louisiana next Saturday in the Coliseum.

San Angelo 64, Katy 58

Score by Quarters

KATY 14 23 3 18 58

SAN ANGELO 13 23 7 21 64

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Katy – 12:45, Darrick Wallace 18 pass from Albert Higgs (Darren Brown kick).

San Angelo – 12:08, Harold Taylor 6 run (Kick failed).

Katy – 5:35, Wallace 15 pass from Higgs (Brown kick).

San Angelo – 2:02, Henry Hunter 8 pass from Donald Carrie (Jeff Tongate kick).

Second Quarter

San Angelo – 14:43, Hunter 30 pass from Carrie (Tongate kick).

Katy – 11:14, Sammy Knight 2 pass from Higgs (Brown kick).

San Angelo – 10:00, JT Perry 33 pass from Carrie (Tongate kick).

Katy – 9:32, Knight 40 pass from Higgs (Brown kick).

Katy – 4:32, Wallace 8 pass from Higgs (Kick failed).

San Angelo – 0:57, Demont Burdine 1 run (Kick failed).

Katy – 0:23, Brown 32 yard field goal.

San Angelo – 0:00, Tongate 24 yard field goal.

Third Quarter

San Angelo – 6:26, Hunter 10 pass from Carrie (Fongate kick).

Katy – 0:39, Brown 23 yard field goal.

Fourth Quarter

Katy – 10:51, Safety, holding penalty in the San Angelo end zone.

Katy – 8:35, Brown 45 yard field goal.

San Angelo – 6:46, Perry 18 pass from Carrie (Fongate kick).

Katy – 3:36, Knight 9 pass from Higgs (Kick failed).

San Angelo – 0:52, Burdine 1 run (Fongate kick).

Katy – 0:13, Se’e Poumele 6 pass from Higgs (Brown kick).

San Angelo – 0:04, Perry 32 pass from Carrie (Fongate kick).

 


 

 

 

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