Containing Fralick key to playoff opener

By the time Friday’s playoff game against Spanish Springs rolls around, members of the Carson High defensive unit will hear and see a lot of Cougars QB Hunter Fralick.

Fralick, who has already signed a national letter-of-intent with the University of Nevada, will bring some impressive numbers into the opening round of the Division I playoffs at Carson High (7 p.m.).

Fralick, a senior, has thrown for 2,028 yards and 11 scores, and run for 1,077 yards and 16 scores in leading Spanish Springs to a 4-5 record.

“He is awful good,” said Carson defensive coordinator Bob Bateman, who will be tasked with coming up with ways to contain Fralick. “He is intelligent, a gifted athlete and a competitor. He plays with a lot of confidence, and his teammates play off of him. He has great field presence and great vision.”

Bateman said that many of Fralick’s runs are in an empty backfield set where Fralick may pump fake and take off. He had two TD runs of more than 30 yards in the season-ending loss to Reed.

“We have to change things up on him; disguise things and not let him get a good pre-snap read on us,” Bateman said. “We have to keep everything (and everybody) in front of us. He has a couple of good wide receivers. If we can keep our offense on the field that keeps him off of it.”

Gehrig Parks leads the receiving corp with 68 catches for 988 yards and nine scores. Jacob White has 32 catches for 354 yards and a score, and Trevor Listman has 27 catches for 281 yards. Jeff Jurgensmeier complements Fralick with 332 rushing yards and three scores, while CJ Carithers has 289 rushing yards and six scores. Simply put, the Cougars are a handful.

Comparing the scores

Spanish Springs and Carson share several common opponents, and it was interesting to compare scores.

Both teams beat Hug, Douglas and North Valleys. Spanish Springs was a plus-42 in those games, while Carson was a plus-53.

Carson beat McQueen (19-6) and Galena (27-26), while Spanish Springs lost to both of those teams, McQueen (35-24) and Galena (48-21).

Both Spanish Springs and Carson lost to Reed and Reno. Reed beat Carson 64-26 and Spanish Springs 63-28. Reno beat Carson 23-17 and Spanish Springs 31-21.

Carson knocked off Damonte Ranch, 38-35, and Damonte beat Spanish Springs, 32-27.

Carson’s other win was against Manogue, and the Spanish Springs-Manogue game was canceled because of smoky conditions at the start of the season.

Cunningham streak ends

Linebacker Cody Cunningam’s streak of double-digit tackle games ended at two.

Cunningham, who had 19 tackles against Galena and 13 against Manogue, had seven tackles in the 19-13 overtime win over Douglas.

Getting a read on CHS

Trying to figure out the Carson High football team is a difficult task.

Carson has outscored opponents 126-98 in the first half and 144-115 in the second half. Carson has led at the half in five of its nine games. In the three games the Senators trailed at halftime (Reed, Galena and Douglas), they won two of those games. Carson has been outscored just once in the second half, that coming against Reed when the Raiders scored 35 in the third quarter to take command.

Carson’s offense averages 14 first-half points and 16 second-half points. The defense gives up an average of 10 points in the first half and 12.7 in the second half.