Senators challenged to hold that Tigers’ James

MINDEN — Prior to Thursday’s game, Carson coach Blair Roman raved about Douglas quarterback Bryce James.

And, despite a 42-13 win over the Tigers, Roman hadn’t changed his opinion.

James completed 23 of 35 passes for 294 yards unofficially. He also had two TDs, both to Cody Ball. One came on a breakdown in the CHS secondary when both Spencer Rogers appeared to come up and help with run support on a James scramble, allowing Ball to get behind them. Ball beat Rogers on the other one.

“He is the best quarterback we’ve faced since (Matt) Denn (from Reed),” Roman said. “He has shown that every week. He has become a 1-man show out there. His receivers (Cody Ball and Taran Grove) really stepped up.”

James had been averaging around 270 a game in total offense, and was at 304 unofficially, thanks to the big pasing night. Except for a couple of good runs, Carson contained him on the ground, holding him to 26 yards on 18 carries.

James did show some Houdini-like escape ability. Carson put tremendous pressure on him throughout the game, but he almost always escaped being sacked.

“He was very elusive,” Carson defensive end Jacob Drahos said. “He’s one of the better quarterbacks we’ve faced. We had an opportunity to get more (sacks), but he kept getting away.”

Drahos was credited with 1.5 sacks.