“It was crazy. I had dreamt about this — everything about this,” Carr added. “It was good.”
Mathis, a junior, hit a streaking Na’Sir Harper on a 25-yard touchdown pass down the middle to give the Big Blue a 7-0 lead with 7:19 to go in the first quarter.
Mathis then hit RJ Shephard on a 43-yard TD pass with 8:57 left in the second quarter that put Hamilton on top 14-0.
Cournell Bennett-McCoy scored on a 12-yard run with 1:25 showing on the second quarter clock to send the Big Blue into the half ahead 21-0.
Lakota East had its opportunities to score in the second half, but the Hamilton defense stiffened up when it needed to most.
“These kids are tough,” Big Blue coach Arvie Crouch said. “People don’t give them a lot of credit. Our kids are tough mentally. They really screwed up last week. They got a little too hyped-up last week for that game. If we would have done some things last week that we did tonight, we might be 2-0.”
The Big Blue defense kept Thunderbirds junior quarterback JT Kitna scrambling all night. It was Hamilton’s Gracen Goldsmith (seven tackles) and Trey Verdon who led the charge on the defensive side of the ball.
“That dude’s a good player,” Crouch said of Kitna. “He really runs around and causes all kinds of trouble.
“But, boy, that Trey Verdon and our D-line,” Crouch added. “They were after it tonight. I was really proud of those guys. Our coaches are really working their tails off — and they got a shutout from it.”
The Big Blue (1-1) bounced back from their season-opening loss to Badin.
“We got kicked in the stomach last week,” Crouch said. “Our kids came back and were resilient. We stayed the course and did what we were supposed to do and took care of business.”
Bennett-McCoy rushed for 104 yards on 28 carries, while Mathis threw for 176 yards on 14 of 18 passes with no interceptions for Hamilton.
Kitna threw for 189 yards on 15 of 31 passing with three interceptions, while Zion Neal had 10 catches for 132 yards for Lakota East (1-1).
“We got beat by a better team,” first-year East coach Jon Kitna said. “We just didn’t play good enough. We turned the ball over. We got behind the chains a lot. That’s a good football team over there. Those guys play hard — they played well. They know what they’re doing with their schemes, and they’re coached well.
“There’s no hiding in football,” Kitna added. “You have to come out swinging, and you have to play hard. They did that, and we weren’t good enough. We got beat by a better team”
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