Photo by Erin Nelson.
John Carroll head coach Will Mara high-fives John Carroll running back/wide receiver/offensive linebacker Mitchell Nutter (25) following a touchdown at Fairfeld High Preparatory School on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. The Cavs defeated Fairfield 45-28. Photo by Erin Nelson.
HAYDEN – John Carroll Catholic High School improved to 1-0 with a 44-6 win at Hayden on Friday night.
Rewind that previous and slap an asterisk on it. Technically, the Cavaliers improved to 4-0 with the win and 2-0 in Class 5A, Region 5 play. But, it’s the “1-0 mentality” that John Carroll head coach Will Mara preaches to his team that has propelled the Cavaliers to the impressive start to the season.
“It means a lot,” Mara said. “It started back at the end of last season. These seniors decided we’re going change the tone, we’re going to change the mentality. They put football at the front and took care of a lot of things we needed to get fixed. It’s been their team. We let them run it, to an extent.”
On Friday, senior quarterback Carson McFadden was efficiently outstanding in leading his team to a win. He was 7-of-9 through the air for 176 yards with a pair of touchdown passes. He added eight carries for 61 yards with two more rushing touchdowns and also tacked on a two-point conversion run.
And, he didn’t waste any time in getting started.
John Carroll forced a three-and-out on the first drive and got the ball at its own 23-yard line. On the opening play, McFadden quickly got the ball out to sophomore receiver Aubrey Walker, who used a pair of blocks to get across the line of scrimmage and then raced 77 yards for the touchdown. Koron Wright added the two-point conversion run.
“It was big,” Mara said. “It was good to get Aubrey involved. He’s kind of been banged up since the beginning of the season. It was good to get him the ball, get him comfortable. It set the tone.”
The next John Carroll drive didn’t end as quickly, but it did include a 33-yard pass from McFadden to senior Grey Higgins on third-and-15. The nine-play, 64-yard drive was culminated on a 3-yard touchdown run by McFadden on fourth-and-goal. McFadden added the two-point conversion run.
“I don’t think so,” Mara said, when asked if the offense had been that efficient all season. “We’ve got a very experienced quarterback. He’s able to get us in the right play. They’ve worked very hard, they’ve practiced very hard. It’s a very experienced group.”
John Carroll extended the lead to 23-0 on the next possession on a 14-yard scoring pass from McFadden to receiver Austin Pfarner with 8:31 left in the half.
Hayden (0-3 overall, 0-2 in region) was able to take a sliver of momentum into the locker room after a 9-yard touchdown run by Chance Holder with 1:03 left in the half. But the momentum was quickly erased on an opening drive touchdown march that finished with a 1-yard scoring plunge by McFadden and a 45-yard interception return by senior defensive back Zach Archer.
John Carroll closed the scoring early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard scoring run by Wright.
Mara said the way his team has handled the program’s best start in many years is why they have been successful.
“They’ve done a great job of that,” Mara said. “We were worried about how are they going to handle it. They are asking can they come in on Sunday and watch film. They say we need to fix this, we need to fix that. It’s the 1-0 mentality each week. They’ve taken it and they’ve run with it.”
John Carroll hosts Carver-Birmingham next Friday in another pivotal region game.
Check out all of our high school football photos from this week.
