CARTERVILLE – The Carterville Lions football team took on the Anna-Jonesboro Wildcats Friday night for their homecoming game. The Lions left the field with a 42-7 win, extending them to 5-0 on the season.

During the first quarter, the Lions came out strong, forcing the Wildcats to turnover on downs. The Lions took a 7-0 lead on a touchdown by senior Bryce Smith and a kick by sophomore Riley Crain with 6:50 left in the first quarter. 

After the first quarter the score stayed at 7-0 with the Lions leading.

To start the second quarter, the Wildcats had possession of the ball but once again they turned over on downs and the Lions took hold. 

For the second touchdown of the night, senior Nolan Hartford rushed it in, pushing the Lions lead to 14-0 with 7:28 left in the half.

Like déjà vu, Smith was back in the endzone almost immediately, and the Lions trail blazed into a 21-0 lead. 

Within the last minute of the half, Smith rushed the last touchdown in before the buzzer, bringing the halftime score to 28-0 Lions.

The Lions stayed hot coming out of the locker room with two touchdowns from Hartford in the third quarter, making it 42-0. This touchdown brought along the continuous clock.

The Wildcats only touchdown came in the fourth quarter from senior TJ Macy, which finalized the game at 42-7 Lions.

This game was very different from playing Du Quoin last week, especially defensively. We asked junior Zech Miller his thoughts on how different it was. 

“So defensively this game was a lot different. This week in practice we really just focused on our base technique and getting perfect on our base technique for really next week. But I mean Duquoin, they like to run it up the middle a lot, you really didn’t see that a lot tonight. Anna’s, you know they changed to a new offense, they got a spread going. They like to throw those quick screens. So, defensively it was a little bit different that we had to prepare for on the line if they let us right through. You know to stay at home and make plays and that’s what we did.”

The Lions take on the Nashville Hornets on September 30 at 7:00 P.M. on Lions Field. 

If you wish to keep up with them and other fall sports check us out @CartervilleAth on Instagram and Twitter.