San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Carroll eclipses big milestone in win
Roosevelt’s Brennan Carroll entered the final game of his high school career against Marshall as the Rough Riders’ singleseason rushing yards leader, but there was one other goal he had in mind.
Carroll entered the District 28-6A matchup needing 86 yards to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards.
It only took him two drives. Carroll rushed for 145 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns in the first quarter en route to Roosevelt’s 39-33 win over Marshall 39-33 on Friday at Heroes Stadium. He finished with 339 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
On his first touchdown run of 42 yards, he seemed to be stopped up the middle before bouncing back outside toward the right sideline. Carroll’s second touchdown came on a 50yard run straight up the middle, where there wasn’t a defender within 5 yards of him.
“I knew going into this, we’re not in playoff contention, so I knew I had to get
86 yards,” Carroll said. “Once I got that the game just kept coming to me.”
He broke a 59-yard touchdown run down the right sideline just 10 seconds into the second quarter. Then, after dropping a pass that could have resulted in a score, he ran 5 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing drive to round off 252 first-half yards.
“I was definitely in my zone, my offensive line made the holes that I had to
run through that were wide open,” Carroll said. “So honestly, I can’t even take all the credit for that. It was really my offensive line and my receivers for giving those blocks.”
Matt Carroll, Brennan’s father, said being able to coach his son all four years at Roosevelt (6-4, 4-4) was special.
“It’s bittersweet,” Matt said. “It’s a lot that comes with coaching your own kid and trying to run a program,
and he’s handled it well. My oldest one handled it really well. It takes some extra pressure off his dad and the coach here. You wouldn’t want to miss it or trade it for anything.”
Matt said Brennan, after sharing the backfield last season, came into this year on a mission.
“He’s a special kid,” Matt said. “He’s very unselfish. He just works hard, and it’s been a long time coming the last couple of years. He ended up short a few yards on getting 1,000 (last year), and so this one coming into it, he was going to try to get 1,000 yards, and he took it up to the next level.”
Bryson Carroll, Brennan’s older brother, surprised him and his father at the game.
“I came down because I knew he was going to get over 2,000 yards,” Bryson said. “So I wanted to be here for that moment. I think it was a really cool moment.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One thing that you’re gonna remember for the rest of your life. So it’s really cool.”
Brennan injured his right leg at the end of the second quarter but continued playing.
After Marshall (2-8, 2-6) cut the Roosevelt lead to 33-27 in the fourth quarter, Carroll sealed the game with a 68-yard touchdown run to give the Rough Riders a 39-27 lead.
Brennan finished the season with 272 carries for 2,253 yards with 26 touchdowns. But, the Rough Riders finished the season in fifth place in their district due to losing a tiebreaker to Brandeis.
“I pride myself on fighting through adversity,” Brennan said. “So knowing my team needed to win the last game of my senior year, I knew I had to fight through and get us a (win).”