HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Heavy rain turned the field at Wynford High School into a quagmire going into the second half. But it did little to stop the Carey Blue Devils.

Carey rushed for 391 yards on the night and Eli Steen, who entered the game with 606 yards, good for second in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, finished with 182 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Blue Devils scored four unanswered times in the third quarter to best the Royals, 49-14.

Carey (2-4, 2-1 N10) took advantage of some Wynford miscues in the second half to come away with the win. The Devils had scoring drives of 70, 24, 37 and 30 yards in the third period to put the game away.

“Going into the game, Carey was 1-4; we were 1-4,” Wynford coach Cyle Skidmore said. “We knew they were a good football team. They’re big up front, they’re physical. We had some tough times, and they capitalized, and we didn’t. We also had more penalties than they did and that didn’t help us.”

Carey’s explosion came after Wynford tailback Anthony Evans raced 76 yards on the first play of the third quarter, cutting Carey’s lead to 14-7.

From there, the Devils went 70 yards in six plays before Brandon Tanner went 35 yards on the score.

On their next possession, following a pass interception, the Devils started at the Wynford 24. Tanner capped that march with a 15-yard run and Carey led 28-7.

After Wynford (1-5, 0-3) lost the ball on downs on its own, 37, it took just one play for quarterback Kyler Boes to hit Tripp Phoenix for a third score and a 35-7 advantage. Steen added a five-yard score on a drive that began on the Wynford 30 after a short punt into the wind.

At that point, the Blue Devils had a 42-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Blue Devils coach Jonathon Mershman said that his running game may have worn the Wynford defense down in the second half.

“That’s kind of our thing,” Mershman said. “I’m really proud of our kids for being able to do that. They gave us everything we could handle in that first half.

“We ran with a little more urgency, a little more gusto. We got a little mad at halftime and we wanted to make sure we could get that done.”

Wynford started the game with sophomore Landon Miller at quarterback, replacing Brayden Campbell, who will not be able to play the remainder of the season.

“For his first start at quarterback, being a sophomore, I thought he did a fine job,” Skidmore said. “There’s a lot of improvement that he’s done and as a whole group. But overall, Landon did a good job tonight.”

Evans scored Wynford’s second touchdown on a 76-yard run early in the fourth period, cutting the lead to 42-14, but Carey finished the scoring on a 75-yard Steen run.

Evans also had a big night for the Royals, rushing for 160 yards and both scores.

“Their kids wanted to win and came out really well, too,” Skidmore said. “Our guys came really well also at the half. We capitalized on that first play, but Carey responded well, and they did good things.”

Box score    

Score by quarters   

Carey           7             7          28          7   — 49

Wynford      0            0            7          7   — 14

Scoring summary

First quarter

C — Kyler Boes 54 run (Nathan Gery kick), 9:10.

Second quarter

C — Eli Steen 10 pass from Boes (Gery kick), 3:06.

Third quarter

W — Anthony Evans 76 run (Victor Arellano Cazares kick), 11:42.

C — Brandon Tanner 35 run (Gery kick), 8:41.

C — Tanner 15 run (Gery kick), 5:52.

C — Boes 35 run (Gery kick), 4:58.

C — Tripp Phoenix 37 pass from Boes (Gery kick), 4:06.

Fourth quarter

W — Evans 76 run (Cazares kick), 10:15.

C — Steen 75 run (Gery kick), 9:38.

Individual statistics

Passing

Carey: Kyler Boes 3-6 0 53; Wynford: Landon Miller 2-11-2 28, Anthony Evans 0-1-0 0.

Rushing

Carey: Eli Steen 23-182, Kyler Boes 4-94, Brandon Tanner 6-73, Mace Puckett 6-21, Luke Steen 1-1, Tripp Phoenix 1-(-6); Wynford: Anthony Evans 13-160, Bryce Locker 9-62, Gage Massey 5-11, Landon Miller 4-(-10).

Receiving

Carey: Tripp Phoenix 2-43, Eli Steen 1-10; Wynford: Bryce Locker 1-15, Anthony Evans 1-13.

Team statistics 

C                W

First downs                       7                 7

Rushing                        43-391         32-228

Passes                            3-6-0           2-12-2

Yards passing                  53                28

Total yards                      444              256

Fumbles-lost                   3-1               1-1

Penalties                          1-15            4-40