Not since the first week of the season had Cary High walked off the football field with a win. The Imps did have a 27-26 loss forfeited to them when Leesville Road High used an ineligible player, but that could be considered a hollow victory.

On Friday, Cary’s offense dominated the time of possession by more than 11 minutes and the Imps took the 14-7 victory over Sanderson High.

“We made plays when we needed them,” Cary coach Ben Kolstad said. “We were a little more consistent on offense. We were able to run the ball consistently and run the clock and keep our defense off the field.”

Cary’s running game racked up 204 yards — led by tailback Alex Hellard, who rushed for 192 yards on 31 carries and scored a touchdown. Hellard said the success in the running game paid dividends as the game went on.

“Our offensive line dominated their defensive line,” he said. “We pounded them all game. We just played smash mouth football and that’s what we do. So they definitely got worn down. We came at them up the middle all game.”

Cary quarterback Kendall Smith echoed Hellard’s praise of the offensive line play.

“We all, as a team, have been struggling,” Smith said. “And we had to come through in the end and [the offensive line] pulled it out all by themselves.”

Kolstad said he likes to control the clock with time-consuming drives, which is a departure from what Cary has done in the past. He said the coaches harped on ball control this week in practice.

“Our goal this week was to just move the chains,” Kolstad said. “Not so much pop those 60-yard runs like we were used to over the past couple of years. Just move the chains and win the field position game.”

The offense, however, was not the only aspect of the game in which the Imps got improved play. The defense held the Spartans scoreless until the fourth quarter and then came up with timely turnovers.

“They made plays,” Kolstad said. “The last couple of games when we lost, we haven’t made the plays we made [Friday]. When the ball is loose we didn’t jump on it, but tonight we did.”

One of those loose balls came in the third quarter at a time when both offenses were stalling. Sanderson fumbled the ball at the 5-yard line and defensive back Bryan Wilson scooped the ball up at the 1 and scored to give the Imps a 14-0 lead.

“The entire defense stepped up,” Wilson said. “We realized we needed to step up and make plays if we’re going to win games.” Not everything was positive for Cary, though.

The Imps turned the ball over twice in the kicking game, the second of which came as a result of a poor punt snap that gave Sanderson the ball trailing just 14-7 late in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for Cary, the defense stepped up again when safety Denny Feracho picked off Sanderson quarterback Ben Feldman’s pass.

“We just have got to keep working,” Kolstad said. “We can’t work on [special teams] enough. We’ve got to get better on it every week.”

The Imps improved to 3-2 and Kolstad believes they are better prepared for conference play, which opens Friday at home against Lee County High at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a new season,” Kolstad said. “We played a tough non-conference schedule. We’ve played some good teams and we were tight with most of them. We feel like we’re well prepared to go into the Tri-Eight and see what we’ve got.”