It's not often that a lineman gets to carry a football during a game, but there was Minnetonka's Bryan Carlton, the ball in his hands after opposing team Becker had squibbed a kickoff right to him on a warm August night.
The defensive end, who also provides blocking on the kickoff return team, didn't hesitate, heading straight upfield along the sideline. As he approached midfield, the Becker defense converged, forcing Carlton toward the sidelines. Before stepping out, however, he lowered his shoulder and delivered a blow to a Becker player with the full force of his 6-3, 250-pound frame, driving the would-be tackler 5 yards backward and directly onto the seat of his pants.
"That was the first time I've ever touched a ball in a game," said Carlton, who has committed to play at North Dakota State next year. "As a lineman, you stay up at night and dream about those opportunities. I wasn't going to pass it up."
Staff writer Jim Paulsen talked with Carlton about his future, the Skippers' gradual improvement and how he views the issue of concussions in football.
Q After losing to Hudson [Wis.] in your first game, your team has won two in a row. Why?
A We've been slowly getting better. In the first game, we had a lot of mistakes and penalties, but since then we've been eliminating those mental mistakes and turnovers and it's showing up in the scores.
Q As a future college football player, you're visible to a lot of people. What's it like to have people know who you are?
A You look at Twitter and you see followers from middle school on down to elementary school. It's always in the back of my mind that I'm a role model. You've really got to watch what you say and what you do, but it's nice to have people look up to you.
