In the end, Carson (9-2) escaped unscathed in a 28-8 victory that was ugly both in substance and style, yet effective in that the Colts did exactly what they needed.
"Once the game was in hand, the play kind of deteriorated," Carson coach Mike Christensen said. "They played like a team whose season was about to come to an end. And the referees let it get out of control. But I thought our guys did a pretty good job maintaining control."
Carson players said Westchester players mouthed off after every play and they took what they perceived to be cheap shots from the Comets that challenged the Colts to maintain their composure.
"They were taking a lot of head shots. Under the pile, they were hitting dudes. They even spit in my facemask a couple times," said quarterback Dominique Blackman, the epitome of cool under fire who was 8-for-13 for 167 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. "That's kind of tough, especially when you're a target. They try to hit you late and do some things after the play, and we've got to ignore that and focus on the football."
Westchester coach Adrian Ivory bristled when told the Colts were raising questions about the Comets' integrity.
"I thought it was the other way around," said Ivory, a first-year coach who has prided himself on discipline. "I thought it was more about the spirit of the game. It's called competitiveness, and it was two teams playing hard."
That competitiveness nearly cost Carson in a testy atmosphere where the teams combined for 24 flags and 200 yards worth of penalties, including 125 penalty yards on 15 flags for Carson.
Among those penalties were several unsportsmanlike conduct calls and personal fouls on both teams.
In fact, the referee came to Christensen late in the fourth quarter and warned that defensive standout David Sausau was "this close" to being ejected, holding his thumb inches away from his index finger.
Christensen immediately took Sausau out of the game to protect his star for next week, and a frustrated Carson coaching staff backed its entire team up to the benches after a sideline penalty with 3:52 left in the game.
"When Coach took me out, I was mad, but I knew it was the right thing to do," said Sausau, who blocked a punt and returned it 23 yards for a score and also had a sack to lead the defense.
"It's hard playing a team like that. When you keep hitting them and hitting them, they get frustrated and they want to fight. We tried not to get caught up in that. I tried to stay away from it. I did not want to embarrass my coaches or my family."
McRoyal learned from experience not to get mixed up with any of the games within the game.
He missed last week's regular-season finale against Banning after getting involved in an altercation that resulted in his ejection in Week 9 against Gardena.
McRoyal let his play do all the talking he needed, including the big touchdown run that established Carson as the superior team.
"I was hyped because I didn't play last week," McRoyal said. "I was ready to go, the adrenaline was pumping. I saw the seam and I hit it, I hit it as hard as I could. I wanted to start us off with something, build some momentum for Dom and the offense."
"I learned my lesson. I had to miss the last Banning game because of this kind of thing, and it's a big rivalry, so I didn't want to miss another shot at them."
Three plays after McRoyal's return, Sula rushed in from 6 yards out for a 7-0 lead.
Blackman hooked up with Sula for a 42-yard touchdown pass on a screen for a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Sula added a 4-yard scoring run in the second quarter, and Sausau capped Carson's scoring with his blocked punt and 23-yard return.
Westchester (4-7) finally broke through in the fourth quarter when Frederick Egars-Johnson scored on a 2-yard run and ran in the two-point conversion, breaking a string of seven straight scoreless quarters by the Carson defense.
That was the only ray of light in an otherwise gloomy game.
"There's not a whole lot of words," Ivory said.
