Kash Altom's 'catch of his life' gives Carter football 3rd straight win after an 0-3 start
Kash Altom had the best fashion piece during Carter High School's home Friday night football game.
He didn’t wear any special cleats, a fancy pre-game outfit or colorful gloves like his teammate Kaleb Harper’s red ones. Altom, a senior wide receiver, possessed an item meant for the player who makes the biggest play each week for the Hornets.
“It’s the playmaker’s belt for getting the ol' game-winner,” Altom said.
The wrestling belt turned football statement piece is proudly held by the senior who executed the most significant play of his football life thus far and the first game-winner of the season to give Class 4A Carter High School a 37-35 victory over Class 5A Karns.
“Absolutely (my) biggest play. I’m really glad I was able to make it,” said Altom who finished with seven receptions for 57 yards.
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Quarterback Chandler Wilson, who threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns, found his fellow upperclassman in the left corner of the endzone after a clutch drive starting from their own 30-yard line with a few minutes left. The final play was designed for the Hornets’ speedster senior wide receiver Harper.
“We knew they were probably going to send two (defenders) to me," Harper said. "So I ran an inside route and the ball was supposed to get to me but if it didn’t, we throwing a ball to our tall receiver in the back of the endzone and hope he can make a play."
The 6-foot-3 Altom just so happened to be the tall receiver on the post route the Hornets were wishing for. Carter coach Justin Pressley described Altom’s reception as the “catch of his life.”
The sweetness of this victory is not just because of Altom’s big moment. Team-wise, this win over the Karns Beavers (4-2) gives the Carter Hornets a three-game win streak after it started the season losing its first three.
“We had big expectations coming into the season and we started 0-3 and we were in shellshock for a little bit,” Pressley said. “But we pulled it together and these seniors really pulled the guys together and showed leadership.”
These aforementioned seniors are Wilson, Altom, Harper and inside linebacker Tyler Norwood who finished with 9.5 tackles and one for loss.
On the other side, senior running back and Coastal Carolina commit DeSean Bishop literally carried this Beavers team in the back-and-forth — 41 carries for 248 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Carter is in a four-way tie for second in their division, but the team is pleased that with each game growing in importance, it has not reverted to the issues of last year when losses started rolling in after a hot three-game win streak to start that never was reached again.
“Last year we kind of hit this spot and kind of went the other way,” Pressley said. “This year, we started slow and I much rather start slow and get to the peak at this time of the season as we get into big-time region games coming up."
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Kash Altom's gaem-winning catch lifts Carter football over Karns
