Carvers Bay Bears darkened the scoreboard for the Johnsonville Flashes in a 40-8 win Friday night. With that victory, the rural Georgetown County team ended its regular season with a 9-1 record -- and only lost to Hemingway 7-6 in the final minutes of a rain-delayed game in September.

"Well, I guess we got Clayton Geathers healed now," Dr. Wright Skinner said as he scored one of two touchdowns he made. Geathers had 19 carries and rushed for 178 yards.

Davious Chestnut was team captain Friday and has stepped into the breach, Coach Nate Thompson said, as Geathers was out for eight games due to a broken bone in his foot from an automobile accident.

On Friday, Chestnut had 12 carries for 50 yards, scored two touchdowns rushing and made another when he caught a 20-yard pass.

The scoreboard was at 0-0 through the first quarter.

Deshawn Aiken threw a 29-yard pass to Kareem Gamble in the second quarter, and Chestnut's 2-point run was good. Geathers followed with a 41-yard run, Chestnut made a TD on a 4-yard run -- both 2-point conversion attempts failed -- and then Chestnut scored on a 55-yard pass from Aiken. Geathers got two more points with a PAT-run.

The score stood at 28-0 in favor of Carvers Bay at half-time.

Johnsonville's Kendrick Williams made a touchdown on a 10-yard run in the third quarter, and the host team scored two more points on a pass from Ethan Cribb to Jeree Cokley.

Before the quarter ended, Chestnut made a TD on a three-yard run.

Then, in the fourth quarter Geathers made the final score of the evening on a 72-yard run.

Quashawn Brockington had 7 carries for 58 yards. "He ran well tonight," Thompson said after the game.

The Bears had 45 carries for 307 yards, while the Johnsonville Flashes had 32 carries for 114 yards.

Carvers Bay had 97 yards passing and to 112 for Johnsonville.

They came close one more time, but were stopped short of the goal line.

After the final horn sounded, Coach Thompson told his team "I'm proud of you. People don't see your hard work, but I do.

"We win because of the people who help you get ready."

He continued, "The pats on the back are over with. Now we start over" in getting ready for the regional play-offs.

In an after-game review, Thompson told the Georgetown Times that six kids were out for the game. The team understands the urgency of playing, he said.

Even with new kids on the field Friday, "they rose to the occasion."

He expects that the Bears will face Johnsonville somewhere in the play-offs.

Carvers Bay will host St. John's on Friday in the first round.

"We have great fan support. A lot of times people don't realize how important it is. We could hear them."

Clayton Geathers did well in just his second game of the season.

Chestnut -- who will be going to the Shrine Bowl -- was "steady as usual. He carried us all season."