By Don Dondonavich | Beacon pre-holiday weekend sports correspondent

Bass Lake Canoes could smell the jaws of victory, but ended up tasting the agony of defeat Friday vs. the Hogback Lake Farrowers, in high school football action.

Final score was Hogback Lake 7, Bass Lake 6.

An extra point was missed.

Bass Lake sophomore running back Fritz Ball-Carrier proved to be a capable backup for Gush Accolades, who was injured last week in a game against Private Military Academy. Ball-Carrier rushed 17 times for 189 yards, ran for one touchdown and didn’t run for another, as Hogback Lake pulled off its first victory of the season.

The Canoes tumbled to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in The Moonshine Conference.

Even with the loss, Canoes head coach Zeb Dreppelin was encouraged by Ball-Carrier’s performance.

“I didn’t think he had it in him,” said coach Zeb Dreppelin. “Heck, I forgot he was even on the team until after Gush went down.”

One silver lining around the cloud: BLHS scored a touchdown for the first time this season. Offensive coordinator Suzie DeBochle pointed to that as a positive.

“It’s about time,” DeBochle said. “Scoring points is why I was hired, even though I don’t get paid nothing.”

Bass Lake’s next game is Sept. 9 at Prairie Depths, which is co-winless along with the Canoes.