Tuesday, October 30, 2007 11:06 PM CDT
Suddenly, these are comeback kids
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON – Some of the repairs were helped by athletics trainer Jen Staskiewicz.
On others, Charleston football players just had to help themselves.
In order for Taylor Bradley’s once thought to be a season-ending ankle injury to be healed enough for his fourth-quarter touchdown to make a difference, Charleston had to fix a defense that had lost a 42-28 game to Effingham three weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, Charleston had to make the transformation from a team that couldn’t win a close game during a 5-4 blow-them-out-or-lose regular season to one that could come back from a 20-7 deficit against an undefeated Effingham team in the rematch.
If you have not heard how this comeback story worked, well, Charleston’s football team is practicing again this week preparing for a second-round IHSA Class 5A playoff game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Trojan Hill against Mount Vernon. Effingham is not.
Suddenly, instead of living with last season’s 2-7 record that ended a stretch of four straight playoff seasons for Charleston or having any need to apologize for being the next to last of the 256 teams reaching the eight-class IHSA playoffs with a 5-4 regular season record, the Trojans now have a 22-20 revenge win over Effingham and are seeking more.
Clayton Murphy no longer has to worry about being the only Murphy brother to not play in the playoffs as a junior or senior after a stretch started by quarterback Brandon Murphy who led Charleston to its 2002 playoff year followed by the 2003 and ’04 berths of wide receiver/defensive back Jason Murphy.
“I’m sure I would have heard about it for a while,” the youngest of the three brothers said of no playoffs as a junior or senior. “Now we’ll see if we can win round two and go even further than they did.”
Murphy, who caught three passes for 22 yards, intercepted an Effingham pass at the Charleston 21-yard line in the second quarter and returned a punt 28 yards to the Hearts’ 35-yard line setting up the Trojans’ winning touchdown, is not about to claim this was some individual feat.
“We came together as a unit rather than running around on our own,” Murphy said. “We had confidence about making plays.”
Familiarity with Effingham from three weeks earlier helped.
“They didn’t really change anything,” linebacker Michael Campbell said. “They ran the same plays – the jet sweep and quarterback keep.”
This time the Trojans were ready.
“It was just my job go to out and make the plays,” linebacker Ross Daily said. “We had a real good idea of what they were doing.”
So Daily had two quarterback sacks for Charleston’s defense that held an Effingham offense that averaged 35.1 points in the regular season to its second lowest output of the year and to half the total Effingham scored in the first meeting between these two teams.
Actually, it was a point less than half of that 42-28 Effingham win at Trojan Hill.
Remember, Effingham did not convert that two-point conversion pass trying the swinging gate fake kick after the touchdown that made it 20-7 with 4:54 left in the third quarter.
“I knew they were going to try that,” Charleston linebacker Michael Campbell said.
Daily said: “The cadence was different.”
So Daily was there and intercepted the PAT pass and Charleston used that as a momentum changer even when still trailing by 13 points.
“When they missed that two-point conversion, I thought we were going to come back and hurt them,” Bradley said.
Bradley suffered an injury early in the game the first time these two teams played and missed the last two regular season games of his senior season.
That ankle sprain initially seemed to be a high school football career ender.
“I thought it was when it happened,” Bradley said. “I iced it constantly. Jen helped me out trying to loosen it up.”
Charleston coach Brian Halsey said of his athletics trainer: “Jen’s good. Therapy and nursing it, he started getting better. If anybody would have told me he a couple of weeks earlier he would be moving like that I wouldn’t have believed it.”
The Trojans believed the recovery when they saw it last Tuesday when Bradley returned to practice in playoff week.
“One day he’s walking around in a big boot and the next day he’s in practice,” Daily said.
“I just decided I wasn’t going to wear it anymore,” Bradley said of the protective ankle boot.
Back in action, Bradley had a 27-yard touchdown run to get the Trojans within a touchdown in the fourth quarter and then his 9-yard run set the stage for Mario Johnson’s game-tying touchdown run with 3:51 remaining.
“It really felt good getting in the end zone especially against the team I got hurt against,” Bradley said.
Once Jamel Johnson caught the go-ahead two-point conversion pass from Eric Gentry after a bouncing snap from center on what was to be an extra-point kick and once Charleston’s defense held off Effingham’s last ditch drive, the Trojans had answered plenty of questions.
“Especially from last year’s season,” Campbell said. “There were a lot of people on Friday asking if we could win. We were playing a 9-0 team.”
But this time, the Trojans turned the tables in a season of fourth-quarter disappointments.
“We played as a unit the whole time,” Murphy said. “Our defense really stepped it up and took control and once the defense stepped it up, it got the offense going. And anytime we play Effingham, it is an important game.”
Important games continue. Among the incentives is a possible third-round game against neighboring rival Mattoon, which plays host to Marion on Saturday. If both Coles County teams can beat the South Seven Conference foes, they would advance to the first Charleston-Mattoon game since 1986.
“There’s a lot of talk about that,” Campbell said. “But we have to focus on Mount Vernon.”
These are one-game seasons now in the postseason.
“We’re 1-0 now,” Bradley said, “and we just want to keep on winning.”
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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CHS Fan wrote on Oct 31, 2007 11:35 AM: