Sunday, November 8, 2009 9:57 PM CST
Line play helps Casey rout Red Bud
By MIKE MONAHAN, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
RED BUD — Ethan Brewer, Hunter Whaley, Dalton Brooke, Kruz Kusterman and Mitch Markwell, the Casey-Westfield offensive lineman played a big part in the Warriors 43-7 IHSA Class 2A second round football playoff victory over Red Bud Saturday.
“Billy Seeley had a great ball game (25 carries 148 yards, three touchdowns) because the linemen did a great job,” said Casey coach Keith Sinclair. “The five linemen did a heck of a job for us.”
The Warriors won their eighth straight second round playoff game (including 1974 and 1982 were the second playoff games, but quarterfinal contests), improving to 11-6 overall. The last time Casey lost a second round game was in 1997, 30-0 to Central A&M.
“The line did a great job of blocking and we were determined to score and we did our job and it turned out well,” said Seeley.
Casey is to play host to Marshall in a quarterfinal contest between two Little Illini Conference teams, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Casey won the season-opener 28-7 at Marshall.
The Casey offense, defense and special teams all played a part in the victory.
“An area we kind of overpowered them in today was the special teams,” said Sinclair. “I thought our punt returns were excellent (3 for 70). Our punts were great and it always kept them in bad field positions (2-71).”
The defense held Red Bud, a team that entered with an average of 372 yards per contest and 36.7 points per game, to 70 yards at halftime and a total of 148 for the game, while the Casey offense piled up 380 yards of offense.
After a three-and-out for Red Bud, Casey took over on the Musketeers 42. Seeley carried the ball 15 yards on the first play and on third and six quarterback Brett Livvix, who was 7-of-13 for 153 yards and a touchdown, completed a 9-yard pass to Chris Unzicker keeping the drive alive. Three plays later Seeley scored on a run around his left side from eight yards out and Scott booted the first of five extra points for 7-0 lead.
A botched punt snap helped set up Casey’s second touchdown as the Warriors took over on the Red Bud 16. It took just three plays with Seeley scoring from four yards out. Scott made the extra point for a 14-0 advantage with two minutes, 32 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Red Bud crossed midfield once in the first half and it was on its second to last possession. Red Bud began at its own 33 and picked up its first, first down of the game on an 11-yard pass from Jake Hoffman to Tyler Magruder with 7:20 left in the half. A facemask penalty moved Red Bud into Casey territory. Hoffman gained six yards for another first down before Casey’s defense tightened and forced Red Bud into a fourth and three from the Casey 16. Casey stopped a run a yard short.
“That was pretty big,” said Casey’s Josh Thais. “We thought they had some momentum so we took it away from them.”
Red Bud coach Dave Lucht said, “We needed to convert on that. If you get that close you have to convert. Only one other team shut us out in the first half and that was Breese Central and we ended up losing that ball game (27-20). Anytime you do that to a team that is averaging 30-40 points you are in a place you are not used to and the kids confidence just dropped. Casey just took it to us offensively and defensively.”
Casey moved the ball 67 yards in 10 plays only to have the ball intercepted at the one with less than 10 seconds left, leaving the score 21-0 Warriors at the half.
Casey led 28-0 after scoring on its second drive of the second half when Josh Thais sacked the Red Bud quarterback in the end zone on a third and 20 play for a safety.
“Their quarterback is pretty fast and we had this special defense called nickel and we were just bringing the heat,” said Thais, who scored the next Warrior touchdown on a 2-yard run.
Assistant coach Kevin Anderson is in his first year as the defensive coordinator for the Warriors, who have allowed an average of 4.3 points per game.
“He had been in the freshmen-sophomore program for several years,” said Sinclair. “I think he has been doing an excellent job.”
Casey’s defense held Hoffman to 120 yards passing (83 on their final drive, which ended with a 25-yard pass to Tyler Henry), 72 yards below his average. Hoffman led the Musketeers on its only scoring drive with less than four minutes remaining in the game. Red Bud drove 73 yards (all through the air) in six plays. The drive culminated with Travis Henry on the receiving end of a 25-yard scoring strike with 1:41 left.
“We thought we could run a little bit and that didn’t happen,” said Lucht, who was without sophomore starter Tyler Hubert (in the top three in rushing, receiving and tackles) due to a MCL injury. “We thought we could spread them out and be able to run the draw with Jake Hoffman and they did a great job defending that. They basically corralled our running game and forced us to pass mode with a lot of coverage. It was a great game plan on their part.”
The average Casey drive started at the Red Bud 49, while the Musketeers, who finished 8-3, average drive began at its own 22. The Warriors were held in its own end of the field just twice and once was at the end of the game.
Several hundred Casey fans made the two and a half hour plus trip on the game played with temperatures in the upper 70s.
“We rotated a lot of kids (nickel package on third and long especially) because how often do you get to a 77 degree day and of course you are worried about the kids drinking enough water because they don’t worry about it because it had not been hot for a long time. The nickel package worked very well and our defense did a wonderful job today (five sacks).
Red Bud 0 0 0 7 —7
Casey-Westfield 14 7 7 15 —43
First quarter
C-Billy Seeley 8 run (Clinton Scott kick) 7:39
C-Seeley 4 run (Scott kick) 2:32
Second quarter
C-Chris Unzicker 53 pass from Brett Livvix (Scott kick) 11:12
Third quarter
C-Seeley 11 run (Scott kick) 7:21
Fourth quarter
C-Safety, Jake Hoffman tackled in the end zone by Josh Thais 11: 46
C-Thias 2 run (kick blocked) 10:13
C-Taylor White 4 run (Scott kick) 4:33
R-Tyler Henry 25 pass from Hoffman (Stefan Gregson kick) 1:41
INDIVIDUAL STATISSTICS
Rushing
Casey; Brett Livvix 1-(-4); Billy Seeley 25-148, 3 TDs; Nate Evans 1-6; Austin Ragsdale 3-14; Chris Unzicker 1-2; Ajaye Meeks 4-27; Colin Carver 1-3; Taylor White 2-15, TD; Brandon Blair 1-8; Dalton Livvix 1-4; Jake Elliott 1-1; Totals 41-224, 4 TDS
Red Bud: Jake Hoffman 18-9; Alex Phegley 4-8; Mitchel Cleveland 2-11; Totals 24-28
Passing
Casey; B. Livvix 7-13-1-153, TD; Austin Huckaba 0-1-1-0, 0 TD; Derek Belt 1-1-0-3, 0 TDs; Total 8-15-2-156, TD
Red Bud: Hoffman 12-28-0-120, TD
Receiving
Casey: Seth Brewer 1-10; Unzicker 3-65, TD; Thais 1-24; Seeley 1-14; Clinton Scott 1-40; Ethan Blankenship 1-3
Red Bud: Tyler Magruder 7-53; Seth Heizer 3-22; Tyler Henry 2-45, TD
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.
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