Thursday, November 12, 2009 10:01 AM CST
Casey-Westfield's front five anchors Warriors' offense
BY SCOTT RICHEY, Staff Writer
Casey-Westfield’s football team finished second in the state in Class 2A last year with four seniors and one junior on its offensive line.
The Warriors are attempting to recreate exactly that — or more — this season. Except this year, just one of the starting offensive linemen — center Dalton Brooke — had started on the varsity offensive line.
Brooke is a four-year starter for Casey coach Keith Sinclair. He’s also turned into the glue that’s held the Warriors’ fairly inexperienced offensive line together through 11 wins this year.
“When you graduate just about all your starters from the year before on both sides of the ball you don’t know what to expect,” Sinclair said. “(Brooke) has been a real leader up there, and they’ve come together well.”
Sinclair said without a doubt Brooke — who is also one of Casey’s captains — is the leader of the offensive front five. Brooke’s experience as a four-year starter, Sinclair said, is what is helping not only himself but his teammates.
“He’s gone through and played in two final fours and a state final,” Sinclair said. “He’s seen a lot up front, and I think he’s able to help the line out a lot. It’s like having an assistant coach on the field.”
Brooke said he relished the opportunity to be a leader on the offensive line because he was in a similar situation three years ago as a freshman getting his first varsity action. That leadership role is a position Brooke said he started taking on even last year with four seniors flanking him on the line.
“Three years ago I came in not knowing anything,” Brooke said. “I had all these guys tell me what to do, helping me. I just kind of took everybody in (this year) in hoping to be like those guys that took care of me. Being the center, you’ve got to really take control.”
The Warriors also have an actual offensive line coach to pair with Brooke’s coaching on the field.
“Our line coach Gene Vidoni — who’s been with me since I started here — I have all the confidence every year in him that he will be able to produce a good line for us,” Sinclair said.
Brooke said Vidoni was the coach, in addition to Sinclair, that taught him all he needed to know about playing on the line. That learning started when Brooke was in fifth grade attending different Casey football camps.
“Everybody says it’s a joy to play for Coach Sinclair and Coach Vidoni, but I definitely have to say it’s more of an honor playing for them,” Brooke said. “They teach us everything we know and anything we need to know.”
The production garnered from this year’s offensive line involved moving junior Hunter Whaley into the starting lineup to join Ethan Brewer at tackle. That allowed Casey to move Kruz Kusterman to guard with Mitchell Markwell — a move Sinclair said improved the line’s play.
“It was a little awkward because you pull a lot more as a guard than you do as a tackle,” Kusterman said about his transition to guard. “It took about the first week, and then we kind of understood everything.”
Even though they might have been inexperienced to start the season, Casey’s front five have been turning heads and earning praise from their head coach. Sinclair was quick to point out his line’s solid play in last week’s 43-7 blowout win against Red Bud in the second round of the playoffs.
“Having players and coaches tell you that ‘You make the team’ and ‘If you guys do good you’ll win the game’ it really makes you nervous,” Brooke said. “After hearing the coaches and players say how great you did it really makes you feel good, and it really makes you want to work harder. It’s pretty nice knowing that.”
Casey running back Billy Seeley rushed for 148 yards and three touchdowns against Red Bud. He did so behind the holes opened up by the Warriors’ front line.
“You know you’ve done the job you’re supposed to, and Billy lets you know that,” Kusterman said about leading the way for Seeley’s numerous touchdowns this season. “He rewards you the same with a touchdown as you did with the blocking.”
Both Brooke and Kusterman said they thought the Warriors’ offensive line does just as well pass blocking for senior quarterback Brett Livvix as they do run blocking for Seeley.
“Livvix, whenever he gets the chance to throw the ball, we protect him pretty well,” Kusterman said. “He’s only had two sacks all year. I think we do pretty fair on both.”
Sinclair agreed — to a point.
“It’s like anything,” he said. “They do things well at times and once in a while not. Overall I think they’ve been pretty stable (in run blocking and pass blocking). Defenses cause a lot of problems in what they try to do against you and you have to be able to adjust to it. I think they’ve started to learn those things fairly well.”
Casey’s offensive line will be tested from the outside by Marshall’s starting defensive ends. Dalton Sanders leads the Lions with 16 sacks and is second on the team with 87 tackles. Fellow defensive end Trey Trudeau has 11.5 sacks of his own to go with 43 tackles.
“Their defense is getting to the ball better than they were earlier,” Sinclair said. “I think we have to protect our quarterback, naturally. Overall we’ve got to have the effort we displayed last week against Red Bud with excellent line play.”
Brooke said Brewer and Whaley at the tackle positions would be the crucial players in trying to stop Marshall’s furious pass rush. He also said doing so could be a turning point in the game.
“Our tackles have got to really work on their foot speed,” Brooke said. “If they can just keep their heads and move fast, we’ll be able to control (the pass rush). If not, we’ll be in trouble all night.”
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