Friday, November 13, 2009 11:07 PM CST
Clark County's best meet in Elite Eight
MARSHALL (10-1) at CASEY-WESTFIELD (11-0)
Kickoff: 1:30 p.m. today at Sinclair-Vidoni Field
Radio: 105.9 WMMC
By SCOTT RICHEY, Staff Writer
sports@jg-tc.com
CASEY -- Little Illini conference play guarantees a Casey-Westfield against Marshall football game every season.
What will happen today, however, has happened just once between these two rival schools. Casey coach Keith Sinclair has already characterized today’s Elite Eight Class 2A playoff game as “one of the biggest games that has occurred in Clark County history.”
The big game in question is set for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff when Casey and Marshall will relive 1992, when the Warriors beat the Lions 24-14 in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs. Today’s game will also mark Marshall’s chance for redemption and Casey’s chance to defend its season-opening 28-7 win.
The offense Marshall sees from the Warriors this time around, however, might look a little different. Casey quarterback Brett Livvix completed just 2-of-3 passes for 32 yards against Marshall in the season opener. Two weeks later he completed 14-of-16 attempts en route to 212 passing yards and three touchdowns in Casey’s 35-6 win against Flora.
What Marshall did see in its first game against Casey was a lot Warriors’ running back Billy Seeley, as he rushed for 226 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries against the Lions in the season opener.
“We’ve been really balanced throughout the whole year other than that game,” Sinclair said about his offense. “It was our opening game of the season and we graduated 16 kids from last year and had a lot of new kids on the field. Billy was experienced. As we’ve come through the season, we’ve been really balanced as our total yards show and even in through the playoffs.”
Marshall coach Todd Evers said his team has become much more physical on defense since the opening loss to Casey. That physical style of play starts up front with defensive ends Dalton Sanders and Trey Trudeau (27.5 sacks combined).
“Those guys getting pressure on the quarterback sets things up for the rest of our defense,” Evers said. “They force quarterbacks to make bad decisions some of the time.”
Which is something Marshall might need against Casey. Evers said Livvix threw just three times against the Lions’ defense in the teams’ first meeting because he didn’t have to throw more frequently.
“If you can run it like that all night and chew up the clock, you don’t have to throw it,” Evers said. “We’ve got to stop the run. Livvix has thrown for over 1,300 yards, so he’s no slouch. It doesn’t sound smart, but you’ve got to force (Casey) to throw because running is what they like to do.”
The Lions have an explosive offensive duo of their own in senior quarterback Taylor Duncan and sophomore running back Andre Strohm. The backfield mates have rushed for a combined 1,945 yards and 25 touchdowns, and Duncan has also completed 73 of 144 passes for 1,230 yards and 15 more touchdowns.
“The biggest thing is not giving up the big play to him whether it’s a long pass or long run,” Sinclair said about Duncan. “To get overconscious on either direction, he can really hurt you. When you add his touchdown passes and touchdown runs together, he’s had a lot do with a great majority of the scores they’ve had.”
Even if Duncan and Strohm didn’t have their best performances against Casey in the opening game (110 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown combined), Sinclair knows how much trouble the Marshall pair can cause. More importantly, Duncan and Strohm have caused opposing teams trouble in the 10 weeks—and 10 wins—since the loss to Casey.
“Marshall has proven to be a very good team all year with wins over Mahomet-Seymour, through the (Little Illini) Conference and two good playoff opponents,” Sinclair said. “Taylor Duncan is an extremely good quarterback and Strohm has produced good numbers in the running game.”
Sinclair also isn’t falling back on his team’s success against Marshall early in the season as any precursor of success today.
“They were a fine team when we played them the first time,” Sinclair said. “Basically three plays in that game and the game could have gone either way. I don’t see it at all that the score of the first game reflects playing them again.”
Evers said his team has essentially tossed out the loss against Casey. He said his team has watched the game tape from the opening game in preparation for today’s game, and he said his players almost see the game like it happened last season since it was 10 weeks ago and they are playing better now.
“This is a second shot—a redemption shot—to avenge the one loss we’ve had all year,” Evers said. “We like playing the role of underdogs, and I would imagine we’re playing that role again this week. Nobody expects us to win this game but us.”
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