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| SportsFriday, October 27, 2006 10:52 PM CDT |
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Area teams involved in three Class 2A games
The Fieldcrest High School football team’s defense gave up 35 points in a week five loss to Lexington and a mere 42 in the other eight regular-season games combined. So when the Knights discovered they would meet Iroquois West in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs, Fieldcrest coach Brett Cazalet thought back to the Minutemen. “They remind me a lot of Lexington,” Cazalet said of today’s 1:30 p.m. game at Minonk. “They gave us the biggest problem we had this year. This is a chance to see how much we’ve improved, and we need to improve a lot to win.” In area Class 3A first-round action today, PBL travels to Spring Valley to meet No. 7-ranked Hall at 1 p.m. and Dwight visits Braidwood for a rematch with Interstate Eight Conference rival Reed-Custer in a 6 p.m. start. Fieldcrest-Iroquois West No. 7 seed Iroquois West averaged 31.9 points while fashioning a 5-4 regular-season record. The Raiders’ balance is evidenced by the area-leading 1,299 yards rushing of Alex Hubert and the nearly identical 1,298 yards passing of quarterback Trace Coleman. “Our offense meshed a lot quicker than our defense did,” first-year Iroquois West coach Ryan Pearson said. “We knew it would be a lot of transition. But the kids put a lot of time in over the summer getting the offense down. It’s timing intensive offense with a lot of reads.” Coleman has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes (100 of 167) for 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions. The top receivers are Kyle White (25 catches, 414 yards) and Jeremy Schade (29, 351). Seeded second with a 7-2 record, Fieldcrest counters with a defense that ranks second in the area at 8.5 points per game. Cazalet said tackles Logan Weber and Jacob Ioerger are big reasons the Knights are allowing just 62 rushing yards per game. “That’s those two tackles taking that stuff away,” said the Fieldcrest coach. “Teams have to double team Logan or he’s going to make a lot of plays on you. And Jacob has 14 tackles for loss.” The Fieldcrest offense has received 754 yards rushing from Josh North, 625 yards rushing and 302 yards receiving from Jake Martin and 888 yards passing from Jordan Krone. “I feel like the last three games are the best three we’ve played this year,” Cazalet said. “Offensively, we’re finally catching up to our defense. The last two have been the best offensive games we’ve played.” Pearson believes his defense has made similar strides. “The past four weeks our defense has really come together and started to play well,” he said. “We’re only giving up around 150 yards a game the last four weeks, and we’ve played some very good competition.” Dwight-Reed-Custer Reed-Custer defeated Dwight, 20-14, in week two. The third-seeded Comets went on to claim the Interstate Eight’s Large School division title and are 7-2 overall. “They were missing some starters, and they played us really tough,” Reed-Custer coach Dean Cappel said. “We were very fortunate to capitalize on a couple of their mistakes late in the game and win.” Dwight is a No. 6 seed and has a 5-4 record despite losing three of its first four games. “The main thing is to make their defense play as long as possible,” Dwight coach Erik Black said. “They’ve got serious weapons on the offensive side of ball. We want to limit the time their offense is on the field.” The Trojans’ rushing attack features James Nakashima (790 yards) and Colton Tambling (371). Quarterback Zack Myers has completed 76 of 141 passes for 1,053 yards and 11 TDs. The team’s leading tackler with 102, Curt Perschnick also is the top receiver with 21 catches for 533 yards, an average of 25.4 yards. “They have a real nice tight end in Perschnick, Myers throw the ball well and they have a big offensive line,” said Cappel. “It sort of feels like another conference game. But you take it the way the state gives it to you.” Reed-Custer quarterback Gavin Johnston has passed for 1,567 yards and rushed for 471 more. The leading ground gainer is Matt Pivonka with 988 yards. At 6-foot-4, Pete Dell’Aquilla has 50 receptions for 717 yards. “Their quarterback may be the best player in the conference as far as pure athletic ability and making plays,” Black said. “We have to make sure we’re tackling well.” PBL-Spring Valley Hall A pair of Wing T offenses match up as fifth-seeded PBL (5-4) faces No. 4 seed Hall (7-2). PBL looks for another big game from tailback Evan Edwards, who has rushed for 1,173 yards and 10 touchdowns. “With Evan, it’s his drive. He’s motivated to do as well as he possibly can,” Panthers’ coach Jim Zenner said. “He’s only 5-7, 170 (pounds) but everything he does is full blast. He hits the hole hard and he’s hard to take down.” Zenner said PBL may have to make more use of the passing skills of quarterback Tyler Overstreet, who has thrown for 656 yards, because “they look pretty stout against the run. We might have to be a little more diverse than we’ve been lately.” Led by veteran coach Gary Vicini, Hall’s rushing attack boasts tailback Nate Sweezey (962 yards), fullback Tony Bickett (686) and wingback Jordan Petersen (388). “We haven’t changed. Our whole key is running the ball,” said Vicini. “But we’ll see how many (defenders) they want to put in the box. We’ve been pretty successful with play action (passes).” Petersen has only 10 receptions but averages 26.4 yards per catch. Quarterback Joey Whiting has completed 34 of 67 passes for 642 yards. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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