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Cards travel to Louisville to face DeSales in state playoffs SHANNON HUTCHINSON Sports Writer The Wayne County Cardinals, 6-4 on the season and the districtıs #3 seed, travel to Louisville this Friday night to face DeSales. The Cards are making their ninth trip ever to the state playoffs and this marks the fourth straight season the squad has advanced to postseason play. Wayne County is 1-8 all-time in the state playoffs, with the lone win a 14-12 victory at Washington County in 1999. ³Everybody is back to 0-0 and itıs a new season for everyone. Our district has had some success as the #3 seed in the past and we hope to be able to add to that. A big thing we must guard against is not just being happy to make the playoffs. We have to develop the mentality of winning in the postseason and I think this team would love to establish that,² said Cards head coach Shawn Thompson. Wayne County, coming off a 62-26 home win over McCreary Central, faces a very solid DeSales squad. The Colts wrapped-up their regular season with a 7-3 record and dropped a 14-7 contest to Louisville Western last week. DeSales ended district play in a three-way tie for the #2 seed and bested Western and LaRue County to claim the home playoff game. The Colts, under the direction of head coach Mark Saunder, run the Wing-T offense and average 26.6 points per game. Jarrod Zinger leads a talented trio of offensive backs with over 600 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. The duo of Zach Harrett and Chris Reiser have combined for over 900 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. ³DeSales executes very well and are very efficient on offense. The Wing-T is something weıve not faced during the regular season, but both York Institute and Barren County run it. It was frustrating to scrimmage two teams and then play four or five teams that feature pass-oriented teams. I guess it ended up being a good thing to be exposed to it, but DeSales uses a lot of more pass and play action than either of the teams we scrimmaged,² said Thompson. The Colts run to pass ratio for the regular season was 2 to 1, but the squad has a very effective quarterback in Garrett Reed. Reed has passed for just over 1,000 yards with 13 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions, while completing 45 percent of his passes. ³They have good size up-front and they block very well. Their quarterback is very capable of making plays and is a very nice athlete. They have a good tight end and defensively will certainly have to key on him,² said Thompson. Wayne Countyıs defense will look to sure-up on a regular season that allowed 26.9 points per game. ³We must have a focused week of practice and carry that over into the game,² said Thompson. Wayne County will face an aggressive defense that has allowed only 19 points per contest. The Colts like to bring the pressure with a 6-2 look. The Cards averaged a school-record 34.6 points per game for the season, led by the 28 total touchdowns of Matt Goff. Goff, a 6-1, 190 lb. senior, owns the single season record for touchdowns, plus added the rushing mark last week with 269 yards against McCreary Central. The senior stalwart has 1,890 on the season, to pace an offense that totals 336 yards per game. Wayne County may also look to the passing game and junior quarterback Ryan Steele. Steele passed for 773 yards on the season with 5 touchdowns, while favorite target Joe Coffey leads the receiving corps with 24 receptions and 309 yards. ³DeSales plays a pressure-style defense and are very aggressive. Just like a lot of the teams weıve faced theyıll load the box. For us to be successful we must find the seam and get into the second level. At this point of the season nobody has a lot of secrets, we just have to do what weıve done all season the best way we know how,² said Thompson. At presstime the game was slated to be played at Louisville Southern High School Field. DeSales doesnıt have their own facility and shares with other Jefferson County Schools. ³I know our field has had a lot of games on it this year, but from what I understand the field they play on has been used by two varsity programs, plus their junior varsity squads and middle schools, so if they can find another location they might move the game,² said Thompson. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Louisville. Add a comment |
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