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DeSales tops Wayne County 45-14, Cards end season at 6-5 Shannon Hutchinson Sports Writer The Wayne County Cardinals traveled to Louisville, last Friday night, to battle DeSales in the first round of the 2004 state playoffs. The Cards entered their first ever contest with a Louisville school with a 6-4 record, while DeSales owned a 7-3 record, while DeSales owned a 7-3 mark. The game, at Louisvilleıs Southern High School Field, marked Wayne Countyıs fourth straight trip to the playoffs and ninth in the programıs 36-year history. The Cards were looking for their first win in the postseason since a 14-12 victory over Washington County in 1999. Junior offensive back Zack Harrett rushed for a game high 108 yards on 12 attempts with two touchdowns, as DeSales totaled 334 yards en route to a 45-14 win. Harrett scored on runs of 14 and 25 yards as the Colts tallied 285 rushing yards and used a 38-0 run to break open a 7-7 game. DeSales made the most of 13 first downs and four Wayne County turnovers, plus staged two crucial but very controversial goal-line stands in the playoff win. The Cards appeared to score at the end of the first half and on their first drive of the second half, but unfavorable official spots ended both drives, as DeSales improved to 8-3. ³I thought we had a good game plan and was able to execute it all times, but we made too many mental mistakes to win on the road. I was proud of our effort and the way we battled. After receiving the film it certainly looked like we scored a couple of times, but just didnıt get any type of spots from the officials. Having said that we still made too many mistakes and take nothing away from DeSales, they have a good football team,² said Cards head coach Shawn Thompson. Wayne County finished with 234 total yards and 10 first downs in the loss. Ryan Steele led the way with a 10 of 18 passing effort that yielded 131 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. The Cards, without the services of senior running back Matt Goff, were held to a season low 103 rushing yards on 42 attempts. ³Going into the game we felt like we would have to open things up a bit more this week with the pass. Offensively we did some good things, but we also made some mistakes,² said Thompson. Tyler King led all receivers with 5 catches for 85 yards, while freshman Brent Gregory paced the rushing attack with 36 yards on 14 attempts, as the Cards failed to pickup a rushing touchdown for the first time all year. DeSales scored first to open the game, after Wayne County couldnıt punt the football and was sacked for a 14 yard loss on their own 13 yardline. The Colts scored 4-plays later on Jerrod Zingerıs 1 yard run and Chris Payne added the extra-point to push the lead to 7-0 with 9:07 left in the first quarter. After the teams combined to trade four empty possessions the Cards answered with a score of their own. The Cards marched 33 yards on 6 plays and scored on a Ryan Steele 4 yard touchdown pass to Joe Coffey. The duo set up the score with a 23 yard completion earlier in the drive. Joe Coffey added the extra-point to knot the score at 7-7 with 10:52 left in the second quarter. ³To battle back from the rough start we had, I thought we were in a pretty good position. We settled down after some mistakes early, but then we force a fumble and get the inadvertent whistle-call and things headed the other way,² said Thompson. DeSales made the most of an apparent officialsı miscue on their next series. The Colts fumbled away the football on the Wayne County 46 yard line, but after a conference the play was called back due to an inadvertent whistle and the Colts scored 4 plays later on a Zack Harrett 14 yard touchdown run. The extra-point pushed the score to 14-7 with 8:14 left in the first half. The Coltsı defense pushed the lead to 20-7 when Antonio Dishman returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown. Chris Payne booted the extra point to make the score 21-7 with 6:04 left in the second period. DeSales pushed the lead to 24-7 at the 1:46 mark of the opening half. The Colts marched 47 yards in 6-plays and scored on a Chris Payne 37 yard field goal. Wayne County threatened to score on their final drive of the half. Ryan Steele connected with Tyler King for 48 yards, as the play was down inside the 1 yard line. Steele attempted to score and appeared to on the last play of the quarter, but officials ruled he didnıt cross the goal line and time expired with DeSales holding a 24-7 advantage. ³That hurt and I thought we scored, but hopefully this shows our guys the value of getting a higher seed and a home playoff game. The tape shows we were in, but I told our guys to just keep playing hard at halftime and I thought we stayed after it,² said Thompson. The Colts opened the second half with the football, but a Joe Coffey interception turned the ball back to the Cardinals. Wayne County responded with a 13-play drive that traveled 45 yards to the DeSaleıs 2 yard line. The Cards were stopped on 4th down and 1, when a Ryan Steele keeper was ruled just inches short. The Colts put the game out of reach on their next series behind the running of Zack Harrett. The hosts marched 98 yards in just 8 plays and scored on Harrettıs 25 yard run. Quarterback Garrett Reed finished the night just 2 of 9 through the air, but both completions occurred on the drive for 49 yards, as the score was pushed to 31-7 with only :15 left in the third quarter. ³Overall I thought our pass defense was the best it has been all season. We did a good job for the most part, but offensively DeSales has so many different weapons. With the Wing-T they make it very tough to find the football and we certainly struggled to tackle the Harrett kid all night,² said Thompson. After a Wayne County turnover at the 7:43 mark of the fourth period, the Colts made the most of the short field. The hosts raced 20 yards in four plays and scored on a Chris Reiser 4 yard touchdown run. The extra point pushed the lead to 38-7 with 6:06 left in the contest. DeSales added a final touchdown on their biggest play of the game. Sophomore reserve back Daniel DeTalente scampered 47 yards for a score and Chris Payne booted the extra point to push the score to 45-7 with 4:17 left in the final stanza. Wayne County rounded-out the scoring with a 6 play march that traveled 58 yards. Freshman reserve halfback Jordan Steele posted runs of 26, 2 and 4 yards, to set up Ryan Steeleıs 6 yard touchdown pass to Tyler King. Joe Coffey kicked the extra-point to close the gap to 45-14 with 2:03 left in the game. Neither team would score again as DeSales claimed a 45-14 win and advanced into a second round playoff match up at Corbin. ³This team battled adversity from July through November and Iım so proud of their effort. I donıt think going into the season many people thought we would win six games or accomplish some of the things we were able to do this season. The senior class has been through a lot over their careers and I think theyıve helped set the standards for hard-work for years to come,² said Thompson. Senior linebacker Josh Bell led the defensive attack with a game high 11 tackles. Ryan Steele tallied 10 stops, while Jordan Bertram added 7 tackles and trio of Cards finished with six total stops each. The game marked the final contest for the nine seniors on the Cardinal roster, but the future does appear very bright for 2005. Wayne County returns 8 players that have starting varsity-experience on defense and offense, plus a junior varsity squad that finished 6-0 this season. ³Iım very thankful to all of our seniors for what theyıve given to the program, but we have to start looking at next year. Weıll take a couple of weeks off and then it will be time to get back into the weight-room. If we want to move our program to the next level it all starts in the winter weights,² said Thompson. Congratulations to the Cards on a 6-5 season and fourth straight state playoff appearance. Add a comment |
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