By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

PLAINVILLE --Sophomore Andrew Casey missed half of the season with a knee injury and first-year head coach Joe Simon has tried to limit Casey's touches to keep the fullback/linebacker healthy. However, Casey's talents make that difficult.

"He is so much better than everybody on the field -- on our team," Simon said. "We try to get him the ball as much as we can."

On Thursday, Simon provided Casey with a game-high 17 touches and the 6-1, 190-pounder picked up 142 total yards, including two scores, and helped Plainville defeat WaKeeney-Trego 44-0 on a cold, rainy night. The win ended the Cardinals' 18-game losing streak, marked the first time Plainville had tallied more than 20 points in 24 contests and moved Plainville into the Class 2-1A playoffs.

"Can't even describe with words right now," Casey said. "It feels so great to get a first win."

The Cardinals (1-8, 1-1 District 10) will face Smith Center, on a nation-best 75-game winning streak Tuesday. Trego, under former Plainville coach John Petrie, finished 0-9, 0-2 in district play after losing multiple starters off last season's playoff team.

"A lot of people knew it was kind of coming a little bit," Petrie said. "We were hoping that we could squeak out a few here and there. You just do what you can with what you've got. Nothing against our kids, they played hard, they worked hard. Just something we didn't get the breaks that we needed here and there. A lot of young kids."

The Golden Eagles finished with (minus-5) yards of total offense, including -37 on the ground. Senior quarterback Bobby Garrett was 4-of-17 for 32 yards and 3 interceptions.

"Our defense played amazing tonight," Casey said. "Probably our D-line played the best."

Casey, who returned last week from his knee injury, delivered a solid performance, too. Plainville, which had scored 22 point total in the eight losses, led 30-0 at halftime. Casey, the Cardinals' leading rusher with 82 yards on 12 carries, scored the game's first points on a 1-yard run.

"He is just a player," Simon said. "Anybody that watches him play any sport that he plays, he is just a phenomenal athlete. He makes us a lot better. Without him, we struggle to move the ball. We struggle a little bit on tackling on defense. With him, we were a much better team."

Senior quarterback Jaden Perkins finished 12-of-15 for 141 yards and three touchdowns against one interception. His first score was a 12-yard play to sophomore Kyle Becker for a 14-0 lead. He tacked two TD passes to senior tight end Alex Dreher (6 and 20 yards).

"He did a great job of throwing the ball in the rain," Simon said.

Casey scored the final points in the first half on a 36-yard run when he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and bounced off another tackler. Just before intermission, he hauled in a 20-yard catch down the right sideline on a leaping, one-handed grab. Plainville scored twice more in the second half and the running clock started with 6:03 left in the third quarter.

"The kids needed that more than anything," Simon said. "They have been working hard and it finally payed off. They got to have some fun tonight. I couldn't be happier for them."