Numbers pick up for Plainville heading into playoffs
By CONOR NICHOLL
PLAINVILLE -- Through the season's first two months, the Plainville prep football team had trouble putting up points in first-year head coach Joe Simon's new offense. Plainville scored just 22 points, third-fewest among Kansas 11-man teams, regardless of classification.
"It kind of taken a little bit of adjusting," sophomore fullback Andrew Casey said.
On Thursday, though, the Cardinals, helped by senior quarterback Jaden Perkins, Casey and senior tight end Alex Dreher, broke through with a 44-0 home win against WaKeeney-Trego. The victory ended Plainville's 18-game losing skid and halted the Cardinals' streak of scoring fewer than 20 points in 24 straight contests.
"These guys are finally starting to learn my offense and get the plays down and the blocking schemes," said Simon, a former Liberal assistant. "We have got a lot of plays in, but there are a lot of plays and a lot of blocking schemes for them, and we have got some young kids playing on the line, and it just took time."
Plainville, which tallied 72 points in the losing streak, reached the postseason with a 1-8 record, 1-1 in district play. Trego, under first-year head coach John Petrie, Plainville's coach from 2006-08, finished 0-9. On Tuesday, the Cardinals will return to the place that started the losing skid: Smith Center.
In the 2007 bi-district playoffs, Smith Center defeated Plainville 83-0 and scored a national record 72 first-quarter points, a mark that spawned national attention and the eventual release of "Our Boys," the book on Redmen football, this summer. Since then, the Redmen, on a nation-best 75-game winning streak and 8-0 this fall, have defeated Plainville 63-6 in the first game last season and 59-0 in Week 1 this fall. Still, the playoff matchup did little to quell the Cardinals' celebration and victory.
"I am not even going to think about them tonight," Simon said. "We are going to enjoy this win and start breaking down film (Friday). Guys, we'll bring them into practice (Friday) and then we'll try to give Smith Center the best shot we've got."
Under Petrie, Plainville ran the double-wing offense, a scheme favored by a few Kansas schools, including 3A power Beloit. The offense features little passing, ball fakes and a power running game. Under Simon, the Cardinals have a Wing-T look will plenty of runs. However, Plainville often throws the ball, usually on roll outs and scrambles.
Perkins, behind a young offensive line, delivered an impressive game Thursday, completing 12-of-15 passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns.
"He did a lot better reading the defense tonight," Simon said. "He is a gamer, too. If we can give him some time. He can find the receivers, but our O-line has got to give him time and he did a great job of throwing the ball tonight."
"He played very well," Casey said.
That included two TDs to Dreher and one to sophomore Kyle Becker.
"That was something that we talked about in practice, too," Petrie said. "You got to watch the tight ends coming off and releasing. You got to jam them, and we didn't do that tonight."
In addition, Casey picked up 142 total yards, including 60 receiving, with a leaping grab down the right sideline for one catch.
"He is a really good athlete," Petrie said. "You stick him on any team and it makes them better. Andrew is a good kid. He works hard. You can tell the difference when he is in the game and when he is not in the game.
"He has got some nice hands and has got some good skills for a young man. The bad thing about it is he has got two more years," Petrie added.