CASEY, ILL. —
Casey dominated its opening Class 2A footballl playoff game Saturday afternoon, defeating Carmi 45-0 in sunny, chilly and windy conditions.
To say that the Warriors set the tempo early is almost an understatement.
They needed just four plays to score the first three touchdowns, leading 21-0 with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first period at Sinclair-Vidoni Field.
They were up 42-0 at halftime, allowing for a running clock with the Casey starters watching from the sidelines.
The victory earned the No.3-seeded Warriors another home this Saturday against No. 6 seed Carlinville which bested Arthur 46-12.
Carmi went three-and-out on its first possession and a poor punt enabled Casey to start its first possession on the Carmi 27-yard line.
Junior quarterback Nicco Stepina got loose for 22-yard scoring run on the second play and Jesse Burnett kicked the first of seven extra points to put Casey up 7-0.
Stepina hooked up with Anthony Wilson for 53-yard pass play on the Warriors’ first play of their second possession and they were up 14-0 with 7:19 still left in the first canto.
Carmi went for a fourth down on its next possession and failed, giving Casey the football on the Carmi 35-yard line. Ajave Meeks burst loose on the first play of the possession and the host team led 21-0 with 5:52 left in the period.
Casey needed five plays to score its final touchdown of the opening period with Stepina finding Zack Murphy open for a 30-yard scoring play.
Murphy’s pass interception set up the next Casey drive with Dalton Livvix capping a seven-play drive with a 3-yard run.
The Warriors failed to score on their sixth possesion, driving to the Carmi 25, but another pass interception -- this one by Mack Disch --set up Casey’s final touchdown with Stepina going 2 yards for the score to cap a six-play drive.
Burnett kicked a 21-yard field goal to account for the only second-half points with a running clock in effect the entire time.
Casey had a 302-83 edge in total offense in the first half. Meeks rushed for 78 yards on seven carries and Livvix netted 73 on 10 totes while Stepina completed his first three passes for 101 yards.
Jim Sullivan was pleased following his first playoff game as coach of the Warriors.
“We talked about getting ahead early. These players work harder than any team I have seen. We work them hard, run a lot and today was the result of that work,” he said.
“We didn’t expect [the early lead]. I think Carmi got a little shell-shocked. We are pretty good at stopping the run and we knew they weren’t going anywhere if they tried to do that,” said Sullivan.
Senior Matt McCown is a leader on the Casey defense that allowed just 8.4 points per game in the regular season at linebacker and has been starting at that slot and at offensive tackle since his sophomore year.
“I like defense the best,” he said and intends to play college football. “I’ve narrowed it down to Indiana State and Illinois State,” said McCown.
Casey has qualified for the playoffs 12 straight years and also met Carmi two years ago, winning 36-16.
Casey 45, Carmi 0
Carmi 0 0 0 0 — 0
Casey 28 14 3 0 — 45
Casey — Stepina 22 run (Burnett kick), 9:23 1Q
Casey — Wilson 53 pass from Stepina (Burnett kick), 7:19 1Q
Casey— Meeks 35 run (Burnett kick), 5:51 1Q
Casey — Murphy 30 pass from Stepina (Burnett kick), 1:52 1Q
Casey — Livvix 3 run (Burnett kick), 11:02 2Q
Casey — Stepina 2 run (Burnett kick), 9:32 2Q
Casey — FG Burnett 21, 45.5 3Q
Car Cas
First downs 6 15
Rushes-yards 38-103 41-266
Passing yards 29 101
Comp-Att-Int 3-9-2 3-5-0
Return yards 0 57
Punts-avg 3-29.6 0-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-23 3-35
Individual statistics
Rushing — Carmi, Rankin 26-66, Farr 5-25, Matsel 5-7, Dillman 2-5. Casey, Livvix 10-73, Stepina 6-43, Meeks 7-78, Blome 2-17, Weger 7-36, Disch 2-3, Massey 3-7, Lucas 1-4, Currey 1-1, Williams 2-4.
Passing — Carmi, Farr 3-9-2 29. Casey, Stepina 3-5-0 101.
Receiving — Carmi, Matsel 2-24, Weller 1-5. Casey, Wilson 1-53, Murphy 1-30, Keigley 1-18.
Next — Casey (10-0) will meet Carlinville at Casey at 2 p.m. next Saturday in Class 2A playoff action. Carmi finished 6-4.
High School
Casey advances in Class 2A football playoffs
- High School
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Goatee, Bertoli ran away with Spring Athlete of the Year
When honoring athletes after a season of excellence, the phrase “what might have been” doesn’t usually come up.
But in the case of Terre Haute South’s Jackson Bertoli and Terre Haute North’s TaPring Goatee – the Tribune-Star’s Athletes of the Year for spring sports – there’s an air of unfinished business despite obvious recent successes.
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Post 346 opens tournament with two victories
Preston Tofaute got on base enough to score three runs, Cody Thornton smashed a two-run triple in the first inning and pitcher Pete Lannoo scattered four hits over a seven-inning complete game.
All of that helped Wayne Newton Post 346 down Lafayette Post 11 by a 7-2 score in the opener of the Terre Haute Inviatational tournament for American Legion baseball Thursday afternoon at Terre Haute North High School. -
North boys move up to 13th in golf state finals
Early Wednesday morning, Terre Haute North senior Ryan Baker and coach Abe Nasser headed out to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course for a range session.
Baker wasn’t happy with the 85 he shot in Tuesday’s first round of the IHSAA boys golf state finals.
“He was frustrated,” Nasser said.
Problem solved. Baker bounced back with a 2-over 74 Wednesday, helping the Patriots improve their team score by seven strokes.
The Patriots shot 304 as a team Wednesday, giving them a two-day score of 615, good for 13th place in the 15-team field. -
Big hill to climb for North golf
Terre Haute North boys golf is 21 strokes behind leaders at IHSAA boys golf tourney.
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Top of her game
There are a lot of surprising facts about blossoming volleyball prodigy Caitlyn Newton, including that shape-shifting thing she can apparently do, but maybe one of them stands out the most. She may only be scratching the surface.
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Camp, Howe win, then lose in state tennis tourney
Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe of Terre Haute South won their first match of high school tennis Friday at the state individual doubles finals, then won the first set against a powerful Park Tudor team before falling in three sets.
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Terre Haute North heading back to state finals in boys golf
Terre Haute North is going back to the state finals in boys high school golf for the first time in more than 10 years. The Patriots qualified for a trip to The Legends Course next week by tying for third in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks Golf Club and advancing with the better fifth score.
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North, South, Sullivan to compete at golf regional
Boys high school golf teams from the Wabash Valley will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday, seeking a spot in the state finals to be played next week.
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Terre Haute North falls 6-1 to Brownsburg in opening game of Class 4A Regional
Terre Haute North coach Shawn Turner told the Patriots to raise their heads. He wanted to see their eyes at the close of their 24-7 high school baseball season.
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Terre Haute North girls shine on dreary day at track state finals
Led by a record setting 3,200-meter relay team and Keirra Porter’s long jump, Terre Haute North turned in its best finish ever in the 40th annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Indiana University in Bloomington.
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Valley teams will have to wait until Monday for baseball regionals
Rain and the threat of more rain caused postponements of high school baseball regionals involving Terre Haute North, West Vigo and Shakamak on Saturday.
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Rockville's season ends at Lafayette Central Catholic
Lafayette Central Catholic ended Rockville’s tourney run in high school baseball Saturday, defeating the Rox 8-0 in the first game of the LCC Class A Regional.
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IHSAA boys state track finals: Standing alone
It hadn’t been a particularly good day for Wabash Valley track and field Friday, and it wasn’t looking like a good one for Jackson Bertoli either.
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Terre Haute North, West Vigo return to baseball regionals
Terre Haute North’s baseball team hasn’t participated in an IHSAA regional since 2006. West Vigo’s wait hasn’t been as long, but it was 2010 when the Vikings last advanced from a sectional.
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Patriots girls take aim at state track title
Terre Haute North’s girls have several potential state champions today at Indiana University.
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South, North track athletes looking for big performances at state finals
Terre Haute South’s distance trio of Jackson Bertoli, Logan Hambrock and Riley Stohler appear to be the favorites to crack all-state status among Wabash Valley competitors today in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals at Indiana University.
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Internet site keeps area prep teams on airwaves
- PREP ROUNDUP: Locals to take part in Hoosiers All-Star Game
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South Vermillion softball can't overcome errors, Tri-West
Uncharacteristic errors led to eight unearned runs and hard-luck hitting made that impossible to overcome for South Vermillion, which fell 8-0 to Tri-West in Class 3A regional play.
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Clay City softball comes up short against Lutheran
Clay City closed its high school softball season Tuesday night with the best record ever for the program at 21-9.
The Eels wanted to add another win, the school’s first regional title, but they came up short.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Rockville wins baseball sectional
Rockville won its own Class A sectional in high school baseball Tuesday, defeating Covington 10-4 in the rain-delayed championship game.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional:The wait is over
Three minutes into an interview with various media members, Terre Haute North baseball coach Shawn Turner couldn’t react fast enough to avoid a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head from behind by his giddy players. The soaking-wet Turner could shake it off with a smile, however, because his Patriots had just won the IHSAA Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional championship with a 13-3 six-inning triumph over Plainfield on Monday evening.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional: TH North, Plainfield win squeakers
The high school baseball teams of Terre Haute North and Plainfield proved Monday that what a batter does early in the game is not necessarily indicative of what he will do in the late innings.
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Class 2A Linton Sectional: Eastern rains on Sullivan parade
Mother Nature put Sullivan’s quest for a high school baseball sectional championship on hold Monday night at Linton-Stockton High School. Sullivan (14-15) and Eastern Greene (16-7) will resume play in the Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Linton’s Roy Herndon Field.
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Opening Day: Terre Haute Rex host Quincy
In his first season at the helm, first-year Terre Haute Rex manager Ronnie Prettyman is going to be surrounded by men he knows and trusts.
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Class A Shakamak Sectional: Stout pitching leads Union, Shakamak to final
Trey Bedwell and Patrick Green made sure their respective high school baseball teams would meet for the championship of the Class A Shakamak Sectional by pitching shutouts in semifinal contests Monday afternoon.
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Class A Rockville Sectional: Covington, Rockville title game postponed
Rockville and Covington won semifinal high school baseball games Monday to advance to the championship game of the Rockville Class A Sectional. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed. A decision was expected this morning whether the game will be played today or Wednesday.
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South Vermillion, Linton, Clay City look to stay alive in softball
There might have been as many reasons to think they wouldn’t be winning sectionals this spring as evidence to show they would, but high school softball teams from South Vermillion, Linton and Clay City will be playing one-game regionals Tuesday with the chance to keep defying the odds.
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West Vigo back on top of Class 3A baseball sectional
West Vigo won its sectional with a 6-4 victory over South Vermillion on a rainy night at Dick Ballinger Field.
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South runs into ‘buzzsaw’ at girls tennis semistate
Postmatch interviews don’t often begin with a coach and a reporter ready to blurt out the same word, but that was the case for Bill Blankenbaker and his interviewer Saturday morning after the Center Grove Semistate for girls high school tennis.
Unfortunately for Blankenbaker’s Terre Haute South team, that word was “buzzsaw.”
Greenwood’s Kawamoto twins made quick work of the top of the Braves’ singles lineup, so despite stellar efforts by both South doubles teams the Woodmen’s 3-2 victory didn’t seem all that close.
Greenwood moves on to Fishers, where it plays Floyd Central or Jasper on Friday in the state quarterfinals.
Also playing Friday, but at Park Tudor, will be South’s Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe, who reached the individual doubles finals for the second straight season by virtue of their 6-4, 6-2 win over the Greenwood team of Taylor Hudnall and Brittany Toney.
“It’s really exciting,” said Howe of the prospect of a second straight finals trip, “but I wish our team could’ve gone with us.”
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