Coal City cages Eagles
By T.G. Smith
-
tsmith@morrisdailyherald.com
|
| Coal City quarterback Colt Smith completed 10-of-13 passes for 160 yards on Saturday night at the Dzuris Athletic Complex. Led by Smith and running back Bobby Kroeger (18 carries, 112 yards), the Coalers won the Class 4A playoff game against Dunlap by a 30-7 score. (Adam Nekola) |
COAL CITY — Things were pretty simple for Dunlap football coach Brett Cazalet to explain on Saturday night after his team's game at the Dzuris Athletic Complex. Standing on the soggy turf and with the scoreboard emblazoning a 30-7 final score in favor of the hosting Coalers, the Eagles' coach looked for a concluding thought about the Class 4A playoff contest.
"The bottom line is that they are a better football team than we are," he said. "We played a better football team tonight."
That became apparent right at the onset as the Dunlap offense was stuck in neutral while Coal City came out clicking.
"We didn't play very well in the first half, but credit them," Cazalet said.
Coal City scored in its first possession of the contest at 5:58 of the opening quarter and then added a second touchdown at 1:05 — both on the ground by Coalers running back Bobby Kroeger. The first was on a 1-yard plunge and the other was on a 43-yard dash sprinting to the right.
Brian Gaines recovered a fumble for the Eagles to stop the next Coal City drive, but the ensuing Dunlap possession stalled at the Coalers' 30.
Coal City led 20-0 at halftime when quarterback Colt Smith connected with Mitch Hibler on a 9-yard pass play with 4:36 before the break.
At halftime, the Eagles had just 40 yards of total offense and junior quarterback Logan Schreader was 0-for-9 throwing the ball.
"They (Coal City) did a great job in coverage. Their defensive backs were right there with our receivers all night," Cazalet said. "I thought our quarterback threw some good balls out there tonight, but they cover well. Coal City has good athletes and their defense is incredibly fast. They make the plays out there and they also tackle well."
Dunlap came out of the break and scored its lone TD of the night when Caleb Miller scored from 41 yards away on sweep right, but Blake Abbott's PAT kick would account for all the Eagles points on the night.
Coal City finished out the scoring on a 6-yard pass to Ryan Collier and a 28-yard field goal by David Druse.
"I think we came out and played real well," Coal City coach Lenny Onsen said. "The defense answered the questions tonight. The offense played well, special teams played well and we played four quarters of football."
As a team, Coal City had 160 yards through the air on 10-of-13 passing from Smith and another 180 yards on the ground in 34 carries. Kroeger led the team with 112 yards in 18 carries.
"Our game plan all season had been to establish the run and then work in play action passes with Colt," Kroeger said. "We stuck with that tonight and we were able to overpower them all night."
Comments
