Larry's nonsense, stuff & other stuff!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Central Catholic Football vs West Lafayette

West Side offense sputters after strong start

Written by
SAM KING

West Lafayette senior quarterback Sean Busch sighed, looked to the ground, then came up with the only explanation he could as to why his team was on the losing end against Central Catholic Friday night.

"I don't know what else to say but that I blew it in the fourth quarter," said Busch, whose two interceptions late in the fourth quarter set up CC's tying touchdown and then provided Travis Smith's game-winning pick-six.

The heavily hyped game between unbeaten top-ranked teams in front of an estimated 4,000 fans couldn't have started any better for the Red Devils or any worse for the Knights.

The ending, however, was the complete opposite as CC's defense stopped penetration and ended the game with 15 tackles after a gain of one yard or less.

"We didn't make many adjustments," CC linebacker Matt Burks said. "We started playing harder, playing to the whistle. Only one first down (by WL) in the second half, that shows what a great coaching staff we have."

After opening on a 74-yard scoring drive, the West Lafayette offense never got in the end zone again. A blocked punt was returned for WL's only other points.

"We couldn't get yards on first and second down, leaving us with third and long," Busch said. "You can't build a drive like that, so we just never got a drive going. Turnovers killed us. I had four of them. That's all I need to say."

Amen Galley had a 48-yard run on the opening drive. Maurice Woodard had three straight first-quarter carries that went for a combined 38 yards and three first downs.

From there, the offense sputtered. The Red Devils turned the ball over five times and lost a 14-0 lead in the fourth quarter.

Busch finished 5 of 16 for 33 yards and three interceptions.

"CC's defense is obviously the best we've seen all year ..." senior Ben Thomas said. "With a team as good as CC, you can't be playing CC and playing against yourselves at the same time."

Other than Woodard's 38 yards on three straight carries, the sophomore had just 16 yards on 10 carries. Other than Galley's 48-yard run, he had just 24 rushing yards on 15 carries.

"They are very fast. We could not get outside," WL coach Marshall Overley said. "Every time we tossed it outside, they came up hard. It's not just Anthrop, there's a lot of speed on that team."

Early in the game, it was the Knights who could not move the ball. Because of CC's offensive woes, the Red Devils felt once Thomas scooped up a punt blocked by Tyler Beyer that the 14-0 lead would hold up.

"We definitely thought that was game," Busch said. "I think even some people on their team thought that was it. We gave them room to come back. They are a great fourth-quarter team and we couldn't give them an opportunity in the fourth quarter. I did and they capitalized."

While CC won its 39th game in a row, Friday's loss was just West Lafayette's fourth regular-season loss in the last five seasons.

Turnovers and offensive struggles led to the Red Devils' first loss of 2011, but they hope it will be their only setback.

"I'd rather not lose at all, but it was a great team to lose to," Beyer said. "If there is any team I'd want to lose to, it's CC. They had an all-around really good football team."


CC's unbelievable comeback!

Late rally propels CC past WL in battle of No. 1 teams


Written by
NATHAN BAIRD
When Travis Smith's heroic moment arrived, it felt nothing like what the Central Catholic senior had imagined."I really cannot feel anything in my body right now," Smith said. "It's very intense. I'm so tired. It's been such a long game."Friday's taut, raucous Hoosier Conference championship game between Class A No. 1 Central Catholic and Class 3A No. 1 West Lafayette might have been even longer if not for Smith.The safety's leaping interception and 55-yard return for touchdown in the final 30 seconds lifted Central Catholic to a 21-14 comeback victory in front of an estimated crowd of 4,000 at LaRocca Field.

"I wasn't really sure if he was going to take it back at first," said fellow CC senior Danny Anthrop, whose own fourth-quarter interception set up the game-tying touchdown. "And then I saw him get this speed out of nowhere. I don't know how he did it. That's probably the fastest I've seen that kid run in his life."Central Catholic (9-0, 6-0 Hoosier Conference) trailed 14-0 entering the fourth quarter and 14-7 with less than six minutes to play. It appeared the Knights' 38-game winning streak, the third-longest streak in state history, might come to an end.But Knights senior and Purdue recruit Danny Anthrop's interception set up his second touchdown run, which tied the game with 2:56 to play.

West Lafayette (8-1, 5-1) drove to midfield, but Smith's interception -- the third thrown by Sean Busch and the Red Devils' fifth turnover -- completed the startling comeback."We will definitely use this as motivation as a team and me personally," said Busch, who guided a 74-yard touchdown drive to open the game, capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brian Bangs."We'll come out harder than we would have for sure. We're just happy we've still got games to play."As in its 17-7 victory over Tipton on Sept. 16, West Side could not sustain its early offensive success. But the Red Devils defense became the first to contain and Anthrop and kept CC off the scoreboard into the third quarter.

In the final two minutes of the third, Tyler Beyer blocked Munn's punt, and Ben Thomas picked it up and ran 24 yards for a touchdown that made it 14-0 West Lafayette."I saw two CC guys fall over and everyone was on the ground with no one near me," Thomas said. "We always practice scooping and scoring. I just scooped it and scored it."Munn, who had completed 67 percent of his passes coming in, connected on 6 of 16 before the punt block. But the Knights' offense began to click as he led a 64-yard touchdown drive, capped by Anthrop's 4-yard run.Anthrop's interception and return to the West Lafayette 10 with five minutes left led to his fourth-and-goal plunge from 1 yard out. With 2:56 to play, the game was tied 14-14."For me the momentum shifted after that first score," CC senior linebacker/receiver Matt Burks said. "After that, things started rolling, things started clicking and we started realizing, hey, we're still in this game.

We can win this."Amen Galley's legs carried West Lafayette from its own 36 to the CC 49. When Busch tried to go to Galley through the air, Smith read the play and pounced."I was just hoping I could get down the field a little bit and make sure the offense could score," said Smith, who also intercepted a pass in the first half. "No way I thought I was going to score."After two incompletions, Busch completed a pass underneath to Galley, which set off a series of laterals. But soon the Red Devils were only going backward until Busch was finally taken down.Anthrop, who came into the game averaging 17.5 yards per offensive touch, carried 16 times for 56 yards and added 42 on three receptions.Despite a stellar defensive game, West Lafayette managed just one first down in the second half. After piling up 159 yards on its first three possessions, the Red Devils totaled 44 yards the rest of the game."We couldn't get yards on first and second down, leaving us with third and long," said Busch, who finished 6 of 17 for 84 yards. "You can't build a drive like that, so we just never got a drive going. Turnovers killed us. I had four of them.

That's all I need to say."Players from both sides agreed the first meeting between the county rivals since 2000 -- and the first meeting between two top-ranked Tippecanoe County teams -- lived up to the hype.In its first season back in the Hoosier Conference since 1994, Central Catholic ran the table."Once they blocked that punt, people were starting to second-guess themselves," Munn said. "Our motto is, 'Next play.' Every game we come out and show them what CC pride is. We never stopped."