FOOTBALL: Casey moves to 4-0 with blowout win

Published 10:34 am Monday, September 19, 2016

Casey County’s offense hasn’t slowed down this season.

If anything, it’s getting better.

The Rebels beat Washington County 49-7 Friday, scoring 35 points by halftime. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that Washington finally got on the board.

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It was another strong offensive showing for us,” Casey coach Steve Stonebraker said via email. “We scored on every time we had the football up until our last drive where the clock expired. It was good to see us continue to be efficient on that side of the football.”

A lightning delay caused the game to be stalled in the first quarter, but Casey came out strong after the break.

“It was very good to see our kids handle the adversity of the lightning delay as well as we did,” Stonebraker said. “You never know how kids will respond to something like that, but we scored our first touchdown on the second play out of the lightning delay and that got us going.”

Collin Miller and Breece Hayes got the scoring started in the first quarter with a 36-yard touchdown pass. Miller scored again later in the period on a 68-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Casey continued to get the ball to Miller in the second quarter, and he responded. He scored on a six-yard run, a 57-yard pass and a 22-yard pass to put the Rebels up 35-0 at halftime.

“Collin Miller showed his playmaking ability again,” Stonebraker said. “There’s not another kid in this state on Friday night that touched the ball six times and scored five touchdowns. That was an incredible performance. And, he scored receiving, rushing and defensive touchdowns. He had just a dynamite game.”

Stonebraker credited his defensive front for limiting the Washington offense.

“A.J. Glenn and Gary Propes had excellent games on the defensive side of the ball for us, once again,” he said. “Chase Emerson gave us more production, as well. Our defensive line corps of Austin Campbell, Collin Allen, and Gabe Singleton did a good job helping to contain their run game.”

After last week’s offensive explosion against Lincoln County, Hayes and backup quarterback Austin Campbell broke the school record for passing yards in a game, throwing for 346 yards. Hayes completed 15-of-21 passes for 310 yards and three scores.

Stonebraker said it’s having multiple quality receivers that helps Hayes stand out.

“Breece continues to do a good job within the offense of making reads and throws,” he said. “Britt Pendleton and Preston Tucker had strong receiving games again along with Collin. Right now we have three of the top 14 receivers in Class 3A in terms of receiving yardage. I like how we can distribute the football to many playmakers to where the defense can’t concentrate just on one guy.”

Dalton Summers scored on a six-yard run in the third quarter, and AJ Glenn finished the scoring for the Rebels with a three-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“Our offensive line probably had their best game of the season, collectively,” Stonebraker said. “Jacob Wilson, Cole Jones, Jon Denson, Taran Beard and Collin Allen have done a terrific job learning to work together and execute effectively. Dustin Richards had another solid game at receiver both blocking and catching the football. Dustin has become a very complete receiver in a short time since this is his first year playing football in years.”

The Rebels will travel to Bowling Green to play Ballard Memorial (2-2) in a neutral-site game next week.

“They have an offense that is capable of putting up a lot of points and we must prepare well to be ready for them,” Stonebraker said. “I like how our guys are working and we want this success to continue.”

Follow Matt Overing on Twitter @MOvering