Twice during the first quarter Friday night, on back-to-back passes deep into the end zone, Reed-Custer High School quarterback Casey Barnes ended up with a pair of incompletions. Credit Coal City senior safety Kevin Gabehart on the first try.
Still, Gabehart's sideline deflection meant the Comets headed in another direction. So, on the second shot -- a fourth-down attempt from the 13 out of the shotgun singleback three-wideout formation -- Barnes snapped off his chinstrap in disgust, instantly blaming himself.
After misfiring to junior wingback/slot receiver Steven Davis on that post-corner route, however, Barnes returned to the scene of the crime with 22.4 seconds left in the second quarter, connecting on an 18-yard touchdown barn-burner to Davis for a 12-0 halftime lead.
If at first you don't succeed ...
"This one, I knew it was going to be there because the last time, I saw the defense and I saw exactly where they were going to be," Barnes said. "I knew exactly where (Davis) was going to be, I knew his speed, and I had to make sure I didn't overthrow him this time."
Speaking of overthrowing, Barnes sparked Reed-Custer to a coup d'etat of Coal City's stranglehold on the Interstate Eight Conference title as the homecoming Comets battled intermittent rain to claim the large division championship with a 26-0 win in Braidwood.
A 6-foot-1, 165-pound senior, Barnes finished 5-of-8 for 82 yards and tossed 3 touchdown passes for big-as-a-barn Reed-Custer (6-2, 4-1). Two of them wound up in Davis' gifted hands, the latter a 35-yarder with 6:03 remaining in the fourth quarter that sealed the win better than Perma-Seal.
While Davis did double duty due to the knee injury of junior halfback and leading rusher Garrett Sandefur, who departed on the Comets' second drive of the first quarter, the hookup with Barnes could be heard 'round Reed-Custer's opponents in the Class 4A playoff bracket.
... try, try again.
"I really didn't think I was going to catch it actually," said Davis, who contributed 11 rushes for 100 yards and 2 receptions for 53 yards. "I somehow ripped it out of their guy's hands and held onto it at the same time, and that was a perfect throw. We may have missed on it earlier, but Casey's throw, it was right there on the dot to me."
"Well, he stepped up tonight and he had a great game," Reed-Custer coach Dean Cappel said of Barnes. "He showed what he is capable of, and it's something that is a very positive thing for us going into the playoffs. It's going to say to people, 'Maybe we can't commit that many players in the box.'"
For at least a quarter, Coal City (5-3, 3-2) boxed in Sandefur out of the offset wing-T. He went to the Comets' sideline with 9 carries for 29 yards, with junior fullback Ryan Garbin (18 carries, 79 yards) shouldering much of the chain-moving load thereafter. Jim Benson switched from wingback to halfback, Davis settling in as the wing.
Only 1:48 into the second quarter, Reed-Custer cashed in, with Barnes floating a pin-point play-action pass to senior tight end Jake Bolatto on third-and-5 for a 12-yard touchdown strike and a 6-0 lead. The preceding four plays had Garbin and Davis trading gains of 6 yards before Davis' 3 and Garbin's 2.
"No, not at all," Bolatto said about being denied. "We ran that dive all night long to set it up, and we thought we were going to use it on the 2-point conversion with Chris (Robinson) being out. We practiced it all week long, they finally called it, and Casey threw one heckuva ball. It was right there for me."
"We did that last week, too," Barnes recalled. "I didn't think it was going to work this week, but it's a perfect play. Everybody concentrates on the run and he's wide open in the end zone every time. It's probably the third time we've run it and he has been open every time."
Time after time, Reed-Custer relied on its Whopper-sized running game as the prelude to Barnes' play-action fries. Several times, the Comets came out in a package that stationed the 6-2, 220-pound Benson and 6-0, 255-pound Kyle Roach in a jumbo power-I that caused the Coalers to inch oh-so-closer.
That opened up the seam to Bolatto. Afterward, Cappel kidded him by saying, "This guy, the big, burly No. 82. Hey, you got a touchdown pass tonight. I told you, sooner or later, you would get one." All Bolatto could do is beam like the sun.
Without any semblance of rays, Barnes brought the heat. In the past two weeks, with Reed-Custer blazing its winning streak to three straight, Barnes has nailed 7-of-10 passes for 133 yards and 5 TDs.
If the shoe fits ...
"They've watched film on us all year and they've seen it all," Bolatto said. "You know, we pound the ball down the field, and with Casey throwing the ball how he did tonight, that's a great plus for us. He threw those balls dead-on -- he couldn't throw them any better."
"Coal City had a good game plan and they stuffed our run early, took some things away from us," Cappel said. "But you know what, I have awesome assistants in Mike Orwig, Kevin Young and Mike Kettwig, and they did a great job with our game plan and the execution."
The final executioner's song occurred on jet play-action to the singleback out of the shotgun, with Barnes delivering the dagger to Davis on a stutter-and-go for the closing 35-yard TD.
... wear it.
"It's basically a fly route and Davis uses his speed to beat everybody," Barnes said. "I love play-action because when we run, run, run, then they see the fake and they bite on the run."
"Yes, we have a good line, we have good running backs and we're perfect on the ground," Davis said. "It's very important we pound it and keep pounding it, but when we can hit that play-action pass, it's awesome."
e-mail: bscheibe@scn1.com
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