Stay Connected with YourSeason
Providence tricks past Minooka
during the first quarter vs Minooka in Minooka, Friday September, 2, 2011.
Ray Luna ~ For Sun-Times Media
Providence coach Mark Coglianese compared the fourth quarter Friday night to “having teeth pulled sitting in the dentist chair.”
But any time his team can go on the road and salt away a 7-0 victory over Minooka, complete with a hectic finish, he will take it — especially when that 2-0 record shows up after the Celtics’ name.
“That’s where we needed to be, 2-0,” Coglianese said. “This wasn’t pretty, but I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Minooka (0-2) had seven possessions start and/or finish inside Providence territory and missed two field-goal attempts. The Indians outgained the Celtics 278 yards to 210, including 174-56 in the second half on this steamy night. Minooka also held a 17-13 edge in first downs, including 11-3 in the second half.
And yet, Providence used a trick play in the second quarter to set up the only touchdown, and the Celtics defense refused to be denied, as agonizing as it all was for their coach.
“They say you win with big plays, and we did tonight,” Coglianese said. “We have a lot to work on, and you have to give Minooka credit. They’re a good team.”
“This is two weeks in a row where we made mistakes, but they’re aggressive mistakes,” said Minooka coach Bert Kooi, whose team suffered two lost fumbles and a pass interception in the second half, not to mention a run of three false starts that destroyed an eight-minute drive that opened the second half and had reached the Providence 14-yard line.
“I thought that was the key to the game,” Coglianese said. “They had that long drive, and it was hot. We took a timeout, and that seemed to get our energy back.”
Minooka, which opened last week with a mistake-ridden 27-21 loss at Morris, kept coming back. The Indians’ final drive began at their 20-yard line with 2:16 left and no timeouts, and they almost pulled it off.
Quarterback Joe Carnagio engineered a drive that featured two fourth-down conversions and reached the Providence 23 with a first down and 25 seconds left. One Carnagio attempt was batted in the air in the end zone and Kalvin Hill (17 carries, 106 yards) just missed making a diving catch on the carom. Another pass was flat-out dropped at the 5, and another landed in the hands of Providence cornerback Troy Sheppard to effectively end the game.
Earlier, Sheppard (4 catches, 69 yards) was on the receiving end on a double pass that set up the only score. It came on a third-and-24 play at the Minooka 49 and covered 48 yards.
The pass went from quarterback Chris Salazar to wide receiver Sean Fitzgerald in the flat, and long down the field to Sheppard. Just the way it was drawn up.
“We practice that play all the time,” Fitzgerald said. “I threw a pretty good duck. It wasn’t the greatest pass, but I thought it would be a TD.
“Hey, we have a lot of trick plays, More are coming. We didn’t capitalize on a lot of opportunities, but a win is a win, and 2-0 feels great. We were the laughingstock around school last year (when the Celtics were 2-7).”
“Minooka has a good defensive line,” Sheppard said, explaining the double pass. “We we noticed their DBs sucking up a little, and we were able to set that play up.
“It was great to win this one. It had to be the hottest game ever, but we played with heart.”
© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment