Waverly clinches district championship
Ken Easthouse
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Waverly clinched the district championship Friday night with a 56-36 shootout victory over Lebo.
“(Winning district) was the main goal of ours,” Waverly senior Matt Coursen said.
The team hasn’t won district the previous two years, even though it advanced to the playoffs and, in last year’s case, ended up winning the state title.
“We’ve been in the playoffs two years in a row and been runner-up,” Waverly coach Mike Hevel said. “We had a tough district.”
Waverly opened the offense early with a 30-yard touchdown run from Coursen. Throughout the day, Coursen found gaping holes in the defense, allowing long-yardage plays.
“Our (offensive) line was physical tonight,” Coursen said. “I didn’t even get hit until I got into the (secondary). They made it real easy for our offense to bring it to them.”
Coursen led the team with 181 yards rushing and 66 yards receiving with three touchdowns. In addition, he also ended the first half with a 47-yard touchdown strike to Heath Redding. Most of the time, when Coursen lined up at quarterback, he would run a sweep play. For the final play of the half, however, he drew the defense in for the expected sweep and instead tossed the touchdown.
“We weren’t even looking to score,” Coursen said. “We just wanted a big play.”
Lebo, however, refused to go quietly. The Wolves offense continued to push for more yardage and kept moving the ball at will against the Waverly defense.
“They did what they wanted in the second half,” Coursen said.
Hevel credited Lebo with a strong performance, especially on offense, as the Wolves racked up 36 points against a typically stingy Waverly defense.
“Their offense is hard to defend, and we’re not bad,” Hevel said.
In addition, most of Lebo’s offensive production came after starting running back Bryant Linsey left the game with an injured shoulder. He was transported to a local hospital and his condition is unknown.
“If Bryant would have been back, it’s a whole different perspective,” Lebo coach Butch Jones said.
Instead, Adam Laflin took over Bryant’s job, and ended the night with 80 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown.
“I wish Adam would play that hard with that inspiration every day,” Jones said. “It wasn’t a very smart move on his part, because now we’re going to expect it every day.”
Jones said he believed his team was capable of defeating Waverly if given enough time to prepare.
“I still think we can beat them,” Jones said. “They’re not a good 8-man defense, but they’ve got their system down.”
garfield (anonymous) says...
I was there when Coach Jones was interviewed. It's to bad that the Gazette prints just the parts of the interview they want! Coach Jones's comment in the last of the interview was taken out of context! It makes it sound like he is trashing Waverly's defense, which I know he didn't!!!
October 21, 2006 at 11:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
garfield (anonymous) says...
I was there that night cheering for the Lebo Wolves and they played a good game. I have every confidence that on another given night they have the talent and ablility to beat Waverly and maybe we will get the chance to....but if not I am not so stingy as to not wish Waverly good luck in the playoffs. Good luck to both teams!!!
October 26, 2006 at 7:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )