Big plays lead Colts to 4-0 record
WEEKLY BLOG: 9/23/22
If a team wants to win a big game, it sometimes needs to make big plays.
Casteel made more than a few big plays during its home game with Casa Grande at the Colts' Joel Wirth Stadium on Friday. The passing game was on point, CHS stepped it up on the defensive side of the ball, and the end result was a convincing 48-7 victory.
Despite a 70-minute lightning delay before the start of the game, the home stands were packed as it was not only the team's first game in Queen Creek following three road contests to start off the campaign, Homecoming festivities were also celebrated. At the same time, Casteel head coach Bobby Newcombe was pleased his team was able to stay focused in the midst of the waiting interval and the atmosphere.
"We talked all week to compartmentalize a lot of the activities during the week," Newcombe said. "This is a team that loves playing football. So, when the lights come on and they step on the field, they're ready to go."
Casteel (4-0) won on the strength of its passing game, which totaled 323 yards. Five of the Colts' seven touchdowns were scored through the air. The defense stopped the Cougars twice on downs inside the 20-yard line.
The Colts wasted no time getting on the board, scoring after just four plays on its first drive. A 29-yard pass from senior Landon Jury to Jeremiah Newcombe (son of head coach Bobby) set Casteel up at the six-yard line. Jury rolled left and ran the ball in from there for the first touchdown.
On its next possession later in the quarter, Jury went deep to Newcombe, who had a step on his opponent, to put the Colts up 14-0.
Newcombe, a 5-11, 175-pound junior, has 17 college offers so far with nine of them coming from the Pac-12. He shows good speed and runs smoothly. Casa Grande was playing a man defense and his speed exploited that twice in the first quarter.
"We just ran straight verts," Newcombe said. "I got past the defender and beat him off the line."
Newcombe also lined up at cornerback (which is where colleges are recruiting him). He doesn't hold a preference of playing on one side or the other, but instead is just ready to go play and do his thing wherever the coaches put him.
The passing yardage mark was a career-high for Jury, who is in his second year as a starter for the Colts. A 23-yard pass to tight end Kyle Harper extended the lead to 21.
"They were giving us 1-on-1 matchups," Jury said. "Their corners were playing inside on the inside routes, so we knew we were going to have the outside deep balls or wheels, so we had to attack there and we won our matchups."
Casa Grande (3-1) utilized its two-minute offense to get on the board before halftime. Sophomore quarterback Eltorna Gant had a 47-yard pass play to DeAndray Kelley that set up the score. Lined up in trips to the right, Kelley cut across to the middle and snared Gant's pass taking it in for a 13-yard touchdown.
Gant completed 19-of-33 passes for a season-high 240 yards and didn't turn the ball over. Kelley was his primary receiver catching 11 passes for 176 yards.
"DeAndre had a really good night," Casa Grande head coach Mark Luna said. "We had some weapons. I really think we can do some positive things with the throwing game, which will allow us to run the ball."
Casa Grande's touchdown came with just under a minute remaining in the first half. It was expected that the Cougars would carry that momentum into the locker room, but that went away with the ensuing kickoff.
The intent was to have its kicker pop it up short, instead it sailed farther and junior Gerayas Grimes caught it at the 2-yard line, eluded one tackler, ran between two others, picked up speed, and split the final pair of potential tacklers at the 50 and went untouched for a 98-yard touchdown.
"We could have taken the momentum into halftime," Luna said. "We only would have been down 21-7. They got that one back and I think that's really what deflated everything."
Casteel instead took that 28-7 lead into the halftime break. For a game that had a 21-point margin, the stats were relatively even. Casteel led in yardage, 187-182 and neither team had a turnover (and wouldn't the rest of the night). The big difference? Field position.
Colts' senior kicker Willem Murrieta sailed all eight of his kickoffs into the end zone. That gave the Cougars a long field all night, while in the first half, Casteel's average starting field position was its own 40-yard line. Murrieta was also crowned Homecoming King before the game.
"They have a really good kicker," Luna said. "He put it in the end zone every time. When you're playing a good 6A team, you cannot make mistakes."
One area Casteel will need to get going before its upcoming region games against Chandler, Perry, Hamilton, and Basha is its run game. The Colt running backs combined for just 36 yards. However, Jury, who came into the game as the team's leading rusher, extended it with 68 yards on eight runs. At one point, Casteel was at the CGHS 35-yard line. On first down, the Colts ran a quarterback sneak that you would normally see on fourth-and-one. Jury gained a couple yards and the line pushed him on for about nine more.
"They don't get the credit they deserve," Jury said of the offensive line. "We had to go punch them in the mouth and show our physical dominance."
For the fourth straight game, Jury did not get sacked. One of the guys up front happens to be the quarterback's younger brother, Camden.
"We struggled with their five-front," Camden Jury said. "But we picked it up halfway through the game. They're a good D-Line, but we held them up."
On its first possession of the second half, Casa Grande moved it 64 yards and reached the 16-yard line. However, a big sack by Josiah Switzer put the Cougars in a third-and-long situation. In addition to Switzer, Joseph Mularski, Austin Young, Nicholas Turner, and Brock Raj all registered at least half a sack (4.0 total for the team).
"We have a phenomenal D-Line coach, Antoine Reeves, and great players there," Bobby Newcombe said. "They love playing for him and it's fun to watch them play."
Meanwhile the rhythm continued for Jury as the Colts scored touchdowns on each of their last three possessions.
In the third quarter, Jury had completions of 16, 26, and 32 yards before hitting Harper with the receiver's second touchdown from the 6-yard line.
"Landon's done a great job making decisions," Bobby Newcombe said. "I give him play suggestions on the field. If he sees something he likes or doesn't like, he'll check and go to that."
Jury spread the ball around completing passes to eight different receivers. In the fourth quarter, it was sophomore Zeke Rodriguez's turn. He caught a short pass near the line of scrimmage on third-and-26 and took it 28 yards for a first down. Rodriguez was rewarded later in the drive with a pass towards the end zone that he caught over his shoulder for the score. Casteel closed out the scoring when junior Braden Greene was wide open on the left side of the field, caught the pass, and scored on a 45-yard play. That caused Greene (three catches) to lead the team in receiving yardage with 77.
In all, Jury had eight completions on the night of at least 20 yards. When you're getting good field position (four of the Colts' eight drives started in Casa Grande territory), that is difficult to overcome. Compounding the problem for the Cougars was some injuries in the secondary. One of Casa Grande's projected starters injured his ACL before the season, all-4A Conference defensive back Andon Diaz, broke his collarbone last week and had surgery Friday morning, another starter was out due to a concussion suffered the previous week.
The loss ended a 16-game win streak for Casa Grande. The Cougars had not lost a game since the 4A semifinals in 2000 against Cactus. Still, Luna liked how his team performed in the trenches.
"They didn't run the ball on us," Luna said. "We weren't able to run effectively either (24 yards rushing for CG). I thought we were able to match up with their physicality. They had the horses on both sides, where we had our horses going both ways."
Next week, Casa Grande will see an even scarier dual-threat QB in Higley's Jamar Malone. Malone, a sophomore, has thrown for 13 touchdowns and rushed for 217 yards and two scores for the 3-0 Knights, who were idle on Friday. That game, in Casa Grande, will be the first of the Cougars' 5A San Tan Region games.
"Definitely got to go back to the drawing board," Luna said. "With a throwing team like Higley, we're going to have to come back with a better game plan and get some pressure on."
Casteel is 4-0 for the first time since 2017, when it competed at the 3A level. Next week, the Colts host Tolleson (1-3). The Wolverines have been outscored the past three weeks by a 102-14 count. What do the Colts need to do to keep this train rolling?
"Be resiliant," Landon Jury said. "We've played some tough teams, so we've got to recover and eat healthy."
First Quarter:
Cast - Landon Jury 6 yard run (Willem Murrieta kick), 8:38
Cast - Jeremiah Newcombe 33 yard pass from Jury (Murrieta kick), 4:14
Second Quarter:
Cast - Kyle Harper 23 yard pass from Jury (Murrieta kick), 1:56
CG - DeAndray Kelley 13 yard pass from Eltorna Gant (Luke Auza kick), 0:58
Cast - Gerayas Grimes 98 yard kickoff return (Murrieta kick), 0:43
Third Quarter:
Cast - Harper 6 yard pass from Jury (Murrieta kick), 1:02
Fourth Quarter:
Cast - Zeke Rodriguez 34 yard pass from Jury (kick failed), 8:14
Cast - Braden Greene 45 yard pass from Jury (Murrieta kick), 4:09
