Week 2: Casteel 60 Apollo 24

WEEKLY BLOG: 8/24/18

The team that attracted the most intrigue heading into the 2018 season in the 5A Conference was the Casteel Colts. The Chandler District school in Queen Creek was making the jump up two levels after having won the 3A state championship while going a perfect 14-0 a year ago. Every player returned as the school is in its fourth year of existence (third varsity season), but the head coach was replaced in June.

Last week, it was baptism by fire as Casteel was buried by defending 5A champion Centennial. With Centennial expected to be at the top of the contenders for state once again, we still didn't really have a handle on how the Colts would do at this new level.

Against Apollo on Friday night in Glendale, I think we started to get an idea.

After running just six offensive plays, Casteel had 20 points on the scoreboard. Senior quarterback Gunner Cruz found Zach Nelson and Brandt Goodwin on short bubbles and hitches, completed short passes to them and the receivers did the rest making defenders miss and using their speed to outrun the Apollo defenders.

The Colts made that 20-7 first-quarter lead stand up as they crushed the hosts, 60-24.

"We followed through with our game plan," Casteel head coach Bobby Newcombe said. "Gunner was on board with that. He was a field general today and did a great job."

After the defense stopped Apollo on its initial possession, Cruz made it look easy. Two quick hitches to Nelson for 18 and 30 yards put the Colts on the scoreboard first.

Apollo (1-1) answered as senior Frank Sanchez hit Moe Harris down the sideline for a 29-yard gain and running back Ali Mohamed took it around the right side from five yards out to even the score.

Another quick screen from Cruz, this time to Goodwin, resulted in a big play as the junior receiver spun, juked, and stiffarmed his way to a 56-yard touchdown giving the Colts the lead for good.

The Hawks tried to make something happen with a fake punt as Sanchez handles those duties as well. But, he wasn't able to get the pass off and was run out of bounds giving Casteel the ball at the Apollo 35-yard line.

From there, Cruz found Goodwin again on a hitch and the Hawks couldn't tackle him.

Casteel (1-1) added to its lead in the second quarter with a short run from sophomore Jayce Knutsen. Then, Apollo kicked a field goal leaving just 1:15 on the clock. It turns out, that's plenty of time for this offense.

Cruz went deep and found junior Collin Gapen wide open on the left for a 44-yard touchdown. It was one of the rare times the Washington State commit threw the ball downfield.

"I was in the zone on that play," Gapen said. "The corner was playing down, so we took a shot."

In the first half, Casteel outgained Apollo by a 334-133 count. Of that number, nearly all of it (302) came via the pass.

In the third quarter, the Colts would strike three more times. Cruz with scoring passes to Nelson and Goodwin and Knutsen scoring on a long 54-yard run.

The defense, which kept Apollo's top rusher (Mohamed) in check for most of the game, also took advantage of some miscues. Three times during the game, the Hawks had difficulty in the exchange from the center to the quarterback. The last of those happened with Apollo deep in its own end. The Hawks recovered the loose ball, but were tackled for a safety.

"We missed a lot of tackles," Apollo head coach Zack Threadgill said. "We didn't help ourselves at all. When you play a good football team, and you make mistakes, the outcome is never going to be good."

Cruz finished the game completing 22-of-28 passes (79 percent) for 445 yards and six touchdowns. He spread the ball around well as Nelson, Goodwin, and Gapen each had over 100 yards receiving. In addition, Knutsen rushed for 141 yards.

"We have four receivers that I would take against any DB in the state," Cruz said. "Zach Nelson, Brandt Goodwin, Khyheem Waleed, and Collin Gapen, who had a huge game for us."

Because of where the Centennial game fell on the schedule, you can make the argument that playing the Coyotes taught Casteel what it takes to win at the 5A level.

"I think we learned a lot from the Centennial game," Cruz said. "We brought a different level of focus and intensity to practice."

There was a running clock for nearly half of the fourth quarter before Mohamed scored his second touchdown in the final minute. Apollo's leading rusher had more than 250 yards a week ago, and went over the century mark once again with 126 on 22 carries.

"He has great lateral movement and acceleration," Newcombe said. "He's a tough player to guard."

Apollo started its season off with a win over Desert Mountain. Now, the Hawks must turn the page as they host Maricopa (1-1) next Friday.

"Monday is a new week," Threadgill said. "How the kids respond is going to be a true test of their character. That's on us as coaches to model that."

Casteel, which traveled 50 miles for this one, has an even longer trip next Friday. The Colts go to Buckeye to face Verrado (1-0). Verrado head coach Tom Ward watched the first half from the stands (the Vipers were idle this week) and will try his best to put a game plan together to slow this offense, which started to click in the fourth quarter of the Centennial game (all 19 points scored) and didn't stop in Week 2.

The Colts had 10 drives and scored touchdowns on eight of them along with one field goal and just one punt.

First Quarter:
Cast - Zach Nelson 30 yard pass from Gunner Cruz (Derek Auclair kick), 8:37
Apo - Ali Mohamed 5 yard run (Sean Grimes kick), 6:05
Cast - Brandt Goodwin 56 yard pass from Cruz (Auclair kick), 4:43
Cast - Goodwin 35 yard pass from Cruz (kick failed), 1:36
Second Quarter:
Cast - Jayce Knutsen 1 yard run (Khyheem Waleed pass from Cruz), 7:16
Apo - Grimes 27 yard FG, 1:15
Cast - Collin Gapen 44 yard pass from Cruz (Auclair kick), 0:50
Third Quarter:
Cast - Nelson 16 yard pass from Cruz (Auclair kick), 9:47
Cast - Safety. Quarterback tackled in end zone, 9:32
Cast - Goodwin 1 yard pass from Cruz (kick failed), 7:51
Apo - Elias Guerrero 6 yard pass from Frank Sanchez (Grimes kick), 2:23
Cast - Knutsen 54 yard run (Auclair kick), 0:45
Fourth Quarter:
Cast - Auclair 23 yard FG, 7:02
Apo - Mohamed 33 yard run (Grimes kick), 0:46