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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
LaVille (2-1, 1-1 Hoosier North) at Caston (1-3, 0-3), 7 p.m.
The Caston football team’s game against Pioneer last week got off to an ominous start when they allowed a 64-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage, and they went on to lose 42-6.
The loss was their 31st in a row to Pioneer since their last win over them in 1996.
Offensively, Caston was limited to 131 yards. Sam Smith had a touchdown run in the fourth quarter, but by then, Caston trailed 42-0, and the game was operating under a running clock.
“Give them credit,” Caston coach Will Porter said of the Pioneer defense. “Their nose was number 77 (Oscar Solano), and he had been playing a defensive tackle or defensive end before. So they put their best guy at nose, and he started giving us fits. 14 and 77 (Derrick LeGrand and Solano), they just did a great job of just applying pressure to us. It was just one of those things where when you go back and watch some film, we have a lot of mental errors going on as far as guys not going to the right assignment, not doing the things we had game-planned to do up front, which led to guys getting into the backfield and thuis making it hard to run Sam or anybody else.”
One of the changes Porter is making to try to get the offense more productive is to start Landon Shafer at quarterback against LaVille Friday. Grant Hickle, who had started the previous four games, will also see time there.
Meanwhile, Grant Yadon will start at left tackle on offense.
“They are a very solid defense,” Porter said. “They’re similar to the Pioneer defense. They’re very active, and they move fast. They do a great job of pursuing the ball. They’ve got multiple kids that are doing the job. … I’m definitely impressed with their mentality and the speed with which they play.”
Caston is 0-8 against LaVille all-time, including an 0-6 mark since they became conference rivals in 2015.
LaVille won last year’s meeting 41-6.
LaVille’s game against Winamac last week was canceled due to COVID concerns at LaVille.
Watch Game Live Here:
