Week 6 football preview: Caston hopes to break 4-game skid vs. North White

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

North White (1-3) at Caston (1-4), 7 p.m.

The Caston football team has lost four straight since winning their opener against former Midwest Conference rival West Central.

Now they face another former Midwest Conference rival in North

White for homecoming this week.

Caston is coming off a 41-6 loss to Class 2A, No. 12 LaVille last week, and the only points came in the fourth quarter after they were already facing a 41-point deficit.

Caston coach Will Porter wants his team to pay attention to detail.

“I thought last week against LaVille we were able to get a little more continuity offensively,” Porter said. “We did have some drives that got us some first downs, and later in the game, we were able to put together a drive and score a touchdown. We’re definitely seeing progress. We have got to get the small details of our plays executed properly, which is causing some of our fits early on in the game.”

Porter also said he would like to see slot back Damian Sullivan get more touches. Sullivan had two carries for 36 yards last week. Better blocking could help Sullivan get on the perimeter where he can make plays in space, according to Porter.

Sullivan also has a punt return and a kickoff return for a touchdown this season.

Meanwhile, the defense allowed 135 yards passing and over 200 yards rushing against LaVille. Porter said he wants to get back to the intensity level the defense had shown in previous weeks.

“We’ve got to get back to the same type of aggression, hitting and intensity that we had earlier on in the season, and that’s something we’ve been stressing in practice.”

Caston will try to beat a North White team coming off a scheduled bye last week. North White beat Tri-County 42-18 in their last game two weeks ago. The offensive outburst came after three straight losses to start the season in which they scored 12 points combined.

Freshman quarterback Eli Quasebarth guides the North White offense, and Cade Garrett had 206 yards rushing against Tri-County.

“He’s elusive,” Porter said of Quasebarth. “He’s quick. And he’s been able to just like the LaVille quarterback (Lucas Plummer) last week, they’re able to make connections downfield, so we’ve got to work them a lot this week about the secondary staying on their coverage and staying back and protecting against those play-action passes.”

Porter also said North White likes to vary their defensive fronts, and he said that Comet offensive linemen must communicate with each other so that they are aware of how North White lines up.

Freshman lineman Pete DuVall will return from injury for the Comets. Landon Shafer moves from guard to tackle on offense. Combined with Cain Schanlaub, that will give Caston sophomore bookends at tackle.

North White has won the last three meetings in the series. Caston has not beaten North White since 2012.