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Westmont Sentinels At Plano Reapers
IHSA 3A Playoffs Round 2
Game Time: 6 p.m. Saturday at Reaper Stadium
Radio: Game will be carried live on WSPY 107.1 FM with Jim Teckenbrock on the call.
Records: Plano 10-0, Westmont 7-3
Last Meeting: Plano 35, Westmont 14 (Sept. 22, 2006)
Players To Watch: Plano - Senior running back Nick Nasti rushed for 307 yards in last weeks win over Lisle.
Westmont - Senior running back Andy Zapinski is the school’s all time leading rusher with better than 2,500 yards, 1,250 of which have come in 2006.
Plano Rushes Forward Toward Title
Reapers To Face Another Familiar Foe In Playoffs Week 2
By Bill Lidinsky
Usually when a high school football team moves into the post season playoffs, it signifies a time to start playing some other opponents rather than the regular conference foes that have traditionally been seen over the first nine weeks.
But this has not proven to be the case so far for the Plano High School varsity football team in the 2006 second season.
Last Friday in week one of the IHSA 3A matchups, the No. 1 seeded Reapers coincidentally drew the No. 8 seeded Lisle Lions in their eight team quadrant. Lisle of course is a familiar foe for Plano, both battling within the tough Interstate Eight Conference. In week one, the Reapers beat the Lions 42-0 and handily dispatched of them again in week ten, 31-14 despite a subpar performance
So on to week 11 and yet another I-8 opponent in the offing for the second game of the playoffs for Reaper Nation.
This time 2006 IEC newcomer Westmont (7-3) will be on the Plano (10-0) schedule for a 6 p.m. start on Saturday night at Reaper Stadium.
The No. 4 seeded Sentinels used a nice second half rally last Saturday night on their home turf as they downed No. 5 seeded Aurora Christian 34-24.
So the unusual now has occurred in Reaper Nation. Plano will welcome yet another I-8 school for a second straight playoff game, while still not having faced any other non conference opponents all season.
“Having the same opponents we’ve played already for the second straight week doesn’t help us out a lot,’ said Plano head football coach Jim Green. “If it was a team we haven’t played before I think there might be a little different feeling of urgency for the guys. Obviously we beat Lisle easily in week one and they were ready for us in week ten and maybe we were a little overconfident. Hopefully that won’t be the case this week against Westmont.”
In week five, the Reapers used senior quarterback Brook Bott’s 181 yard, four touchdown passing effort to overcome the Sentinels at Westmont 35-14.
Plano out-gained the Sents 400 to 202 in total offense, while limiting Westmont senior star running back Andy Zapinski to only 14 total yards rushing on 13 carries with a marvelous defensive effort. Zapinski has totaled more than 1,250 yards on the ground in 2006 and last week set the Westmont career rushing mark by eclipsing the 2,500 rushing yardage plateau as a varsity player.
“In our first game Plano keyed on Andy (Zapinski) very well. They put (Nick) Nasti opposite him and we couldn’t get anything really going,” said Westmont varsity football coach Jeff Schroeder. “They made it tough on us that’s for sure. We’re just hoping this time around that we can establish Andy. He’s going to have to have some better success for us to ultimately be successful as well.”
In game one, Westmont used what amounted to a nine man front on defense in the hopes of stopping Plano senior star running back Nick Nasti. They did limit Nasti to 70 yards rushing, but ultimately the Sentinels paid the price for their focus.
“Plano makes big plays and they did that against us back in week five,” Schroeder said. “We wanted to limit Nasti on the ground and make them beat us with the pass and they did just that. Didn’t work out too well for us.”
Nasti was just coming off a sprained ankle in week five and since then has stepped up his game big time including a 29 carry, 307 yard rushing effort last week against Lisle.
So once again the top seeded team in Class 3A will be the prohibitive favorite against a familiar I-8 opponent that they handled relatively easily back on Sept. 22. But after last week’s lackluster performance against Lisle, nobody in Reaper Nation will be taking Westmont lightly in week two at least if the head coach has anything to say about it.
“The thing I’ve had the most problems with is everybody wants to talk about the road farther ahead with possibly Bureau Valley, Hampshire etc., Not our kids but everyone around the program,” Green said. “The nice thing is our guys have really been focused on Westmont this week and haven’t been looking ahead. I’m proud of them for that and hopefully that intense focus will pay off in our play on Saturday.”
Archive Stories
Lisle Playoff Game 10/27/06
Lisle Playoff PreGame 10/24/06
Seneca at Plano Preview- 9/14/06
"Reaper Nation Vs Tribe" - 8/30/06
Plano Hires New Bastkball Coach
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