West Carroll returns to site of last playoff victory

Two years ago, Derek Tracy spent the week leading up to West Carroll’s first-round playoff game against Fieldcrest impersonating the Knights’ star quarterback.

This week, the Thunder quarterback is preparing for another road trip to Minonk, this time as the starter, in hopes that his team can duplicate the 40-0 victory there in 2017.

“We’re familiar with the trip down there, and that helps,” West Carroll coach Matt Leitzen said. “All of our seniors were on that 2017 team as sophomores, and a handful of them played, so it’s always nice to bring that experience with us.”

Watching film on this year’s Fieldcrest team, Leitzen saw a lot of familiar faces. A young group when the Thunder pulled off the first-round upset 2 years ago, the Knights (9-0) are now a team full of experienced veterans who just completed their second-ever undefeated regular-season in school history – and that included snapping two-time defending state champion GCMS’ win streak at 31 games with a Week 4 win.

“There were a lot of young kids on that team in 2017, and I noticed on film there are a lot of the same guys out there,” Leitzen said. “Now they’ve played a lot of varsity football, and they’re a couple years older and bring back a lot of experience.”

Fieldcrest has run a balanced attack all year, with senior running back Kenton Castrejon having run for more than 1,100 yards and 19 touchdowns, while senior quarterback Matt Lorton has thrown for more than 1,000 yards and 11 TDs.

“They’re a different team than what we saw 2 years ago, when they were centered around a great athlete at quarterback,” Leitzen said. “This year, they’re a little more focused around their running back and the quarterback together. It’s the same problem – you have to defend the run and the pass – but it’s two different kids as opposed to one dual-threat quarterback.”

West Carroll (5-4) also brings a balanced attack to Friday night’s first-round game. Tracy has completed 53 percent of his passes for 725 yards and five touchdowns, and has also run for 573 yards and seven scores.

Aiden Sullivan leads the Thunder with 748 yards and nine touchdowns, and Kody Sipe has 370 yards and three TDs on the ground. Michael Popkin (273 yards, 1 TD), Sullivan (145 yards) and Colton Ballard (135 yards, 1 TD) all have more than 100 yards receiving, and Jackson Miller has three TD catches.

Defensively, Zach King has 100 tackles (56 solo, 7 for loss), and Sullivan (73 tackles, 8 for loss), Popkin (66 tackles, 11 for loss, 3 INTs), Camren Simpson (50 tackles, 6 for loss) and Sipe (48 tackles, 7 for loss) lead a stingy Thunder defense that has given up just 137 points all season.

“Everybody starts with the goal to makes the playoffs, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to extend our season,” Leitzen said. “It comes down to us being able to execute the game plan we set up for the kids, and in our stronger games, we’ve done that. We’ve proved we can play with some really good teams this year, and we get to do that again Friday night.”