Published: November 22, 2008 12:05 am         

NEXT STOP: state

Kings throttle Jimmies for first semistate title

WALTON — Scott Mannering has put in hard work over the last 23 years as the Lewis Cass football coach with a style that has garnered him the respect of Indiana high school administrators, coaches, players and fans across the state. And for the first time, his efforts have gotten him and his team to the state finals.

The Kings earned a spot in the Class 2A state championship game with a convincing 28-7 semistate win over Jimtown here Friday night. They will face Heritage Christian, which knocked off Brownstown Central 24-16 Friday night, at 7 p.m. next Friday at brand new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

“It feels great,” Mannering said. “The incredible thing about this is it’s Jimtown. You don’t beat Jimtown every day in football. … This is a big win for our program. To beat a team that has won the state title four times, and a team that beat Harding and Luers back to back [in the sectional] makes it special.”

Cass senior Colton Zeck led the Kings with 181 yards rushing and four touchdowns. His first TD was a 44-yard burst after Kyle Moore recovered a fumble to give the Kings good field position early in the second quarter. On Cass’ next possession, Zeck capped a seven-play, 66-yard drive with a three-yard TD run to give the Kings a 14-0 lead.

Zeck had a 75-yard TD dash on the Kings’ first possession of the second half to give them a 21-7 lead. Zeck’s fourth TD of the game, which capped a 73-yard drive, came with 9:31 left in the game put it on ice.

The Jimmies’ lone scoring drive of the game occurred late in the first half when trailing by two touchdowns, they went on a quick, four-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard TD pass from Joshua Ruben to Austin Pirtle to cut the lead to 14-7 going into halftime.

But for the most part, the game was controlled by the Kings.

“We needed our best game and I thought we got it,” Mannering said. “That was probably about as good as we’ve played all year.”

Cass improved to 13-1, matching the school record for wins in a season. Jimtown closed with an 11-3 record.

“I think our kids played hard,” Jimtown coach Mike Campbell said, “I just think that we were just overwhelmed by their team. They were great on both sides of the ball. They controlled the line of scrimmage, and we couldn’t tackle them. That was the bottom line. We couldn’t get anything going.”

Cass outgained Jimtown 327 to 236 in total yardage for the game, including an all-important 313 to 141 in rushing yards.

“We were stuck throwing the ball, and that’s something we really don’t do a whole lot,” Campbell said. “And they just were a lot better than us [Friday night].”

Kitt O’Brien, a 6-6, 300-pound senior lineman who was key in the Kings controlling the trenches against a smaller Jimtown front, said the Cass line stepped up after a subpar performance in last week’s regional win at Rensselaer.

“You watch our game last week, and we just got dominated on the frontline,” he said. “We vowed that wasn’t going to happen again. We came out, we moved as a unit, we got up and down the line of scrimmage and we made tackles. They got occasional big runs, but you know what, we stayed together, we persevered and we got through it. That’s the reason we won semistate.”

Now O’Brien and the Kings will try to win the state title for themselves and their coach.

“Twenty-three years, and you know what, it’s about darn time [Mannering] gets his first,” O’Brien said.