High school football: Gutsy 4th-down calls power Cary-Grove into state semifinals

CARY – Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg sent the punt team onto the field, but the Trojans had no intentions of punting.

C-G’s drive late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Class 6A state quarterfinal seemed to have stalled at the Phillips 35-yard line. Fourth-and-10. Trojans up by three.

“We knew we were faking that punt,” C-G receiver Quinn Priester said.

Quarterback Ben McDonald, also the punter, lined up for the snap.

Priester set up in a three-point stance from a wing position, next to his offensive linemen. As soon as C-G snapped the ball, Priester sprinted a step to his left and straight up the middle of the field.

“It was not the route that was called, it was the route that was open,” Priester said. “I was just glad Ben picked up on that or I would have been in a lot of trouble.”

McDonald's eyes followed his favorite target. He hit a wide-open Priester at about the 15-yard line, and Priester picked up five more yards before the Phillips defense brought him down.

Instead of taking possession with four minutes to go trailing by three points, Phillips was on its heels again. Trojans running back Blake Skol punched in a touchdown moments later and C-G went up by 10.

C-G (12-0) went on to beat Phillips, 34-24, to advance to next week’s Class 6A state semifinals.

The fake punt wasn’t a scoring play, but it almost felt like a knockout blow.

“We just decided to fake it and it wasn’t so much the call, it was the guys making the plays,” Seaburg said. “Ben put it right where Quinn could catch it, Quinn caught it. It was just a great play.”

Priester and McDonald have shown a knack for connecting in key situations all season long. Priester’s height and athleticism have made him the ideal deep-threat for McDonald, something the C-G triple-option offense hasn’t always had in the past.

On the fake punt, they showed the ability to improvise, too.

“He can read what I’m doing and I have a lot of confidence that if I change something up on him, he’s going to adapt and make a great throw to me,” Priester said. “I saw that was the open area and decided to keep running. Ben made a great throw and it worked out in the end.”

More than anything, C-G’s willingness to trust itself and believe in its offense is what cemented Saturday’s quarterfinal win over Phillips. Moments before the fake punt, the Trojans went for it on fourth-and-short near midfield, too.

Running back Danny Daigle, who scored three touchdowns, took the ball up the left side for a first down.

“We felt like we could get two yards,” Seaburg said. “We felt like we could. ... We felt like we could execute what we needed to [on the fake punt] as long as we gave Ben time to pass.”

The Phillips defense had trouble getting off the field all game long. C-G's offensive line, even against a sizable Phillips front, gained a consistent push.

“I’ll take our guys and our offensive linemen any day of the week,” Priester said. “We play with the most tenacity, low pads, we just move people. We just have complete confidence in our guys to make plays. That’s what it boiled down to, us making plays at key times.”