Minooka piles up 70 points in road win at Joliet Central

JOLIET – Minooka’s offense shined at Joliet Central.

The Minooka Indians (3-0) continued their offensive attack on Friday night, defeating Joliet Central (0-3) 70-12 in a nonconference matchup in Joliet.

The Indians offense dominated the entire way en route to posting their highest point total of the young season and remaining unbeaten on the season.

The Minooka offense – which totaled 484 yards – was led by quarterback Zane Caves, a three-sport athlete who threw for 180 yards on 6-of-8 passing for four touchdowns in the first half alone.

“My receivers were getting open,” Caves said about the Indians’ big night. “It really starts up front [with the offensive line] though. I had all day back there to throw.”

The Minooka offensive line did not allow a sack all night, which allowed Caves to find Jaden Boe and Ty Couch for touchdowns to set the tone early. Boe, a hybrid running back and receiver, scored three times on the night, both through the air and the ground, helping lead the Indians offense to gain 350 yards rushing.

Seniors Paris Spears and Jeremiah Brown both scored on the ground as well for the Indians, and junior Chase Nurcyzk found the end zone in the third quarter on a 70-yard run to make it 55-12.

Minooka coach Matt Harding praised his defense after the game.

“They [Joliet Central] gave us some fits offensively,” Harding said. “They are a team that is averaging 24 points a game, and they caught us off guard and forced us to make adjustments, but the guys are coachable and were engaged on the sideline, and that helped us pitch a shutout in the second half.”

Harding’s defense forced four turnovers on the night, including interceptions by William Mutz and fellow senior Caden Uphoff, and was effective in stopping drives from getting going, forcing the Steelmen offense to go 1 for 10 on third downs.

“I wanted to see our defense being aggressive like we normally are,” Harding said when asked about what he hoped to accomplish going into the game. “I don’t think they came out with what they needed for 8A football, and I told them that, but the kids took that and used it as motivation.”

Next week, Minooka returns home for its homecoming game versus Romeoville (1-2), who is coming off a loss to Bolingbrook. The key to that game, Harding said, will be keeping his team humble following a huge win.

“We will see in film on Monday with the amount of notes we are going to put in there,” Harding said. “We are going to coach them up, and they’re going to feel like, ‘Maybe we didn’t do that well.’ "

Joliet Central will travel to Oswego next week.