Minooka overpowers Taft for dominant first-round victory in Class 8A playoffs

CHICAGO – One would expect a first-round playoff matchup between the 17th and 16th seeds to produce a close game, maybe even one that went down to the wire. After all, two teams in the middle of the seeding should be competitive programs.

The Minooka Indians showed Friday night that they’re not your average 16 seed.

Minooka traveled to the Northside of Chicago Friday night for a Class 8A first-round playoff date with Taft. The time it took the Indians to get there and back may have lasted longer than the game as they were in control form the start and never let go.

Minooka’s offense put up four touchdowns in the first half alone while holding Taft to two first downs in that same span en route to a 37-6 victory.

The Indians (8-2) scored on five of seven possessions as quarterback Zane Caves was on fire. He finished 17-of-25 passing for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Ty Couch (five catches for 81 yards and two TDs) and running back Paris Spears (two rushing touchdowns) had outstanding games as well while the defense held Taft to 143 yards – 60 of which came late in the fourth.

“Our defense has been pretty solid all year,” Minooka coach Matt Harding said. “They play hard and identify formations extremely well. I’m pleased with where they’re at.”

After a three-and-out by Taft to start, Minooka used a long methodical drive to move down the field, marching 78 yards in 10 plays. That drive ended with a 2-yard TD by Paris Spears to put the Indians up 7-0 with 4:08 left in the first.

After another three-and-out by the Eagles, Minooka responded with another long, methodical drive. This one saw Caves staring at third-and-5 five at the Taft 12-yard line when he tossed the ball to Jackson Miranda at the line of scrimmage. Miranda proceeded to rumble to the end zone to make it 14-0 with 8.9 seconds left in the first.

After a third consecutive three-and-out by the Eagles, the Indians didn’t need a long, methodical drive to get back into the end zone. Caves hit Chase Nurczyk for what looked like it would be a short gain before Nurczyk bowled over a few defenders and rumbled all the way down to the 1. Spears punched it in the next play to make it 22-0 Indians with 10:33 left in the half.

Just before halftime, facing a third-and-8 at the Taft 38-yard line, Caves hit Ty Couch in the middle of the field for a first down, but Couch wasn’t satisfied with just that. Couch left his only defender in the dust, racing all the way to the end zone for a 38-yard score with 58.5 seconds left until halftime. With the successful 2-point conversion, the halftime score was 30-0 in favor of the Indians.

The second half started with Couch returning the opening kickoff 40 yards and ended with him catching an 11-yard touchdown pass from Caves to make it 37-0. More importantly, perhaps, was that the drive took up almost half the third quarter to move the Indians closer to victory.

A 36-yard touchdown pass from Logan Roman to Stephen Carrera with 3:55 left for Taft gave the game its final score.

Taft finished the season 7-3.

“A lot of times you’re in a long season and you get hit with some adversity” coach Zach Elder said. “It’s all about how you handle it this week and today. It’s easy to be a front runner, but when things are hard how are you going to respond and go out. We want to leave it all on the field.”

Minooka clearly outplayed its seeding, but next week will be their toughest task yet as the Indians play undefeated top seed Lincoln-Way East.

Caves believes the Indians will be ready to answer the call.

“We just have to go out there with heart to beat [Lincoln-Way East],” Caves said. “We can definitely beat them. We just can’t listen to anybody or what other scores are. We just have to focus on ourselves.”