Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg made all the right calls; Nick Hissong suffers torn ACL

DeKALB – Cary-Grove was immaculate in executing its game plan against East St. Louis in Saturday’s Class 6A state championship game at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium.

And Trojans coach Brad Seaburg was just as masterful in making all the right calls.

An opportune onside kick, an astute fourth-down call early in the second half and a perfect play call on fourth-and-17 that ultimately saved the day were among some of Seaburg’s best calls.

[ Cary-Grove shocks East St. Louis to take Class 6A state title ]

They all played key parts in C-G’s 37-36 victory over the Flyers for their third state championship in school history.

“We talked as an offensive staff that we had to call the right plays,” Seaburg said. “We didn’t turn the ball over, except for that last play. Just play after play after play, we executed.”

In a dizzying first half, C-G had scored to go ahead 23-20 and onside kicked. Kicker Toby Splitt tapped the ball, ran 10 yards and fell on it. That allowed the Trojans, who had not stopped the Flyers’ offense to that point, to go in and score for a 30-20 halftime lead.

On the first possession of the third quarter, C-G faced fourth-and-7 on its 28 and acted as if it would go for the first down. East St. Louis had sent its punt return team on and had to call timeout with too many players on the field.

Then, C-G lined up as if it was going for it again, but quarterback Jameson Sheehan, who also is the punter, dropped back and booted a 61-yard punt. The Flyers’ dangerous Luther Burden III, who the Trojans had no plans to punt to, was on the sideline.

“Jameson has a great punt, that was definitely what we were trying to do,” Seaburg said.

Early in the fourth quarter, Seaburg called the only pass the Trojans completed all game on fourth-and-17. Sheehan hit tight end Noah Riley for 23 yards and fullback Nick Hissong scored from the 9 on the next play for the decisive touchdown.

“It was a matter of executing it,” Sheehan said. “The O-line had great protection and Noah just came up on top. That was insane.”

Late departure: Hissong’s 32nd carry was a 9-yard run where he fell on his own at East St. Louis’ 24. He limped off the field one play later having likely suffered a torn right ACL.

“I wasn’t really sure at the moment, but coming off the sideline, (the trainer) believes I tore my ACL,” said Hissong, who ran for 224 yards. “It was due to me cutting at a weird angle. I pushed off and felt it pop. I could stand up, but I couldn’t run on it at all.”

Flyers coach Darren Sunkett lauded Hissong’s work.

“Their fullback did a great job, their quarterback did a great job reading (the defense),” Sunkett said. “The (fullback) was big and strong, he was tough to bring down. If you didn’t wrap him up, he was going to run through arm tackles. The fullback was the difference.”

Don’t kick it to him: Seaburg wanted to limit Burden’s touches as much as possible and every kickoff went away from him, although the Missouri-bound wide receiver still ran one back 80 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

[ East St. Louis’ Luther Burden plays big in Class 6A state championship loss to Cary-Grove ]

C-G kicked to the right side of the field, away from Burden, so he ran over and caught the ball and took it all the way.

“When we kicked to No. 3 it didn’t work out very well for us, when we didn’t kick to him, it worked out well,” Seaburg said.

Burden had two receiving touchdowns and the kickoff return touchdown out of the Flyers’ five scores.

“I just decided to go get it,” Burden said. “I knew I needed to make a play for my team.”

Defensive numbers: Trojans linebacker Colin Desmet led the team with 13 tackles and forced a fumble in the first half, although the ball rolled out of bounds before any player could recover it.

Defensive back Toby Splitt was credited with nine tackles, linebacker Connor Anderson had eight and linebacker Wade Abrams had six with C-G’s lone sack.

No negativity: C-G’s triple-option was productive the entire game. The Trojans had only three plays that went for negative yardage: A 2-yard loss by Sheehan, a 2-yard loss by Drew Magel and a 3-yard loss when Sheehan lost a fumble on fourth down deep in Flyers’ territory.

Party time: C-G will celebrate its state championship at 1 p.m. Sunday at the high school.