By Dan Truttschel
Delavan-Darien senior quarterback Jesse Collins figures to be a thorn in the side of many opposing teams this fall.
He certainly was in Big Foot’s last week.
Collins, the reigning Southern Lakes Conference Offensive Player of the Year, accounted for three touchdowns and threw for 255 yards to lead the Comets to a 37-13 non-conference win last week.
The loss dropped Big Foot to 1-1 overall, while Delavan improved to 2-0. The game was completed Saturday afternoon because of severe weather the previous night that halted action in the third quarter.
Needless to say, first-year Big Foot coach Greg Enz was impressed with what Collins brought to the table.
“In my 20 years of coaching collegiately and in and out of this state, I would put him as one of the top five quarterbacks we have faced,” he said.
“We needed to limit what players were going to hurt us in this game, and with his ability to extend plays, scheming for him was a difficult thing.”
The Chiefs trailed by just a touchdown at 14-7 before Delavan scored 23 unanswered points in the second half to take control.
Collins connected on two scoring passes, followed by a 30-yard run by Fabias Shipman and a safety that gave the Comets a 37-7 advantage.
“It was the perfect storm,” Enz said. “We came back the next day anticipating a strong performance.
“When Delavan-Darien was able to convert on a key third and fourth down off the drive picked up from the lightning delay, it set the tone.”
Delavan struck first on a 3-yard touchdown by Jake Benzing before the Chiefs answered on a 24-yard scoring strike from quarterback Brett Morris to Nigel Manning.
Zak Greco added the extra point to knot the score at 7-7.
The touchdown play was well executed, Enz said.
“Brett has a great sense of ball placement when in rhythm, and Nigel has some of the best hands,” he said. “All things timed up correctly on the play, and the result was a touchdown that we felt was propelling us in the right direction at the time.”
With a little more than a minute left in the half, however, Collins struck on a 63-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Cesarz to give the Comets the lead back at 14-7.
It was those types of plays that hurt the Chiefs, Enz said, along with Delavan’s ability to convert on third and fourth downs.
“They converted two big fourth down plays, one of which was fourth and 12,” Enz said. “The other was explosive plays. We had two plays over 20 yards, while they had at least five plays of at least that distance.”
For the game, Big Foot had 13 first downs, 81 passing yards and 139 on the ground. Brandon Hausner led the rushing corps with 14 carries for 93 yards, followed by Olinh Craig with 12 carries for 52 yards. Chandler Hehr caught five passes for 45 yards.
Whippets up next
Big Foot looks to rebound this week when it hosts Whitewater in a Rock Valley Conference crossover matchup. The Whippets, who compete in the North Division, fell to 0-2 overall with a 42-7 loss to Columbus last week.
Whitewater poses several challenges, Enz said.
“(They have) some good speed within their skill positions and a very elusive running back,” he said. “We will have to not only prepare for them but rebound from the defeat.”
Eliminating long third-down situations, picking up the offensive tempo and forcing the opposition to punt are three areas that need to improve, Enz said.
“Third and long is a difficult prospect for any high school team, so keeping that distance (manageable) is what we want,” he said. “Along with that, keep tempo on offense by eliminating the mental mistakes and penalties that plagued us in the past game.
“Defensively, we need to force more three and outs. We have allowed our opposition to stay on the field for extended periods, which wears on your defense over the course of a game.”
