Thursday, Sep. 04, 2008

Mascoutah's Austin Givens lets the ball fly; tosses 5 TD passes in season opener

MASCOUTAH -- At times last Friday, senior quarterback Austin Givens of Mascoutah felt like he was playing catch. It seemed that simple.

Givens was 8-for-9 for 224 yards and five touchdowns as the visiting Indians romped past Wood River 62-8 in the season opener for both teams. Givens matched the number of TD passes he threw last year.

"I'm not going to say it was easy, but it wasn't that difficult," said Givens, the News-Democrat's first Player of the Week for the 2008 football season. "We've got some solid guys on the line. They all do really, really well. They were giving me seven seconds to throw the ball. It was just ridiculous. Usually, you only get three seconds.

"You daydream in class about (a game like that), but you never think nights like that are going to happen. It's definitely a confidence-booster going into the next game (Friday against visiting Centralia)."

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Givens had scoring throws of 49 yards and 87 yards to junior Matt Milton --a huge target at 6-6, 205 pounds --29 yards and 19 yards to senior Melvin Banks and 15 yards to senior Ryne von der Linden. Givens also rushed three times for 57 yards.

"I can't think of a kid that had a better opening game," said Mascoutah coach Terry Moeller, whose team last season relied heavily on running backs Chris Montgomery and Richard Bailey and fullback Austin Yocks, all of whom graduated.

"We certainly are lined up to be able to throw the ball more if we need to now," Moeller said. "We've kind of gone to a spread formation, working out of the shotgun. Our thought this year is we're going to take advantage of what the defense gives us. Last year, we lined up and said, 'Here we come.'"

Givens also completed two passes Friday to junior tight end Logan Wager. He and Moeller count junior Trent Hjuler as another capable receiver in the Indians' arsenal.

"For a first game, I was pretty impressed with the way our kids ran routes, their timing and the way we blocked after receptions," Moeller said. "I don't think (Givens) is going to keep that kind of percentage through the year, obviously. But if he does, that would be tremendous and he would be the Player of the Year."

Mascoutah led 28-0 after one quarter and 41-0 at halftime. On his last TD pass, which was to von der Linden, Givens said three other receivers were open.

"I think he feels like he's got some kids who can catch the football," Moeller said. "You've got to have that confidence that kids are going to catch the football."

The Indians are talented in the trenches again this season with junior Allen Horowitz (5-10, 205) at left tackle, senior Joe Lider (6-5, 220) at left guard, senior Derek Issler (6-2, 220) at center, senior Travous James (6-4, 310) at right guard and senior Andrew Castelli (6-0, 225) at right tackle.

James is the only returning starter from last season, when the Indians were 10-2 and reached the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs.

Givens said he was capable of throwing more often last season, but with Montgomery, Bailey and Yocks on hand, what was the use?

"Last year, Montgomery ran over people as a senior," Givens said. "Montgomery graduated and the coaches were looking for people to take the team on the shoulders. This year, it's cool that I'm a senior and we're throwing the ball. I think it's a lot more fun for the whole team."

Moeller said: "We've always felt Austin had the ability to run with the football. We've always felt also that he can throw the football. But we were being successful with what we were doing in the run game, so there wasn't a reason to do that."

Givens considers Milton and Banks his top two targets.

"It depends on the situation," Givens said. "If I'm looking for a clutch play, I'll toss it up to Matt Milton. If I'm looking for something cool to watch, I'll throw it to Melvin Banks. He's pretty amazing to watch. It's easy as a quarterback when you have three, four, five guys you can pitch the ball to."

Moeller likes having more than one option in the passing game.

"I don't think (opponents) can concentrate on the best kid," Moeller said. "I'll let them pick who they think that is and we'll go from there."

Contact reporter David Wilhelm at dwilhelm@bnd.com or 345-7822, ext. 22.