09/27/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
LAWRENCEVILLE - For Casey-Westfield's junior all-purpose back Nick Fouty, when he woke up Saturday morning he probably had no idea how great of a game he would have against Lawrenceville that afternoon.

Or maybe he did?

Fouty scored four touchdowns on two pass receptions, a punt return and a kickoff return to lead the Warriors to a commanding 40-13 victory to improve to 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the Little Illini Conference.

Coach Jeff Fritchtnitch's club dominated the action, rolling to a 27-0 halftime lead and a 40-0 advantage that triggered the continuous clock with 7:34 left in the third quarter.

The two TD passes came from C-W senior veteran quarterback Nolan Clement.

Clement finished 3-of-5 passing for 59-yards and the two scores.

Fouty caught the two scores for 48-yards and the TD's.

Senior running back and linebacker Luke Karras added three rushing attempt for 27-yards and led the Warriors with six solo tackles.

Although statistically it wasn't dominant looking on paper, the C-W defense kept the Indians off of the scoreboard until the late.

“Our special teams are a focus of ours, all the time and every day in practice,” said Coach Fritchtnitch. “Offensively we sputtered a little bit early. They (Lawrenceville) were putting nine guys within five yards of the ball and we needed to find some holes in there and we eventually did. We loosened them up with the pass as we had some big pass plays. Nolan (Clement) did a nice job throwing the ball today.”

For head coach Cory Joergens it was another painful loss as Lawrenceville slipped to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in the LIC.

The Indians lost a trio fumbles on the day with all three turning into Casey-Westfield points.

Quarterback Blayton Gossett, a 6-1 junior, passed for 12-of-19 for 126-yards while senior running back Zach Coffey ran for 50-yards on 11-attempts to pace the rushing attack.

Senior running back Zander Cessna ran three times for 22-yards and junior Nick Morehead added 12-yards but it took nine attempts.

After taking the opening kickoff, Lawrenceville moved the ball into Casey-Westfield territory but ran into trouble.

Sitting on the Warriors' 46, the Indians lost yardage on a delay penalty and a loss of an additional five yards on a running play.

Gossett was sacked on a third down and long and fumbled.

Casey-Westfield's William Moore recovered for the Warriors on the Lawrenceville 37.

Eight plays later Clement scored on a one-yard run.

A PAT kick by Wyatt Erickson made it 7-0.

“Defensively the first drive, I don't know if it was a Saturday or whatever but it was weird because we were flat. That said, we regrouped. They realized that we're here for a football game,” said Coach Fritchtnitch.

Things never got better for Coach Joergens and his club.

Following a first down, another tackle for loss forced a Lawrenceville punt that started the next C-W drive at the Indians' 48.

Clement scrambled for 25-yards to the Lawrenceville 23 to set up a pass to Fouty, who took a pass over the middle and went down the right sideline to the endzone.

Another Erickson successful kick made it 14-0 Warriors with 1:19 left in the first quarter.

Casey-Westfield moved into the Indians territory but Clement's pass into the endzone was intercepted by Cessna.

The next time Casey-Westfield touched the ball, Fouty found the endzone again.

Morehead punted down the field and Fouty took the ball from his own 34.

Going up the middle and then down the right sideline, Fouty broke a tackle and made a nice move back to the middle of the field to complete a 66-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Erickson tacked on the extra point for a 21-0 lead.

Another possession by Lawrenceville ended in disaster right before the half.

Gossett, scrambling to his left to try and make something happen, was hit hard by linebacker Daryn Hupp which forced a fumble.

Linebacker Fred Thomas recovered the ball before it went out of bounds with Casey-Westfield taking over at the Lawrenceville 25 with just :31.6 left in the half.

On the first play after the turnover, Clement nailed Fouty with another pass.

Fouty took the ball into the endzone on the left sideline.

Although the PAT kick was blocked, the Warriors were in total control at 27-0 at intermission.

If there was even a modicum of hope for the Indians, it was gone just a few seconds into the third quarter.

Fouty took the second half kick 93-yards to the house.

He broke through initial tackle attempt and roared up the right side for a touchdown.

Erickson padded his kicking stats with another PAT boot for a 34-0 advantage.

Lost fumble number three for Lawrenceville occurred on their first play from scrimmage after getting the ball back.

Coffey fumbled and junior free safety Korbyn Bennett recovered at the Lawrenceville27.

Erickson got a chance at carrying the ball for C-W and he made the most of the opportunity.

On a fourth-and-three from the seven, Erickson took a hand off and went up the middle for a score.

The 40-0 margin started the mercy continuous clock.

The Indians managed to score a couple of times in the fourth quarter on two 13-yard runs by Coffey and Cessna before the Warriors' reserves ran out the final minutes.

Casey-Westfield has more work to do, although they're technically playoff eligible with the five victories.

Their next four games will host Marshall and travel to Mt. Carmel before a showdown with unbeaten Richland County in Week 8.

The regular season finale will be a trip to Paris.

Lawrenceville will get back to work by hosting Robinson next week.

“Nick Fouty was a star today and Nolan played well. Luke Karras had a lot of tackles today and he is that guy. Everyone expects him to run for 200-yards a game but that's not how we designed our offense,” said Coach Fritchtnitch. “It all worked out for us today. It's a good win on a Saturday afternoon.”