Carlinville High School Football: Special Teams Player of the Week

Josh Rives was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts on special teams in Carlinville’s Class 2A playoff game against Maroa-Fosyth.

Rives, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound senior, has been Carlinville’s kick return man. Against Maroa-Forsyth, he had a 46-yard kickoff return that helped set up a CHS touchdown early in the second half.

“When Josh touches the football, good things can happen for Carlinville,” Easterday said. “We needed a kickoff return and he gave us one. He made some moves down there and got a great return. Then he came back on offense and scored the touchdown for us. He did a wonderful job for us all season. He’ll be missed next year.”

Rives received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Alec Boente was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week for his play during Carlinville’s 39-20 win over Litchfield.

Boente, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound junior, plays on most of the Carlinville special teams units. Boente had six tackles in the game with three solos.

“For the second week in a row with a broken arm has done some great things for us on the special teams,” Easterday said. “He’s the personal protector on our punt, which is a weird rugby style punt. He’s singled up a lot. On the kickoff returns, nobody likes to kick to Josh Rives anymore and Alec fielded a ball for the second week in a row and was heads up, got as much as he could and took a knee. For a kid to be unselfish like that and think the game is a very smart football player.”

Boente received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Shawn Crouch was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week after turning a solid kicking performance in Carlinville’s win over Southwestern.

Crouch, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior, handles kickoff duties, extra points and field goals for the Cavaliers. He averaged 53 yards on six kickoffs and was a perfect 5-5 on his conversion kicks.

“Shawn has had some ups and downs and he had a good week of practice in the slop and the mud,” Easterday said. “We’ve said this before that we practice our special teams a lot and take pride in that. Shawn did a tremendous job with his kickoffs against Southwestern. He put the ball in the right spot every time and just did a terrific job for us.”

Josh Carnduff was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week after a strong performance in Carlinville’s game against Hillsboro.

Carnduff, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound junior, participates on most of the special teams units for Carlinville.

“Our special teams guys don’t get enough credit,” Easterday said. “He made two great tackles on the kickoff team including that one on their final kickoff return. On the punt return, he stands back there in the mud with guys coming down and it’s all about decisions. He does a really good job with that. He’s also my wideout on our rugby style punt and he does a nice job getting down there on the coverage.”

Carnduff received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Bobby Simmons was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week for his play during Carlinville’s South Central Conference win over East Alton-Wood River.

Simmons, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior, had a 44 yard punt return that helped set up a Carlinville touchdown.

“This was Bobby’s second game and I really thought he was coming into his own,” Easterday said. “I expect him to keep getting better as we get further along with our season. He had a great punt return. He’s a kid that plays back there for us on the special teams, he plays offense, defense – he’s a very explosive player and when he touches the football, you better have a lot of bodies around there to try to bring him down.”

Simmons received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Brendan Stewart was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week after doing a solid job with the kicking game against Roxana.

Stewart, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound freshman, was called on to kick Friday night against Roxana after senior Shawn Crouch suffered an injury during a soccer match. Stewart was 5-6 on his extra point conversions and averaged 47.5 yards on seven kickoffs.

“We called on Brendan to kick for us after Shawn was injured and he kind of had some nerves on that first kick, but fell into a good rhythm after that,” said Easterday. “He’s a great athlete. I thought he did really well on kickoffs too. He stuck the ball in the right spot and that’s important for our kicking game.”

Stewart received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Shawn Crouch was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking two field goals to help CHS to a 13-0 win over Pana.

Crouch, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior, has converted 10-11 extra points and 2-3 field goals this season.

“He had a really good night. He had been struggling a little bit with the field goals,” said Carlinville coach Chad Easterday. “We work hard at special teams and kickoff off is just as important as a blocking assignment. Against Pana, it wasn’t an onside kick – but we purposely kicked it into the hole – he placed it perfect and Dane Boente recovered. I was very proud to see him execute that part of our game plan.”

Crouch received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Dane Boente was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week following Carlinville’s game against Greenville.

Boente, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound junior, plays on the kickoff and punt teams as well as the kickoff and punt return units. Vandalia was kicking the ball away from Josh Rives and Boente fielded three short kickoffs and had two returns of seven and eight yards.

“Dane is on our punt team and is on our punt and kickoff return teams,” said Carlinville coach Chad Easterday. “With Josh Rives back there, you always have to plan for contingency of the ball not getting kicked to him. We practice that a lot and those kids have to be really heads-up and Dane had two really good returns that gave us excellent field position. Those kids don’t get enough credit. Dane does a good job blocking and is an athletic kid. He did a great job for us.”

Boente received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Alec Boente was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week for his play in Carlinville’s win over Vandalia.

Boente, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior, plays on the kickoff and punt teams as well as the kickoff and punt return units. Vandalia was kicking the ball away from Josh Rives and Boente fielded three short kickoffs and had two returns of seven and eight yards.

“Alec made a heads up play on the second half kickoff,” said Easterday. “It was a high, short kick and he came up and fielded it. He had two key tackles on kickoffs. He also did one of those unseen things – due to our rugby punt, he did a nice job of pinning the end to allow us to get out there and have some time for our coverage to get down the field.

Boente, the son of Paul and Shannon Boente, received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.

Shawn Crouch was chosen as the Goodman Agency Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in Carlinville’s season-opener against Marquette Catholic Aug. 28

Crouch, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior, handles the kicking duties for the Cavaliers and was three-for-three on extra points. But it was his kickoffs that made the difference.

“The statistics won’t show it, but Shawn Crouch did a tremendous job at kickoff Friday night,” said Easterday. “He never varied from the game plan, which was to keep the ball away from Cecil Brimmage. He did that on kickoffs and really put us in great positions throughout the game. It’s a little part of the game that not many people pay attention to, but it’s a huge part.”

Crouch, the son of Donna Crouch, received a plaque courtesy of the Goodman Agency, along with a pizza, compliments of Reno’s Pizza in Carlinville.