Pressure-packed situation: Blue Devils need to harass Titans quarterback to gain upper hand

QUINCY — The pressure to get pressure lies squarely on the Quincy High School football team’s defensive front.

“And we have to pressure all night,” defensive lineman Caron Banks said.

Otherwise, Chatham Glenwood quarterback Jack Knudson gains the edge.

“We know he’s really good in the pocket and doesn’t scramble much,” QHS linebacker Ty Douglas said. “He’s accurate and he’s a really good quarterback. We’re ready and we need to bring the pressure to him.”

It’s critical for the Blue Devils to survive.

Ninth-seeded Quincy (7-2) travels to eighth-seeded Glenwood (7-2) for the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and flustering Knudson, the Titans’ 6-foot-1, 170-pound senior gunslinger, is of paramount importance.

Knudson’s junior season ended with a fractured collarbone in a Week 8 victory over Springfield Lanphier, and the Titans suffered a first-round playoff exit. Healthy throughout this season, Knudson has engineered Glenwood’s high-scoring offense to the tune of 55.6 points per game in the seven victories.

Overall, Knudson has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,744 yards with 24 touchdowns and just four interceptions. Miles Stapleton and Tyzhon Randell, a pair of senior wide receivers, have combined for nearly 57 catches, 904 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns.

“Anytime you can make any high school athlete feel uncomfortable that’s a good thing for your defense,” Quincy coach Rick Little said. “I think we’ve done a good job against the pass all year, but this is the postseason. It’s a team from a different conference and a different brand of football.

“To get pressure and disrupt his timing is a big deal.”

It’s a challenge the Blue Devils face everyday.

Quincy sophomore quarterback Bradyn Little has thrown for a single-season school record 2,185 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The way the Blue Devils spread the field and utilize their athletes in the passing game should benefit the QHS defense to have seen what that looks like.

“Watching (Glenwood) on film, they really remind me of us,” Rick Little said. “So that part is good. The guys are ready and they’re prepared to face that.”

The key to it is a strong start.

Last week, in the 49-42 victory over Rock Island, the Blue Devils trailed 28-0 in the first quarter. They were forced to come from behind against Sterling to force overtime in a game they ultimately lost. A better defensive effort early changes the tone of both of those games.

“We really have to do what we’ve been struggling to do, which is getting stops early, and actually do what we end up doing, which is playing well in the second half,” said Douglas, who leads the QHS defense with 101 tackles and 13 tackles for loss. “I don’t think we come out ready all the time. I think we’re improving on that.

“We realize after last week we can’t let that happen in a playoff game.”

Should it happen, though, the Blue Devils understand how to deal with adversity.

“It definitely gives us a look at what we can do when we’re down,” said Banks, who has 46 tackles and a team-leading 3.5 sacks. “But we don’t really want to be in that situation if we don’t have to.”

Avoiding trouble and a deficit is paramount to that.

“It’s really a big test,” Banks said. “But we’ve been tested all season. … We know if we don’t start off hot they’re going to get us.”