Schilling above the rest

Daily Globe

EDGERTON — Edgerton/Ellsworth wide receiver Casey Schilling is 6 feet 6 inches tall with four years of high school basketball to help his vertical.

No player on the Ada-Borup football team the Flying Dutchmen will face 8 a.m. Friday at the Metrodome in the Class 9-man state semifinals is taller than 6’3. Football is a game of inches and Schilling will gladly take those three extra.

“Most corners aren’t usually even 6’3”, so it’s nice having the height advantage,” Schilling said. “I know when (E/E quarterback) Isaac (Heard) throws a jump ball, I have the advantage.”

Heard isn’t complaining about looking up when having to talk to Schilling.

“It makes being a quarterback much easier,” Heard said. “If you’re looking around and no one is open, just throw it to the 6’6” kid.”

Heard has certainly done his fair share of finding Schilling. The duo has hooked up for 1,033 yards in the air and 18 touchdowns. Schilling accounts for nearly half of Heard’s passing yards (2,143) and nearly two-thirds of his touchdown throws (28).

“I love having Casey as a receiver,” Heard said. “He works really hard and has amazing hands.

“It’s nice to know when you throw something up, he’s going to go there and catch it for you.”

It doesn’t all come easy for the Heard and Schilling combination. A mixture of tough Nicollet double teams and a shaken Heard in the quarterfinals last Friday at Southwest Minnesota State University made it hard for the combo to ever get in rhythm.

“Last week, me and Isaac weren’t on key,” Schilling said. “You could tell something was wrong with him because his throws weren’t coming.

“After the big hits he took (in the section championship), you could tell it was nerves. He’s over the nerves and he’s going to come ready to play Friday.”

Like most quarterbacks, Heard wasn’t sure which hit it was versus Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley that shook him, but he knew there was some shaking done to his confidence, espcailly considering he didn’t have a normal week of practice because of the hits.

“There were a couple plays in the third quarter where I was driven down by my ribs and I landed on my head,” Heard said. “In the fourth quarter it was a 2-point conversion that I bounced my head off the ground and that scared a lot of people.”

Heard found a simple solution versus Nicollet: get hit again.

“In the first half against Nicollet, I got driven to the ground and I got up and said, ‘Wow. Getting hit isn’t that bad,’” Heard said.

In the first half versus Nicollet, Heard was 5-for-15 for 81 passing yards, while throwing two interceptions and coughing up a fumble on an option play. In the second half, Heard was 5-for-10 for 65 yards through the air with no turnovers.

Although Heard was able to calm down in the second half, the connection with Schilling was never there. Schilling caught one pass in the first half for 16 yards and one pass in the second half for 15 yards, along with a 2-point conversion pass. Schilling doesn’t see that happening again.

“So far we’re having a good week of practice,” Schilling said. “We’ll have better action this week.”

Tags: edgerton ellsworth, sports, prep, football