‘Pee-Zee’-led Kaplan Pirates beat North Vermilion

The word “Pee-Zee” kept being said on the sideline by the Kaplan Pirates when they were on offense.
Then, in the second half, “Pee-Zee” was said again and again.
The translation of “Pee-Zee” was short for Campisi, Kaplan’s running back, Caden Campisi.
His teammates said his nickname a lot because he carried the pigskin 37 times in Kaplan’s 20-14 win over the Class 4A North Vermilion Patriots on Friday.
He carried it 18 times in the first half and 19 times in the second half.
Kaplan head coach Cory Brodie had a simple game-plan in the second half - hand the ball off to Campisi and let him produce yards.
In the second half, he carried the ball 19 out of Kaplan’s 23 plays. It was not uncommon for him to get seven consecutive handoffs when Kaplan was moving the football.
He even had a 47-yard kick-off run in the first half that set up Kaplan’s second touchdown of the game.
With 37 carries, plus running back kick-offs, did he get tired at any time in the game?
“I was tired, but I could not show it on the field,” said Campisi said. “I did not want the coach to take me out of the game if I showed I was tired.”
The big game-winning drive was at the start of the fourth quarter. After holding NV on four straight plays, the Pirates got the ball back at its 43-yard line to start the quarter.
They ran off 17 straight plays, and Campisi carried the football on 10 of those 17 plays. His number, 36, was called on twice on a fourth-down and one on the drive.
“I could not have done it without my offensive line,” said Campisi. “They made room for me to run through.”
After getting a first down on the 8, it took Kaplan only two plays to punch it in. While Campisi did not score that touchdown, he did help. Kaplan quarterback Grant Campbell snuck the ball up the middle, and Campisi helped push Campbell through the hole for a touchdown with 3:11 left in the game.
Kaplan head coach Cory Brodie loved watching Campisi run through the holes the offensive line created.
“It got to a point where we had to start playing Kaplan football,” said Brodie. “Caden works hard for us. Our offensive line has been getting criticism for not being a big offensive line like in the past. We came out and proved a lot to today.”