QB Casey Kacz exceeds expectations in leading Lions to PIFL title game
A few months ago, Casey Kacz got a call from an area code that he didn't recognized, but he decided to answer anyway.
On the other side of the phone was Clayton Banner, the Columbus Lions' director of player personnel.
"At first, I thought he was talking about Columbus, Ohio, not Georgia," Kacz said.
Banner wanted Kacz to be a Columbus Lion, and the recent college grad hadn't had an offer from an American team of any kind. So, Kacz turned down an offer from a football team in Germany and headed south.
Fast-forward a half a year, and both sides can laugh about the match made in heaven between a Division III quarterback from Buffalo State and an arena football team in Columbus, Ga., not Ohio.
The journey will reach its final destination on Monday as Kacz leads the Lions against the Richmond Raiders in the Professional Indoor Football League Championship game at 7 p.m. in the Columbus Civic Center.
"Before I came to Columbus, coach (Jason) Gibson called me and told me that he was bringing me and another guy down and that he was going to keep one of us to backup former MVP, Antwon Young, and get rid of the other," Kacz said.
"Immediately in my head, I'm thinking I'm not going to let them cut me. I had high expectations of myself to come in and be the backup and work as hard as I could."
After spending time in training camp, Gibson started to notice Kacz.
"He threw the ball really well in camp, and I started to hear the veterans talk and say this kid can really play," Gibson said. "Sometimes the best evaluators are the guys that are on the field. It's a different voice."
The Lions began the year with Young as the starter, and Kacz earned his way onto the team as the backup.
In the season opener, Young, who missed the final six games of last season with an injury, led the Lions to a 52-50 come from behind victory against Richmond and things looked to be going as planned. But Young suffered a leg injury, forcing Kacz into the lineup for Game 2.
Kacz made an immediate impact tying, at the time, the single-game record for most touchdowns in a game with eight and threw for a franchise high 350 yards.
"We laugh about it now, but I don't think he knew what he was doing," Gibson said. "He was just dropping back and slinging the ball, but he was setting records in the first game he ever played."
The season wasn't always an easy ride as Kacz and the Lions struggled a bit in the middle part of the year.
"We went into a slump halfway through, and I had a conversation with Casey," Gibson said. "I told him, you aren't getting any better and have to start progressing."
"But then since the Erie game, I guess everything started to click. He started to take more command and his confidence level is through the roof. He has all the skills to move on to the next level with his quick release, accuracy and his decision making."
In the last three full games that Kacz has played, the Lions have averaged a little more than 64 points per game including a 69-41 victory last week in the PIFL Playoffs.
Kacz threw for a PIFL single-game playoff record 327 yards as well as nine touchdowns.
"Everything started in practice," Kacz said. "We have been practicing really well over the past few weeks and last week was no difference.
"We were completing over 90 percent of our passes that week in practice and then in the game last week, the offensive line played great giving me plenty of time to throw."
On Monday, the Lions will be shooting to win the franchise's first championship since 2010 and its first in the PIFL.
Kacz, however, isn't a stranger to big games in his football career, but it has been a while, said the PIFL Rookie of the Year frontrunner.
"I'm just enjoying this. By no means did I think I would be starting a championship game." he said.
"I thought I would make the team, but I could never have predicted this."
This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 4:56 PM.