By Drake Skleba
For the Bugle
Plainfield South vs. Minooka.
Minooka vs. Plainfield South.
Anyway you say it, it all adds up to one of the fiercest athletic rivalries,in Illinois high school sports.
With Plainfield South, just 10 miles north of Minooka or Minooka just 10 miles south of Plainfield South, just 10 miles of Ridge Road, separates, the two Southwest Prairie Conference rivals. Thus, “The Battle of Ridge Road” rivalry.
On Friday night, in Minooka, the most recent edition of the rivalry took place on the gridiron. Led by Plainfield South defensive end Adriel Montemayor and the vaunted Cougar defense, Plainfield South, earned a hard-fought 14-7 victory.
Minooka struck first on a 25-yard scoring strike, from Minooka quarterback Nick Lehr, to junior wingback, Connor Etzkorn, for an early 7-0 Indian lead.
“We gave Minooka, the early touchdown and then our defense proved that it is the heart of our team,” Montemayor said.
In the second quarter, Cougar senior quarterback,Cody Dieball, scored a pair of four-yard touchdown runs, to give the Cougars, a 14-7 lead at halftime. The second half was WWIII.
“Our offensive line pushed Minooka all over the field,” Dieball said. “It made my job easier to run the ball.”
The bitter-rivals hammered each other for 24 minutes, as neither could score a point, in the fiercely-fought, second half. Cougar senior fullback Tony Mosher, who rushed for 69 yards in the contest, repeatedly kept the scoreboard clock moving, with big first-down runs.
Final Score: Plainfield South 14 Minooka 7.
We are sure there was a 15-minute, Cougars’ victory celebration, during the short bus ride home, to ‘The South Side”
“It was an amazing feeling for me, to get this big win over Minooka,” Montemayor added. “In any sport, it’s always great to beat Minooka.”
“Everyone was saying that our big win over Minooka, last year, was a fluke,” Dieball added. “We proved to them Friday night, that it wasn’t a fluke and beat them again.”
In Week 9, of the 2017 Southwest Prairie Football Conference season, Minooka, came to Plainfield South, with a chance to win the SPC title.The home-standing Cougars, sent the Indians home in second-place, with a heart-breaking 10-7 win.
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Friday night was one of the guttiest performances by a team, that I have coached, in all of my years of coaching,” Plainfield South head coach, Bill Bicker said, “We didn’t panic when Minooka went up 7-0 and we went out and got the job done.It was good to see our kids getting rewards, for their hard work”
“We were three or four plays away from making the playoffs, last year. Our hard work in the offseason, is where we will make those three or four plays and make the playoffs. Romeoville has some athletes and will be ready to play, Friday night. In my first year at South in 2016, we lost to Minooka but I am 2-0, in “The Battle of Ridge Road” the last two years,” Bicker added.
To comply with our unofficial Fairness Doctrine, we go back to the 2017 Southwest Prairie Conference baseball season. Plainfield South was in first place in the SPC, with a one game lead over Minooka with a final two-game SPC series, left. Minooka head baseball coach Jeff Petrovic’s, Indians hammered out eight home runs and beat Plainfield South head baseball coach Phil Bodine’s Cougars 11-8,in Minooka. The next day at South, the Indians won 6-5 in 10 innings, to win the outright SPC baseball championship.
I could give many more examples, that would once again, show why “The Battle of Ridge Road” is one of the fiercest rivalries in Illinois.