Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
If defensive battles are what gets your blood boiling for Friday night fall football games under the lights, Joliet Central and Plainfield South was a dream come true.
With a 3-3 close-knit ball game headed into the half, Plainfield South had just enough offense to score once in the third and once in the fourth for a 17-10 victory that put them at five wins on the season, which is good enough for a playoff berth.
“Our defense just made big plays all night long,” said Plainfield South coach Bill Bicker. “Central did a great job in both of their schemes tonight, we knew we weren’t going to get that many big plays against them, but we found a way to get a few and we came out on top.”
– Senior quarterback Jared King escapes the pocket from a Plainfield South defender Friday night in Plainfield (Photo by Ryan Ostry)
From the start, Bicker knew that having its third string sophomore quarterback Nicholas Schultz in the game would be a challenge for his offense.
“We lose our quarterback [Joey Passo] and were down to [Schultz] which was tough, but the best part of the game tonight is that this kid didn’t flinch one bit,” Bicker said. “He didn’t have big eyes, wasn’t afraid of the moment and he really rose up tonight.”
South (5-1, 5-1) got on the scoreboard to start off the game with a 25-yard field goal by junior kicker Benjamin Ortiz, giving the Cougars an early 3-0 lead.
At the beginning of the second quarter, football was put on the backburner for a period of time as a scary head on collision between junior receiver Jaylin Berry and a South defender left the Central sideline irate.
“We held him out of the rest of the game for precaution to get further evaluation on a concussion,” Central coach Brett Boyter said of Berry. “I wasn’t sure if that player should still stay in the game at that point, but he did and that wasn’t my call to make.”
With Central (2-4, 2-4) soon retaliating to tie up the game with a field goal of their own, both teams knew they would have to scratch and claw to come out with the win in the second half.
“The penalties in the second half really hurt us,” Boyter said. “Our effort and attitude was just as intense as it was in the first half, but we had some miscues that lead to the final outcome.”
The Steelmen got the second half going, however, with a first play 80-yard pitch and catch from senior quarterback Jared King to sophomore receiver Andrew Murphy.
That 10-3 lead would soon evaporate as South was paced by junior running back Jaylin Eison on a seven-yard touchdown run in the third, and a game winning one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
“I saw that Central stacked the box so I wanted to wide out the play a little bit,” Eison said. “I wanted to make sure I got my stiff arm out as I crossed the pylon so the defender couldn’t bring me down beforehand.”
With just three weeks remaining on the schedule, the Steelmen will play host to Plainfield North at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Joliet, and the Cougars will be at Plainfield East to collide with Bengals at 7 p.m. Friday in Plainfield.