By Scott Taylor @Taylor_Sports
It was a playoff atmosphere Saturday in the game between Plainfield Central and Joliet Central.
Between the two teams, they had lost 89 straight games and knowing one of the teams would win brought out a large crowd for a Saturday afternoon game.
Jojo McNair had four touchdowns, including the game winner, for Joliet Central.
In what turned out to be a thrilling classic, Joliet Central put an end to its 57-game losing streak with a 38-35 win, sending the Wildcats to 33-straight losses.
“What a great game,” Joliet Central coach Brett Boyter said. “Plainfield Central keeps getting better every game. The toughest part about today was that someone had to lose. I hope Plainfield Central keeps with it because they are definitely going to get that W soon. They have a lot of tough and competitive kids. Fortunately, today just went our way.”
“We came out ready to play,” Joliet Central wideout Jojo McNair said. “Last week we didn’t come out ready. But this week we were ready to play and ready to end this streak.”
The game turned into a battle of skill players between Joliet Central quarterback Zach Wisneski and McNair and Plainfield Central quarterback Marcus Hayes and running back Lovell Houston Jr.
McNair caught eight passes for 142 yards and three touchdowns and added six carries for 91 yards and a touchdown.
“Jojo may be the best player this school has had,” Boyter said. “He made some great plays offensively, but how about some of those hits he was making on defense? We’re so fortunate he is on our team and his teammates help put him in position to be successful.”
Wisneski was 20-of-30 through the air for 280 yards and four touchdowns.
“You can start seeing that he is making really good decisions,” Boyter said of Wisneski. “After week one, things have slowed down for him the past couple weeks. He knows what he wants to do before the ball is snapped. He has been through the low points like throwing a pick six last year against Joliet West, but he picks himself up right away and goes on to the next play. He is hungry.”
Hayes had 18 totes for 125 yards and three scores, while Houston had 180 yards on 20 attempts and two touchdowns.
It was the combination of Wisneski to McNair that scored the game-winning touchdown as McNair caught the tipped pass in the end zone for a 30-yard score with 29 seconds left.
“He is the best wide receiver in the state,” Wisneski said of McNair. “I knew I could trust him and that he would catch it. This means everything. We had the best week of practice all year and we came out and did what we needed to do.”
“I knew I had to catch the ball and win us the game,” McNair said. “I had a fumble earlier and gave up a touchdown and I had some doubts, but I had to fight through it and help win the game for us. Everyone doubted us, but we made the plays.”
The Steelmen having the ability to leave mistakes behind them and move forward in the game is something that helped earn the win.
“The biggest difference between this team and past teams is how they can put bad stuff behind them,” Boyter said. “We gave up a touchdown to give up the lead, but they stay in the moment and make the next play.”
It was all Steelmen early as Frank Fiegel caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Wisneski to open the scoring and after an interception from Marcus Stone, made it 14-0 on an 8-yard strike from Wisneski to McNair.
The Wildcats turned back to the ground game and got touchdown runs from Hayes and Houston to make it 14-13 midway through the second.
But Joliet Central responded with a 34-yard field goal from Antonio Alejos and a 43-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left to McNair for a 24-13 lead at the half.
A muffed punt from McNair led to a 17-yard Houston run midway through the third quarter.
The Wildcats returned the favor with a muffed punt and McNair made up for his mistake immediately with a 55-yard touchdown run to gain a 31-20 advantage.
“I had to get one back for the team,” McNair said. “I gave up one and I had to give it back. I told them it was my fault and was going to get it back.”
Plainfield Central marched right back down the field and got a 1-yard run from Hayes and a two-point conversion from Houston to make it 31-28 after three.
The Wildcats took the lead in the fourth quarter when Hayes made a juke move, leading to a touchdown to give them their first lead at 38-35.
They had a chance to put the game away with 1:40 left, but missed on a fourth-and-six from the Joliet 37, setting up the final drive.
The Steelmen will go for two in a row Friday night at Plainfield South (2-2).
“We kept going and fighting hard,” Wisneski said. “Every time we made a mistake we bounced back strong and made some plays.”
“We have to make sure we come back to work Monday and put this game behind us,” Boyter said. “After the weekend, it is on to Plainfield South. We can relive this for the rest of lives, but next week it is old news.”
JCA
Joliet Catholic Academy is a program built on tradition – a tradition that has had very few rebuilding seasons in the last 40 years.
This season, however, is one of those seasons and with a 35-17 loss to Notre Dame of Niles, the Hilltoppers dropped to 0-4 on the season.
The last time JCA lost four games in a regular season was 1997-98 in coach Dan Sharp’s first season with the team.
“We are at the point right now that we are just working on getting better,” Sharp said. “We are going to fight like hell. We want to get these seniors a win. We have five opportunities to win some games for these guys.”
The last losing season for JCA was a 2-6 campaign in 1959-60 – the first season under Gordie Gillespie.
Sharp does realize, however, that as bad as the Hilltoppers want to see success this season – with a lot of young starters – this is a two-year project.
“We are building a foundation with a lot of young kids that are getting some great experience,” he said. “The coaching staff has been coaching extremely hard, the kids are working, it is just that we are going through some growing pains at certain positions and we are just going to fight to get better every day, every practice, every rep. There is no classroom in football like being out there.”
Mark Gregory contributed