By Alison Moran
For the Bugle
As Robin might have said to Batman, “Holy heat index, Batman!”
But, even 100-plus degree heat indexes could stop the Plainfield South Cougars (2-3, 2-3) from roaring into Joliet Central stadium.
Prepared to withstand record heat and humidity and determined to vanquish a string of losses, including a heartbreaking 14-7 loss at Oswego East last week after leading at the half.
Plainfield South coach, Bill Bicker decided to shake things up.
Taking a page from his coaching mentor, former Joliet Catholic coach Bob Stone, who coached the Hilltoppers to three state championship games, winning the Class 4A title in 1990, Bicker instituted the counter play against the winless Steelmen (0-5, 0-5) to great advantage, defeating Central 42-0.
“(After last week’s loss,) I talked with Adam Chavez, our offensive coordinator, about putting it in. It’s a Joliet Catholic play, going back to Gordie Gillespie,” Bicker said.
A counter is simply a play in which the running back takes a step in the opposite direction of the play, only to get the handoff in the other direction.
The purpose of the counter run is to keep defenses honest and prevent them from being able to pursue the play. In its purest form, the play is most effective against defenses that tend to over pursue.
The team prepared all week for the new plan, as well as for the searing heat and humidity.
“It was a hot week of practice, but going in, we knew what we had to do,” said offensive lineman David Siebert.
Indeed, the Cougars were in hot pursuit from kickoff, literally hitting the ground, running.
Senior running back Sayvaun Roberts’ first of three touchdowns – and first counter run -came on the Cougars’ second possession, taking a handoff from quarterback Cody Dieball.
As he explained in postgame, he took advantage of a “large hole in the center of the field” for a 45-yard dash to the end zone. A few minutes later, Roberts used the counter again, scoring his second touchdown on a 24-yard run.
Roberts wasn’t the only Cougar to master the counter play. In second quarter, junior running back Tod Bell took the handoff 20 yards for the Cougars for the third counter touchdown.
In fact, the Cougars found just about every way to score on the Steelmen as field temperature rose.
Of the 288 offensive yards earned by the Cougars, Dieball had two touchdowns of his own in the second quarter, running for 16 yards, then 12 yards.
The Cougars went into the half with a 35-0 lead.
But why couldn’the Steelmen stop them on their own field? They could have, on two of the three occasions, Steelmen coach Brett Boyter said.
“On two of them, and it came down to 1-on-1 battles where their offensive guy beat our defensive guy,” Boyter said. “As an offensive coach, the best you can hope for is your athletes to get into those 1-on-1s. But defensively, you have to win those battles, too, and we didn’t.”
South’s final touchdown came on Roberts’36-yard punt return to cement the win, turning on the running clock.
“I talked with the team about the little details in their performance that could make a difference, and they did,” said Boyter. “We can’t use the heat, or any other excuse, for our performance.”
Of their winless streak, Boyter added, “We knew that after losing 22 starters, it was possible to have this kind of a year. But we’ll just keep on.”
The Cougars knew Joliet Central would not go easy.
“There are no pushovers in this conference,” said Plainfield South linebacker Connor Hall. “It’s a playoff mentality every game.”
Siebert agreed.
“They (the Steelmen) play with a lot of heart,” he said.