Plainfield South tops Rich South

Plainfield South High School football coach Mike Briscoe felt it was imperative that his Cougars get the new season off on the right foot.

Mission accomplished in Friday night’s opener against Rich South, though the journey was anything but easy.

The Cougars needed a late 64-yard scoring drive to slip past the Stars 28-22. The march began with a little more than 5 minutes to play and was capped by a 10-yard pass from quarterback Jeffrey Kohl to Brad Kaput with 39.2 seconds remaining.

Plainfield South, which was 4-5 last season, drove 69 yards to a score on its first possession. The workhorse of the drive and of the game was halfback Chris Brown, who finished with a game-high 164 yards on 30 carries and had 52 in 8 trips on the opening march.

“Chris can do this for us,” Briscoe said. “He is a tough and strong player. He has done that before — in other games last year.”

Rich South drew even with 7:17 remaining in the second quarter, and the seesaw battle was up and running.

The game featured six lead changes.

Plainfield South took a 12-8 lead into halftime as Kohl found Luke Gundersen on a 9-yard pass, capping a 74-yard drive. Plainfield South’s Matt Heiser intercepted a pass from Rich South’s Jeremy Lewis with :32.3 left before the break. Heiser caught the ball at the 49-yard line and returned it to the 24 of Rich South. On the ensuing play, a mishandled snap that went through Kohl’s legs was recovered by the Stars, who decided to run out the clock.

A 15-yard delay of the game penalty against Plainfield South prior to the second-half kickoff helped give the Stars good field position. They capitalize when Rich South quarterback Lewis found Tabias Sellars for a 9-yard strike, giving the lead back to the Stars.

“That quarterback from Rich South is a good athlete and he is quick,” Briscoe said. “Coming into the first game of the season, we knew he was injured from last year, but his speed is what we were impressed with during the game.”

After each team was unable to move the ball, Plainfield South took advantage of a fumble, with Brown scoring on a 26-yard run as the Cougars regained the lead with 1:39 left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter saw the lead change hands again. Lewis hit James Blair with a 22-yard pass to give the Stars their last lead at 22-20 with 5:08 remaining.

Then came the drive the Cougars needed to secure their first victory.

“Now we have to play better and get ready for a tough Joliet Township team,” Briscoe said. “If we do not end our mistakes, we can not expect to win.”