Plainfield puts 3 in the show

PLAINFIELD -- Coach John Jackson and his Plainfield Central Wildcats showed Friday night they still have a fair amount of work to do. But even with having to clean up a little sloppy play and a breakdown on kick coverage, they won't be able to improve much on their running game in a 47-25 season-opening win over Elgin.

Plainfield (1-0) rushed the ball 63 times and netted 439 yards and had three different backs eclipse the 100-yard mark. It was a dominating performance on the ground and one that showed the depth and balance of the Plainfield running attack.

Despite the 22-point victory, it wasn't an easy night for the Wildcats. At least not until late in the third quarter. Elgin (0-1), a 27-18 winner over Plainfield in last year's season opener at the Maroons' home field, jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and pushed the margin to 13-0 in the first minute of the second quarter.

Plainfield answered a 7-0 deficit with a drive of its own but the Wildcats stuttered deep in Elgin territory. It appeared that Plainfield had scored the tying touchdown on a fourth-down, 28-yard pass from Alex Parks to Matt Lancore but an offensive pass interference penalty not only wiped out the score but resulted in a loss of down.

Plainfield settled down and finally started to use the punishing ground game that would ultimately win this game. The Wildcats marched 68 yards on 6 plays on their next possession, with Anthony Bjorklund using a great second effort to bounce off tacklers and score from 9 yards out.

The Wildcat defense forced a three-and-out and its offense quickly scored again. Junior Brian Meeks -- on his way to a 109-yard rushing night-- capped off the 5-play drive with an 8-yard scoring run and the extra point gave Plainfield its first lead at 14-13.

Plainfield appeared to be headed to another touchdown but Meeks had the ball stripped from him at the 1-yard line as he stretched toward the goal line and Elgin's Jamal Cook grabbed it out of mid-air and raced untouched 99 yards for a touchdown to put the Maroons back in front at 19-14 with three minutes left in the half.

But the Wildcats' running game used those final three minutes to drive the ball 68 yards in 12 plays and Meeks' 10-yard scoring run sent Plainfield to the locker room with a 21-19 edge.

The Wildcats asserted control quickly in the third quarter with a pair of quick touchdowns to open a 33-19 lead. Bjorklund notched the first of the two with a 16-yard run and Alonzo Morgan got the first of his two scores on a 1-yard run.

Plainfield appeared headed to a real easy win when Josh Whitley scooped up an Elgin punt that was blocked by Tim Eishen and scampered 17 yards for a touchdown with 4:03 left in the third that made the score 40-19. But Elgin was not ready to quit.

The Maroons got that last touchdown back just 23 seconds later when Cook scored for the second time from over 90 yards away when he ran back the ensuing kickoff for 97 yards to close the gap to 40-25.

Plainfield, though, re-assumed control of the game and grounded its way to yet one more touchdown and a clock-killing fourth quarter.

In addition to Meeks' 109-yard effort, the Wildcats got 115 rushing yards (9 carries) from Lancore and a team-best 118 yards on 17 carries by Bjorklund. Morgan played only in the second half and he collected 53 yards on 9 rushes, with Brock Douglas adding 32 yards on 7 runs and fullback Brandon Faidy getting 3 fourth-quarter carries for 16 yards.