PRIME TIME BALANCING ACT
JOLIET -- Coming into Friday night's game between the Plainfield South and Joliet Township High School football teams, everybody knew that South's Chris Brown was going to get his share of carries. He is, after all, "The Workhorse."
Brown finished with 127 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries as Plainfield South (2-0) rolled up 407 total yards en route to a 37-7 nonconference victory.
(Michael R. schmidt/Staff photographer)
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Brown was just part of the story for the Cougar offense. Junior quarterback Jeff Kohl had a career night, completing 10-of-12 for 148 yards and 3 touchdowns. Drew Turk caught 4 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown, while Luke Gundersen had 2 catches for 43 yards and a score. Brantell McKinney also caught a TD pass and scored on the ground, while Rodney Johnson added 91 rushing yards and a touchdown on his 4 carries.
"All the credit goes to the offensive line," said Kohl, praising the work of Ray Croom, Kyle Voda, Max Cadena, Josh Pichur and Kevin Harper. "They opened the holes for Chris and gave me time to throw. Chris is our workhorse, and he was again tonight. When we're running the ball that well, it opens up the passing game."
After the strong showing that Joliet Township put up last week against Richards, few would have predicted that the Steelmen (0-2) would have one first down and seven total yards in the first half.
Of course, few coaches defend the spread offense as well as Plainfield South's Mike Briscoe.
"We watched a lot of tape," said Gundersen, who had an interception in the end zone from his free safety position. "We knew that No. 2 (Ronald Jordan) and No. 17 (DJ Foster) were their main receivers, so we just shaded to what side of the field they were on. Sometimes we went with a three-man rush and had an extra defensive back.
"The interception felt good. I thought they were going to score on us there. They were moving the ball down the field."
Gundersen's pick came in the fourth quarter, after the Cougars had built a 30-0 lead. And it was not long after he had beaten the JT defense for a 38-yard touchdown catch from Kohl.
"I knew I could get behind my guy," Gundersen said. "I only had to make one quick move to the inside and go around him on the outside. Jeff threw a nice ball and I just had to go get it."
Go get it he did, and it gave the Cougars a 24-0 lead with 6:11 to play in the third quarter.
"That play was supposed to be a quick slant," Kohl said. "We switched it at the line. Luke had been telling me all night that he could get behind his guy, and he did."
Each team was forced to punt on its opening possession, but South got things going on its second.
Brown carried 10 times for 44 yards on the march, which started on the South 26. Kohl completed an 8-yard pass to Drew Turk and a 5-yarder to Gundersen on the drive, while Johnson had a big 8-yard gain when Brown went to the bench for a quick breather. McKinney capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone at the 1:46 mark of the first quarter for a 6-0 South lead.
The Cougar defense forced two straight 3-and-outs by the Steelmen, and they took over at midfield midway through the second quarter. Brown's 13-yard gain on 2nd-and-5 moved it to the JT 32 and, after a penalty, Brown ran six yards, setting up 3rd-and-9 from the 31.
Kohl then hit Turk on a bubble screen to the right. Turk ran into the mass of humanity in the middle of the field, then reversed his direction and headed untouched to the right corner of the end zone for a 12-0 South lead.
JT got its initial first down on a 13-yard pass from Justin Stephenson to Jordan, but the drive stalled after three straight incompletions.
Brown ripped off an 18-yard gain on first down, but the JT defense stiffened to force South into a 3rd-and-12 situation.
