Plainfield Central stymies Oswego
OSWEGO -- Even after his team's monumental 22-6 victory over Oswego on Friday night in a showdown of Suburban Prairie Conference unbeatens, Plainfield Central coach John Jackson brought out that patented fit of anger, displeased with the way his kids were celebrating their historic win.
The uncharacteristic side came just 30 seconds later when the 11-year veteran head coach was forced to "chill" after being doused with a bucket full of ice water.
Jackson cracked -- a smile that is -- and why not, huddled around the only guys that mattered and the only ones that believed in what many thought was the unthinkable.
"All those people that predicted we weren't going to win *," stated Jackson. "I told our guys before the game, 'The 50 men in this (locker) room are the only ones that know what we are going to do tonight.' "
Plainfield (6-1, 5-0) set the tone of the game from its very first series marching 64 yards in 10 plays to open up a 6-0 lead on Brock Douglas' 5-yard run.
"That was the best thing that happened to us," said senior defensive end Rick Gazarek, who came up with big plays late in the game and set up Keith Marry's 19-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter with his pressure on Oswego QB Nick Welch. "That got us way fired up.
"The intensity from that moment on was just amazing."
And it got even more amazing after Plainfield Central's defense banged the door shut on Oswego's offense after the latter twice got as far as the front porch on its initial two drives. Both times -- from the Plainfield 18- and 27-yard lines ---- the Wildcats turned Oswego away on 3rd and 4th down.
"Our defense just played outstanding football," noted Jackson, whose team allowed Oswego just 99 yards in the first half. "We needed to take away what they did best, which was run out of the Power I set.
"(Defesnive coordinator) Ray (Shields) came to me in films last Saturday and wanted to play a scheme defense. I felt like that was the best idea and so I gave it my seal of approval."
Gazarek, linebackers Tim Eischen and Anthony Bjorklund and defensive tackle Bart Pyzowski among others added their own rubber stamping to Welch, who was sacked six times on the night, a rarity for an offense that prides itself on running the ball but was forced to go to the pass.
"Our philosophy is that we are going to hit you on every play," chimed in Marry.
Plainfield's offense added its second hit just before halftime keyed by Luis Baez's interception with 2:22 to play. On a direct snap from center three plays later, Brian Meeks set up Bjorklund's 1-yard touchdown to put the Wildcats up 12-0 with a 38-yard rumble up the middle.
"We just thought, yeah what the heck, let's try it," said Jackson. "We just threw it in this week and Brian saw the seam and just took it."
Plainfield left little doubt that the first half was no fluke, either, driving on its first series after halftime before settling for a 32-yard field goal from Evan Engelsen.
The Wildcat defense then teased Oswego (5-2, 4-1) one more time, letting the Panthers get as close as the Plainfield 13 before shutting things down again and throwing the kitchen sink out the door at Oswego on its next two series in the form of Gazarek (two knockdowns, two sacks). The latter time resulted in Marry's touchdown before the Wildcats finally relented on Oswego's final drive to negate Plainfield's bid at back-to-back shutouts.
