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Health & Fitness

Plainfield's Adam Collins Comes Up Big For JCA

Plainfield's Adam Collins helps the JCA defense stand up tall during a 41-7 romp over Morris in the second round of the Class 5A state football playoffs.

MORRIS – The down didn’t matter.

Joliet Catholic Academy’s Adam Collins, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior strong safety from Plainfield, maintained his coverage focus on the roaming eyes of Morris senior quarterback Austin Feeney.

“Our whole week of practice was huge,” Collins said. “The key was staying on top of the screens or the long passes, and we were on top of it the whole game. You definitely had to keep your eye out for the quarterback rolling out, and once you locked up on your guy, you had to come up and get him.”

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The getting was good for JCA’s beleaguered defense on Friday night. Behind a pair of interceptions by Collins, the Hilltoppers forced four turnovers and held host Morris to only 89 yards on 28 plays in the first half en route to a 41-7 romp during the second round of the Class 5A state football playoffs.

Collins, junior linebacker Matt Madrigal and junior cornerback Grant Harrison had interceptions on fourth down for JCA (9-2). Collins came up with the Hilltoppers’ fourth pick to clinch on second down. Feeney finished 16-of-32 for 163 yards and the Redskins closed with 281 yards on 62 offensive plays.

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“Our defense has definitely been getting some grief,” Collins said, acknowledging a 56-51 loss to Marist in the final week of the regular season. “I know everybody talked about how Morris was a second-half team, but we had the momentum and we kept it. The interceptions were just icing on the cake.”

“I’m just so pleased with the effort by our staff,” said JCA coach Dan Sharp, whose Hillmen snapped a three-game losing streak at Morris. “(Defensive coordinator) Cory McLaughlin is the best, (assistant) Mark Mettille is outstanding, and our line coaches (Francis Ruettiger and Chris Kinsella) are great.

“And I can’t say enough about the job (assistant) Earl Jones has done with the secondary. We had a perfect game plan executed perfectly by our defense. We gave up some yards, but we never gave up.”

ON THE LINE: Sophomore Jalen Hansel entered the starting lineup for the second time, this time at guard, joining sophomore J.B. Butler and senior Jake Jankowski as the tackles and senior Pat Kripp at center. “I give all the credit to them,” said Jones, who opened the scoring with a 72-yard TD run.

BY THE NUMBERS: Junior wingback Ty Isaac (Shorewood) moved past former NFL great Mike Alstott on the single-season rushing list. Isaac is eighth with 1,843 yards on 153 carries, besting Alstott’s 1,795 yards on 212 carries in 1990. Next up for Isaac is Josh Ferguson, who had 1,886 yards on 144 carries last year … With 1,150 yards on 141 carries, Northwestern-bound senior wingback Malin Jones (Naperville) moved past Isaac’s father Tyrone on the single-season rushing chart. Isaac had 1,136 yards on 166 carries in 1987 … Junior quarterback Craig Slowik (Shorewood) edged former major-league pitcher Chris Michalak for 16th on the single-season passing list with 1,073 yards. Michalak had 1,072 in 1988 … Isaac inched with two touchdowns of J.R. Zwierzynski’s single-season record of 39 set in 2001. Isaac has 37.

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