Plainfield South Cougars Knock Off Joliet West

After nearly 46 hours, it’s finally over.

Joliet West and Plainfield South kicked off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, but the weather forced a pair of delays, the second of which caused the game to be suspended until 11 a.m. Monday.

Play resumed Monday with Plainfield South leading 12-8 with 5 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter. A pair of touchdown runs by Dantrell Wright, adding to his two from Saturday, gave the Cougars (1-1) a 26-8 victory.

In a game that was much more closely contested than the final score indicates, Plainfield South struck a deciding blow on the first play of the fourth quarter.

On third-and-8, South quarterback Austin Howarth hit sophomore wide receiver Josh Harris in a crowd over the middle. Harris bounced off a couple of Joliet West defenders and spun to his right. He remained on his feet and headed toward the end zone, finally getting cut down at the 1. Wright went over on the next play, and caught a two-point conversion pass from Howarth to give the Cougars a 20-8 lead.

“I just tried to keep my feet,” Harris said. “Then I just saw an opening and took off. Our team feeds off of big plays, and we were pumped up after that one and we got in the end zone.”

The two teams traded punts, and West (0-2), which took an 8-0 lead on a 69-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion by SaVaughn Alexander in the first quarter, started on its own 38.

The Tigers got a 14-yard run by Alexander (10 carries, 116 yards), and a facemask penalty moved the ball to the South 33. On third-and-4, Alexander gained 12 yards to the 15 and Ramarr Jordan went nine yards to the six. Alexander then broke through the middle and was headed toward the end zone, but when he spun to avoid a tackle at the one, the ball came loose and South’s Brandon Reyes recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

“We have to learn how to finish,” West coach Jason Aubry said. “We did a good job of getting in position to score, but we didn’t finish. Even Saturday, we left two drives in the red zone. But we have to figure out how to make the plays when they are in front of us. We missed a tackle that led to a touchdown for them, then we fumbled on the one and that was it. I was happy with how the kids were ready to play after the day off, but we didn’t finish.”

On the ensuing drive, Howarth hit Ed Presniakovas with a 24-yard pass to the West 37 and a later facemask penalty gave South the ball at the 16. From the wildcat formation, Wright (30 carries, 93 yards) sprinted up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown to cap the scoring and give South coach Ken Bublitz his first win.

“I hope they’re not all like this,” Bublitz said. “Our coaching staff did a great job of getting the kids ready to play again today, and the kids were willing to get ready. We have some new guys in some new spots, and it’s taking a while to get going, but we looked a lot better today. Every week is going to be a dogfight, so it was good to get a win today.”