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Sports

Plainfield Central Marks 26-19 Win Over Plainfield South

Wildcats are a win away from playoff consideration

The fireworks show after the game paled in comparison to the offense during ’s homecoming Friday.

The Wildcats scored two touchdowns within seven seconds in the first quarter en route to a 26-19 Southwest Prairie Conference win over the Cougars.

Tim Blake threw for three touchdowns and Jordan Ellingwood
struck pay dirt three times to put (4-2, 2-2 in the SPC) a win away from playoff consideration. fell to 3-3, 2-2.

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“I thought it would be something like this,” coach John Jackson said. “We knew we were going to have to score and play the field position game.”

Mike Leffler recovered a fumbled punt that led to Blake’s first touchdown pass of 10 yards to Ellingwood with 9:07 left in the first quarter.

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Derek Bernascik pounced on a fumbled kick off and Blake found Gino Gerritano from 24 yards away for a 13-0 lead with 9:00 left in the first quarter.

“We knew they were going to make mistakes and we had to
capitalize on them,” Blake said. “The line was blocking great and our receivers were catching everything. It was up to me to deliver the ball and they did the rest.”

Blake finished the night 10 of 16 for 151 yards.

“The first quarter, we knew we had to come out hard,” Ellingwood said. “That’s what we did. We capitalized on their mistakes and their turnovers.”

Ellingwood rushed 16 times for 96 yards and a third-quarter touchdown run. The junior also caught five passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns, including a 6-yarder from Blake that gave the visitors a 20-0 lead with 7:58 to play in the second quarter.

got on the board when Ricky Luna threw 23 yards to Josh Harris to cut the lead to 20-6 at the half.

Austin Howarth’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Dantrell Wright with 5:40 left in the third quarter put the Cougars within 20-13.

Ellingwood’s 10-yard run with 1:54 left in the third bumped the lead to 26-13.

Howarth’s second touchdown pass went to Joshua Harris from 14 yards out, cutting the deficit to 26-19 with 6:02 left in the game.

’s final drive ended at the 38 with 1:40 left in the game.

Howarth went 24 of 42 for 292 yards. Wright caught 12 passes for 115 yards. However, the Cougars rushed for just 17 yards.

“It’s a tough situation for our guys,” coach Ken Bublitz said. “I know they were focused on the game and didn’t perform as well as they could. Unfortunately, the mistakes we made last week that we thought we cleaned up surfaced again tonight.”

“We knew they were an explosive and tough team,” Jackson said. “Offensively, I thought we ran the ball well and Tim threw the ball well tonight.”

With a win over  at 1 p.m. Saturday during homecoming, would be considered playoff-eligible with five victories.

“They made a mistake on the punt and the kickoff and we were
able to capitalize on them,” Jackson said. “Now, we’re 4-2 and we’re going to have to get after it against next week.”

“We’re going to the playoffs,” Blake said.

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