Plainfield North Spoils Romeoville's Homecoming

 notched its first road win of the season, shutting out Romeoville 42-0 earlier tonight.

The Tigers (3-2, 1-1) shredded the Spartan (1-4, 0-3) defense in amassing almost 400 yards of total offense.

“(Getting our first road win) is just part of our kids growing up,” head coach Tim Kane said. “We have a lot of juniors playing out there, and a sophomore, so it was big for our kids to go out there and mature by winning on the road.”

Junior quarterback Kurt Palandech led the way, completing nine of 10 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown. Four of those completions were to junior Matt Fenza, who racked up 116 yards receiving on the evening.

Palandech “has really responded the last two weeks,” Kane said. “I think he’s doing a great job of learning and running our offense.”

The Tigers also received a steady performance from junior running back Jay Roberts, who carried 17 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns, while senior running back Alex Starks added three touchdowns on the ground.

Meanwhile, Romeoville starting quarterback James Rooks struggled to find a rhythm, completing three of 10 passes for 45 yards and an interception.

The Spartans’ sibling running back tandem of Perez and Miguel Ford also was stifled; the Fords combined for just 19 rushing yards on the evening.

After Romeoville opened with a three and out, swiftly drove 66 yards in two plays, behind a 62-yard dash by Roberts down to the Spartans’ 4 yard line. Roberts plunged into the end zone on the subsequent play, putting the Tigers in front 6-0.

The Tigers extended their lead to two touchdowns a few minutes later, after Palandech found Fenza for a 65-yard completion to the Spartan 3 yard line. Senior running back Alex Starks found the end zone on the next play to make it 14-0 midway through the first quarter.

“got up quick on us, and took our offensive game plan away,” Romeoville head coach Jeff Kuna said. “We wanted to control the clock and be able to run the ball a bit more.”

added two more touchdowns before halftime, and took a comfortable 28-0 lead into the locker room. 

The Tigers did not look back in the second half, tacking on two more touchdowns to add to their winning margin.

The Spartans will venture to  next week, while the Tigers will host Oswego.

“We need better play out of our skill positions next week,” Kuna said.  “You can’t miss receivers when they’re open, and you can’t drop balls when you have the opportunity to make catches.”