Plainfield South Earns Revenge Over Plainfield North, Lands Playoff Spot

Paybacks aren’t pretty.

earned vindication and a playoff spot by beating 27-7 during the regular-season finale for both teams Friday at South.

A year ago, host Plainfield North beat Plainfield South to keep the Cougars from a 9-0 season and undefeated conference championship.

This time around, the Cougars improved to 5-4 and put themselves in position to qualify for the state playoffs with 40 playoff points.

Last year, the cutoff to qualify for the playoffs was 39 points, which was the highest total since the state went to eight classes. Playoff points equal opponents wins. Pairings will be released by the Illinois High School Association Saturday night.

“I don’t know,” Plainfield South coach said when asked if he thought Plainfield South earned a playoff spot. “We’ll have to see what happens. We’re real excited for the kids. Our kids put a great week in this week and we’ll see what happens tomorrow night.”

What happened Friday was one of the Cougars’ best defensive efforts of the season and another stellar performance by Dantrell Wright.

The senior receiver had 16 carries for 174 yards and three touchdowns and caught four passes for 54 yards and another score. His scoring runs were from 64, 55 and 7 yards.

“When he gets to the second level, there’s a good chance he’s going to score,” Bublitz said. “I thought the guys up front did a great job tonight creating some things for him.”

“I followed our blockers, got in the open field and turned on the jets,” Wright said. “This was the best blocking we’ve had all year. Coach has been pushing those guys. They have been running sprints after practice, working hard in the weight room and we’re in the playoffs.”

Defensively, Plainfield North (4-5, 3-4 in the SPC) did not run a play inside the Cougar 20. The Tigers also failed to advance to the playoffs after making it the previous two seasons.

“They made a couple of big plays in the first half and grabbed the momentum,” Plainfield North coach Tim Kane said. “We didn’t move the ball very effectively in the first half. We played a little more physical in the second half. We just didn’t play well enough and their kids played some good football tonight.”

“Our kids came out and played hard tonight,” Bublitz said. “They really wanted to win and we prepared hard this week. I felt like we had to play a top-notch game to come out on top and for the most part, we did that.”

Wright ran 64 yards for a score to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead with 1:04 left in the first quarter. Clifton Garrett’s interception set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Austin Howarth to Wright, which gave the hosts a 14-0 lead with 7:51 left in the second quarter.

“In the first half, our defense was lights out,” Bublitz said. “I was really pleased with the way we defended tonight.”

Wright found pay dirt from 55 and 7 yards, the second coming after a roughing the passer penalty on Plainfield North, to give Plainfield South a 27-0 lead after three quarters.

Plainfield North’s Jay Roberts, who rushed for 178 yards, ran 35 yards for a score with 11:43 to play in the fourth quarter to break the shutout.

Both teams combined for 27 penalties for more than 300 yards.