P. North edges O. East

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

OSWEGO -- It worked.

The Plainfield North High School football team scored 13 points in the second quarter Friday night and made that stand.

The important 13-6 Southwest Prairie Conference road win over Oswego East helped the Tigers (3-4, 3-2) keep their playoff hopes alive.

"I'm happy to get a win, but we had a bit of a letdown this week," North coach Tim Kane said. "It is difficult to play at the level that we have been playing at, but you have to give Oswego East credit. They ran the ball on us in the second half and there hasn't been much of that this year."

When the Tigers turned the ball over on their first possession, fumbling at their own 39, there was a sense that the turnover bug which has plagued Plainfield North this season had returned once again.

"We had a couple of turnovers early that hurt us," said Kane.

But North's defense, stingy all year, came to the rescue. The first two rushing plays from scrimmage for East (2-5, 1-4) resulted in consecutive 1-yard losses. On third-and-12, the Tigers' Matt Shulz deflected Josh Aceret's pass to force a punt.

After taking over at its own 19, North put together a 16-play drive that ended when the Tigers turned the ball over on downs. In that drive, Andrew Starks completed a 30-yard pass to Alex Helriegel, and Bryce Corrigan had an apparent 26-yard touchdown pass to Troy Holler called back on a penalty. Facing fourth-and-28 from the 31, Corrigan completed a 20-yard pass to Brent Shelton.

After East took over again and punted, Starks then led North on its first scoring drive. The senior quarterback opened with a 15-yard completion to Shelton. After gains of 11 and 6 yards by Starks on consecutive running plays, Starks again connected with Shelton for a 6-yard gain.

Dion Strong had a 15-yard gain to the East 4, and two plays later, Starks scored on a quarterback keeper from the one.

"Starks has to be one of the best players in the conference. He got his yardage and made some big plays against us," said Oswego East coach Mark Green.

North's defense set up the next score as Dominique Ware picked off an Aceret pass near midfield and returned it to the 37. On the next play, Starks completed a 27-yard pass to Holler. Strong then carried three straight times, capping the scoring drive with a 3-yard TD run with 6:27 to go in the second quarter.

In the second half, the Wolves converted three times on fourth-down situations to keep the drive alive before Steven Rivera scored on a 1-yard plunge with 6:10 remaining in the game. After the Tigers got the ball back, they ran out the clock.

"Our offense stepped up and controlled the ball when we needed them to," Kane said. "We didn't have the ball much in the second half, but we did a good job putting the game away."