The Herald-News Week 2 football notebook: Plainfield South’s 2-0 start no surprise in Cougars’ locker room

In Friday Night Drive’s season preview for the Southwest Prairie East, Plainfield South was predicted to finish fourth in the six-team division and miss out on a playoff berth.

A funny thing happened in the first two weeks of the season, though.

The Cougars have ridden a hard-hitting, stingy defense, some timely big plays on offense and the right foot of Leo Gamino to a 2-0 record after beating DeKalb 17-14 in thrilling fashion in Week 2.

Apparently, Plainfield South’s players and coaches took umbrage at their preseason prediction.

During the team huddle after the game, several players were asking, “Where’s Soucie?,” referring to Friday Night Drive managing editor Steve Soucie, whose preseason prediction was that South would finish fourth in the division.

One of the South assistant coaches even stood up before the team and said, “Fourth place, my [butt].”

The Cougars may think that no one else believes in them, but they have a firm belief in themselves and, to them, that’s all that matters.

“It feels great to be 2-0,” quarterback Cody Hogan said. “Our defense is very good, and we know they are going to keep us in pretty much every game. It’s a great feeling on offense knowing that the defense will have our backs and give us a shot to be around at the end.”

Coach Jake Brosman has had a first-hand look at the improvement the Cougars have shown from last season’s 2-7 finish.

“These kids have worked so hard since the end of last season,” he said. “We know what the preseason predictions were, but we also know that no one else has seen how hard these guys have worked. I am so happy for these guys to see that hard work pay off on the field.”

MORRIS JUST HAPPY TO KEEP WINNING

Morris coach Alan Thorson acknowledged his team wasn’t “the prettiest 2-0″ squad following Friday’s 31-17 win over Joliet West. Any coach will tell you, though, that they’d rather be an ugly 2-0 than a pretty 0-2.

Morris actually scorched West early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead after only two possessions. West gathered itself, however, and took a 17-14 edge entering the fourth quarter as a turnover and a few dropped passes stalled the offense. Morris got back on track to the tune of 17 unanswered points in the fourth to get the win, helped by an 11-play drive that took a lot of time off the clock.

With a lot of new pieces in place this season, Morris still is figuring some things out. But the potential shined at times Friday, and Thorson expressed excitement over what the group could look like by season’s end.

“I think at times you can see how good we can be,” Thorson said. “At times you can see we have a lot of work to do. I’m proud about a lot of things. I think there’s some things we need to continue to build on, but I thought our defense played a really good game and had some big hits on the night. I didn’t like some of the three-and-outs we had, but when we needed to I thought we moved the ball really well.”

COALERS BACK ON TRACK

Coal City is a fixture in the playoff field, having advanced to the postseason for 12 straight seasons. After suffering a season-opening 31-12 loss to Morris, the Coalers rebounded to thump Canton 53-6 in Week 2.

Starting quarterback Zander Meents was injured during the Morris game, and sophomore Connor Henline took his spot Friday. All Henline did was complete 10 of 15 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. That is the type of the performance that will give Coal City the balance to complement the running attack of Landin Benson (12 carries, 88 yards, three TDs) and Logan Natyshok (five carries, 88 yards, two TDs) as it begins Illinois Central Eight play this week against Streator.

JOLIET WEST DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

Speaking of the Tigers, they’re not hanging their hats on one loss. While there was motivation to win this game after Morris handed them their only regular-season loss last year, head coach Dan Tito expressed pride at Joliet West’s ability to hang tough with a “blue chip” program.

The defense made big plays with Sedrick Love piling up three sacks. Micah McNair had a pair of tackles for a loss and a 92-yard touchdown run, as well. So while the Tigers may be 1-1, their heads are still high entering another home game this week. Tito knows what they need to do to beat Yorkville.

“We talk about doing the little habits right every day,” Tito said. “If we just take care of the little habits every single day, we’re going to be a really good football team. Yorkville does a really good job, as well. They’re going to be ready and well coached, but we just need to focus on our little habits and doing them well.”

WILMINGTON KEEPS ROLLING

Defending Class 2A state champion Wilmington jumped out to a 40-0 halftime lead against Sandwich on Friday and extended its winning streak to 15 since losing last year’s season opener to Seneca.

The Wildcat backfield is a busy place, and on any given week, any of their backs can take center stage. On Friday, it happened to be senior Kyle Farrell, as he finished with 164 yards and four touchdowns on only 11 carries.

The defense, another Wilmington calling card, shut out Sandwich in the first half and limited the Indians to 133 total yards in the game.