PLAINFIELD – Dougie Burson’s eyes lit up like saucers when he heard the details of his performance Friday.

Burson, Yorkville’s senior running back, played sparingly last season. He had occasional cameos behind then-senior RBs Tre Thomas and Toran Harris.

But Burson had a smashing debut in a leading role Friday night.

Burson ran for 213 yards on 29 carries with two rushing touchdowns, and he also caught a touchdown from QB Luke Davies for a third score. That, and a stout effort from Yorkville’s defense helped the Foxes hold off Plainfield Central, 26-14, in a Southwest Prairie Conference crossover game.

“It felt awesome to get back,” Burson said. “We haven’t played in a year and a half. It felt good to get back into it. I’m tired, but I felt good. I love it.”

Yorkville coach Dan McGuire saluted Burson as much for his perseverance as his performance on the field.

“The true symbol of a program that is developing is when you have kids like Dougie that wait their turn and be successful as seniors. That’s how you win football games ‚” McGuire said. “Dougie was so patient and just worked his butt off. Those are the kids that you are really proud of because he had two great tailbacks ahead of him last year. It wasn’t like he wasn’t good, and he knew that. He stuck with it and got better and better.”

Burson scored on a 41-yard run with 2:41 left in the first quarter to give Yorkville the lead for good, 9-7. He caught a 26-yard TD pass from Davies late in the first half for a 16-7 lead.

And he finished in fine fashion.

On Burson’s final carry, he took the handoff around the left end, stiff-armed a Plainfield Central defender near the sideline and walked into the end zone for a 25-yard TD that all but sealed the win.

“That’s my move. I like stiff-arming guys when I get to the sidelines,” Burson said. “I tried to stay in bounds and I ended up scoring.”

Yorkville was last on the field in November 2019, a second-round playoff loss to Willowbrook more than 16 months ago. The Foxes graduated several standout players from that group, including safety Cale Reeder and linebacker Ben Stemmet.

The Foxes gave up Aaron Laws’ 82-yard TD run on Plainfield Central’s second play from scrimmage Friday, but held firm the rest of the way. Yorkville forced five turnovers, with interceptions from Blake Kersting and Cole Yearsley in the final minutes to preserve the victory.

“Our defensive staff deserves a ton of credit. We had three sophomores who were playing fulltime on defense,” McGuire said. “For those kids to respond like that and not having played in forever long, for them to do what they did was amazing.”

Larkins ran for 133 yards on 11 carries, and Chris Leto was 12 for 34 for 143 yards for Plainfield Central.

The Wildcats, coming off a 1-8 season, hung with Yorkville to the end.

Nathan Sommerfeld’s interception, the third turnover that the Wildcats forced, and a long return set up Leto’s 11-yard TD pass to Dylan Moscatelli with 5:46 left in the third quarter to close Plainfield Central within 19-14. But the Wildcats couldn’t quite close out the comeback.

The game was sloppy on both sides at times with 22 penalties and the eight turnovers. The Wildcats also dropped a number of passes.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Plainfield Central Coach Jon Pereiro said. “After all that we had to deal with, everybody around the state, I’m proud that they had the fight that we had. A lot of mistakes that we have to overcome and we have to just start clicking. We had a lot of opportunities, a lot of balls hit us in the hands, a lot of fumbles that we have to overcome. Our defense played tough as nails.”

Davies, making his varsity debut after missing all of his junior year with a knee injury, started well, showed his inexperience but made the key play when Yorkville needed it.

He completed five of his first six passes, and the Foxes were 6-for-9 on third-down conversions in the first half, the TD pass to Burson on fourth-and-seven after a third-and-33 situation.

Davies fumbled a snap in the red zone in the second half, and his interception led to Plainfield Central’s second TD.

But with the Foxes clinging to a 16-14 lead in the fourth quarter, Davies threw a 23-yard dart on the run to Burson on fourth down to set up Matt Maldonado’s second field goal, from 23 yards out.

“That was a great play by him,” Burson said. “He hadn’t played in a while because of injuries. He’s just got to have confidence. He’ll be good.”