Demir Ashiru’s 3 TD passes, dominant defense power Plainfield North past Yorkville in matchup of SPC West unbeatens

YORKVILLE – Demir Ashiru says that Plainfield North “practices chaos.”

In football parlance, those are occasions when plays break down, and athletic ability takes over. Instances in which it is helpful to have a mobile, strong-armed quarterback like Ashiru, a Plainfield North senior, and playmakers like his on the perimeter.

“We work on that stuff, me moving and receivers finding open spots,” Ashiru said. “We just had to forget about the bad plays. We knew one would break.”

Ashiru’s improvisational skills indeed led to his three touchdown passes, two of which went to Sean Schlanser, who also made a spectacular one-handed grab for the Tigers’ final score.

Plainfield North used that offensive skill and a dominant defensive effort to establish a pecking order in the Southwest Prairie West, beating host Yorkville 24-0 in a matchup of conference unbeatens.

“We knew they would be a tough team on their Homecoming,” said Ashiru, 15-for-25 passing for 178 yards and the three TDs. “We stuck to our game plan and trusted that we were the better team.”

The game was a defensive standstill for a quarter and change when Ashiru’s talents came to the forefront.

After Plainfield North (5-0, 1-0) recovered a fumble at the Yorkville 40, Ashiru threw a 25-yard dart to Shibu Mohammed on fourth-and-7. A play later Ashiru bought time, eluded the rush, and found Jaxon Boryca open in the end zone for a 6-yard TD and 7-0 lead with 5:49 left in the second quarter.

“Yorkville’s front is outstanding, but Demir having that ability to get loose, it definitely puts us at a different level,” Tigers coach Anthony Imbordino said. “Extending plays, having their DBs cover five, six, seven seconds, it’s difficult.”

Ashiru’s 22-yard TD pass to Schlanser, a play after Ashiru got free to throw to Schlanser for 11 on fourth down, extended the lead to 14-0 at halftime.

“We practice that drill all the time, the scramble drill, making sure you can move with the quarterback and get yourself open,” Schlanser said. “It’s just timing.”

Ashiru’s elusiveness in key spots proved kryptonite for a fierce Yorkville front seven that had terrorized quarterbacks over its first four games.

“His mobility neutralized what we do up front,” Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said of Ashiru. “And it puts a lot of pressure on people on the back end. It’s tough to cover that long with the receivers they have at the back end.”

The Foxes’ offense, on the other hand, struggled to get anything going against a Plainfield North defense that had allowed just 35 points coming in.

Of Yorkville’s 11 possessions, nine ended in punts and the other two in turnovers. The Foxes (4-1, 0-1) never crossed midfield, and had just one play go for greater than 10 yards while managing just 93 yards of total offense.

Starting running back Gio Zeman, who missed Week 4 with a sprained foot, dressed but did not play. Junior QB Michael Dopart was 9-for-24 passing for 49 yards, and Josh Gettemy ran for 28 yards on 11 carries.

“We needed to give our defense a break and we needed to give our defense momentum,” McGuire said. “It doesn’t have to be scoring touchdowns, but just proving we can move the ball. Offensively we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. I give our defense credit, they were outstanding. Offensively we have work to do.”

On Yorkville’s second drive of the second half, Plainfield North’s Gerald Floyd picked off a pass, a clip on the return all that negated a pick-six. It did lead to a John St. Clair 30-yard field goal to make it 17-0.

“I’ve been preaching that I was going to get an interception all week, it was time to get mine,” Floyd said. “Our goal every week is to hold teams to zero points. The last couple weeks we gave up big plays. We preached all week don’t give up a big play.”

There was no bigger, or more sensational play, than Schlanser’s one-handed soaring 27-yard TD catch from Ashiru across the middle for the game’s final score.

“No safety over, Demir led me, I just stuck my hand out and pulled it in for the catch,” Schlanser said. “It’s reaction, you practice them at home, one-handed catches.”

St. Clair ran for 66 yards for Plainfield North, which returns home next week to face Oswego – who shared the SPC West title with the Tigers last season.

“We’re excited about the win and getting to the point we are,” Imbordino said. “But we have a lot of stuff to clean up if we’re going to get to where we want to go.”