Plainfield East topples Oswego East
By Jason Ivanitz For Sun-Times Media September 8, 2012 12:38AM
Updated: October 10, 2012 6:29AM
Every team comes into a game hoping that plays implemented that week pay huge dividends. For Plainfield East, in Week 3 it was a simple quarterback keeper and it might just show up in the playbook next week.
Bengals quarterback Jacob Kotopka ran for scores of 67 and 54 yards using the same play in Plainfield East’s 33-6 win over Oswego East on Friday. Kotopka finished with 134 yards rushing and also threw for a touchdown.
“We put that wrinkle in this week. It was supposed to go to the motion guy but we changed it to a fake. On the second run for a split second I thought ‘no way’ and just took off. I trusted my guys out there,” Kotopka said. “After the first two weeks the guys were kind of down because we knew we were better than how we played. I think it showed tonight.”
On a night with a strong wind, Plainfield East (1-2, 1-0 SPC) dominated the line and rushing attack. The Bengals finished with 282 rushing yards and finally got on the board with nine seconds remaining in the opening quarter thanks to an 11-yard touchdown run by Brennan Rompa. A couple of minutes later, Kotopka scored from 67 yards away, which was more than enough. The win was the first of the season for Plainfield East after losses to Batavia and Metea.
“Our nonconference schedule was really tough and going into tonight it really paid off for us,” Plainfield East coach Mike Romeli said. “We had confidence coming into tonight. We just didn’t know how to win. That changed tonight.”
Oswego East (2-1, 0-1 SPC) continued its conference struggles. It is just 1-14 in conference games dating back to 2010.
Oswego East avoided a second straight shutout by the Bengals when Sean Kennedy hooked up with Chase Skenandore for a 72-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
“They (Plainfield East) played faster than us tonight. I think we started thinking that we arrived after our first two games. We aren’t there yet, Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “We made many mistakes and now we have to go back and correct them.”
