PLAINFIELD — They say that history repeats itself and that there’s no place like home, so for the host Quakers the former could been a bad omen and the latter high school football’s version of a dream come true.
Thanks to two game changing touchdowns from Johnny Jay and the fearless play on both sides of the football from Elliot Hughes, it was the latter that came to fruition as Plainfield stunned visiting Roncalli 21-14 to advance to next week’s sectional final against Cathedral.
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The win avenged a 31-7 regular season loss at the hands of Roncalli back in late September and kept the Quakers’ home winning streak against the Rebels intact for at least another season. But the victory was by no means an easy one. A roughing the punter call and a fumble deep in their own territory forced the Quakers into an early corner after Brandon Petree froze the Quaker defense on an 11-yard touchdown run to give Roncalli a 7-0 lead.
But the Rebels encountered miscues of their own as two holding penalties stalled Roncalli drives and Plainfield held tough as Eliott Hughes burst over the right side of the line of scrimmage on a 61-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7-7 with 5:27 remaining in the first half.
Then came the momentum shift. Plainfield ignited Quaker fans, taking its first possession 71 yards in six plays to claim the first lead of the night for the home team. Johnny Jay took the quarterback keeper 30 yards for the touchdown.
The Rebels did themselves no favors as Plainfield’s Garrett Goodbar recovered a Luke Scifres fumble giving the Quakers the football at the Roncalli 35-yard-line.
After netting negative yardage on the first two plays, Jay struck again, this time through the air to Jordan Massey on a 36-yard touchdown pass to push the margin to two touchdowns.
A botched punt attempt gave Roncalli one more shot to regain momentum and the Rebels capitalized on a 4-yard Tyler Mohr touchdown run to cut the Quaker lead to seven. But the Plainfield defense held strong in the fourth quarter as James Hurst stuffed Roncalli fullback Sam Otley on fourth down and two late in the fourth quarter.
“It was the biggest win I’ve ever been a part of,” Jay said. “We felt like the turnovers made the last game look more lopsided than it really was and we knew we could play with them and it just came together for us tonight. It was awesome.”
Quaker coach Brian Woodard was proud of his team’s effort.
“This program has been built on one phrase for a long time,” he told his squad. “If enough people care, then anything is possible.”
The win moves Plainfield to 8-3 on the season heading into the next week’s final against Cathedral while Roncalli finished the season at 7-4.
“The only thing I ask any Friday night is to compete,” Woodard said. “People talk about playing perfect football and there’s no such thing. The truth is that all sports are about momentum and you saw it tonight for us and Roncalli at different times.”
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