Waleed Johnson’s huge night leads Plano past Ottawa

PLANO – Plano senior Waleed Johnson said his thoughts drifted back to last year’s Week 1 game at certain points of Friday night’s Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Conference crossover contest against Ottawa.

Last season, the Pirates clipped the Reapers by a point in the final minutes.

“It sure did, a few times, I just kept thinking of [last year’s] score, 13-12,” Johnson said of last season’s opening game against Ottawa. “... I know I have to give it everything I’ve got for myself and my team. My offensive line was huge tonight, they were special. I thought we started the game strong and finished the game strong. That’s what we needed to do every game.”

With his team down two with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Johnson made a sensational 30-yard TD catch between two Pirates’ defenders off a pass from Armando Martinez (4-of-8, 91 yards). He then put the finishing touches on a 20-carry, 257-yard rushing night with a 5-yard TD rumble in the final minute to help give Plano a 33-20 victory at Reaper Stadium.

“It starts with Waleed and the offensive line, then our defense making a couple stops in the second half,” Plano head coach Rick Ponx said while players rang the victory bell. “I wasn’t thrilled we gave up 20 points tonight, but I am thrilled that all these young men rose to the occasion. They just kept fighting.

“We have a lot to fix, there is no question about that, but it’s stuff that can be fixed and we’ll get back ready to do that Monday.”

Plano grabbed the lead on its second play from scrimmage after Johnson scooted 61 yards around the left end for a 6-0 lead. Ottawa responded and took the lead with a TD on the next possession when senior QB Colby Mortenson (5-of-7, 47 yards) hit Packston Miller on a 16-yard TD pass in the back right of the end zone with kicker Cam Loomis adding the PAT boot.

After recovering an Ottawa fumble, Johnson went around the left end for a score, this time from 39 yards and it was 12-7. Ottawa again bounced back as sophomore Archer Cechowicz capped a seven-play drive with a 5-yard dash around the right end to make it 14-12 at halftime.

The Reapers grabbed an 18-14 lead midway through the third on a 1-yard keeper by Martinez, but again Ottawa responded with a 7-yard TD run by Ryder Miller (20 carries, 156 yards) to end a nine-play, 75-yard drive and give the visitors a 20-18 lead heading to the fourth.

Johnson’s circus catch made it 26-20 and completed a nine-play, 80-yard drive in which the Reapers had to overcome three of their 11 penalties (for 80 yards) in the game.

Plano then forced a Pirates punt with six minutes to go and were able pick up first downs and keep the clock moving until Johnson’s scoring run in which he bounced off tacklers and used a second effort to clear the goal line.

“Not the result we wanted, but a lot of positives that we can build on,” Ottawa head coach Chad Gross said. “Tonight wasn’t a lack of effort; that was there from start to finish and we had a number of kids really respond in certain situations in a great way. We were right there for much of the game, but No. 6 [Johnson] is a difference-maker.

“We didn’t necessarily execute on offense as well as I would have liked, and we have some things to clean up, but overall I really thought we played well.”

Andrew Cox also had 87 yards rushing on 10 carries for Plano, which outgained Ottawa 506-243 in total yards, 415-182 on the ground, and held a 30:10-17:50 advantage in time of possession.

Both squads return to the field at 7 p.m. Friday, with Ottawa hosting Streator at King Field to resume the state’s third-oldest rivalry, while Plano travels to take on former Interstate 8 foe Manteno.

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BOXSCORE

Reaper Stadium, Plano

Plano 33, Ottawa 20

Ottawa (0-1) 7 7 6 0 — 20

Plano (1-0) 6 6 6 15 — 33

Scoring by quarter

First quarter

P – Waleed Johnson 61 run (kick failed), 8:44, 0-6

O — Packston Miller 16 pass from Colby Mortenson (Cam Loomis kick), 6:43, 7-6

Second quarter

P — Waleed Johnson 39 run (kick failed), 11:41, 7-12

O — Archer Cechowicz 5 run (Cam Loomis kick), 3:24, 14-12

Third quarter

P — Armando Martinez 1 run (bad snap), 6:15, 14-18

O — Ryder Miller 7 run (bad snap), 2:08, 20-18

Fourth quarter

P — Waleed Johnson 30 pass from Armando Martinez (Nick Serio pass from Armando Martinez), 8:08, 20-26

P — Waleed Johnson 6 run (Colby Bryd kick), 1:14, 20-33

Team statsistics

Ottawa Plano

Total plays: 35 51

First downs: 12 20

Rushes-Yards: 27-182 44-415

Passing yards: 61 91

Total offense: 243 506

Comp-Att-Int.: 6-8-0 4-7-0

Third downs: 3-of-7 4-of-7

Fourth downs: 0-of-0 0-of-1

Fumbles-Lost: 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards: 2-25 8-80

Punts-Avg.: 3-23.7 0-0.0

Time of possession: 17:50 30:10

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Ottawa: Ryder Miller 20-156 (TD), Archer Cechowicz 3-24 (TD), Hayden Swett 1-3, Keevon Peterson 2-1, Colby Mortenson 1-(minus 2). Plano: Waleed Johnson 20-257 (3 TD), Andrew Cox 10-86, Armando Martinez 6-29 (TD), Bryant Amari 4-22, Caleb Lopez 3-17, Kaiden Schimandle 1-4.

PASSING (C-A-TD-INT-YD) – Ottawa: Colby Mortenson 6-8-1-0-61. Plano: Armando Martinez 4-7-1-0-91.

RECEIVING – Ottawa: Packston Miller 3-33 (TD), Weston Averkamp 1-20, Hayden Swett 1-6, Archer Cechowicz 1-2. Plano: Waleed Johnson 2-70 (TD), Nick Serio 2-21.