Plainfield North’s Dominic Fasano looking to make his name known

Picture this: You’re a local sports reporter. You jump on X, formerly known as Twitter, and see that you have a multitude of notifications.

Someone has tagged you to let you know that they’ve been invited to another football camp, are speaking with another college, or have received another scholarship offer. They’re very excited to be on the path to playing college football.

Naturally, you share the news, wanting to help promote local talent and help them out. You’re also impressed. This particular kid remembers to tag you and every other local media member in the post. He’s not just looking for the spotlight, though, he’ll direct message you now and then just to say thank you for the coverage. He’s just trying to get his name out there to live out a dream.

In this picture, you’re Dominic Fasano, a soon to be senior at Plainfield North. In the not too distant future, you, er, he will be on a collegiate roster as an offensive linemen.

“My main goal is to play D1 football,” Fasano said. “I started playing football my freshman year and I had no clue I wanted to play college football. But as time has gone on I’ve seen some of my older teammates go on and play D1 and it just looks great. That’s what I want and my number one overall goal is to play at that level.”

Fasano is a 6-foot-3, 300-pound interior lineman who has spent most of his time at offensive guard with some experience at center. He’s remained focused on building up his talent throughout his time in high school. A powerful presence who took on a starting role last season, he’s always looking to improve his game, but is confident in where he’s at.

“I’m a great leader,” Fasano said. “Leading is what I do. I’m a physical run blocker, I know how to use my hands and block well in pass protection. I’m an overall good leader and my goal is to be a team captain which I really hope to do.”

That may very well happen the way his head coach is talking.

“He put a lot of work in during the offseason in the weight room,” Plainfield North coach Anthony Imbordino said. “We know how seriously he’s taking his senior year and we’re looking forward to what he’s going to do...He’s a really good teammate and always is positive with the O-linemen and the younger guys.”

It’s that leadership and work ethic that have helped Fasano earn the attention of some big-time programs. He’s received interest from more than eight Division 1 universities, including one FBS program in Appalachian State. Other schools he’s spoken with include North Dakota, Indiana State, Butler, Valparaiso, Drake, Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois. And that’s just the D1 programs.

He says he doesn’t have a preference, though. He’d be happy playing anywhere as long as it’s college football.

“D1 is where I’m looking,” Fasano said. “I don’t care where it is. If it happens it happens and it’ll be amazing when it does...It would mean the world to me. The two things I love the most in the world are my loved ones and football. I’ve worked so hard and told everyone that I can do it so it would definitely mean a lot to me.”

Of course, no one is perfect and there’s always room for improvement. Fasano has talked about the work he puts in with his trainers to get even stronger and in even better shape. Imbordino thinks most of his improvement will come the more playing time he gets.

“He just needs to get more experience at the varsity level,” Imbordino said. “Once he gets more experience on Friday nights he’ll be able to learn from some early mistakes he’ll have. That will pay dividends for him later in the season and in the playoffs.”

While the college football dream will come (Imbordino said anyone who wants to play college for the Tigers can), the immediate future is all about this fall. The Tigers went 4-6 last season, sneaking into the Class 8A playoffs as the 32nd seed before a first-round loss.

College will come in time, but for now, Fasano is committed to improving on those numbers in his final year of high school ball.

“We’ve got to get past the first round,” Fasano said. “Everyone wants to win state and that would be awesome to pull that off. I want to go undefeated, but I for sure want to finish with a winning record because going 4-5 before losing in the first round wasn’t the best. If we can get a good seed in the playoffs that would be great.”