Johnny Wesolowski, Lockport take care of Plainfield North

LOCKPORT – How did Lockport senior running back Johnny Wesolowski prepare for the season-opening football game?

“I threw up,” he said.

But then Wesolowski showed up. He scored four touchdowns and the Porters needed every single one of them as they outlasted Plainfield North 28-21 on Friday evening in Lockport.

“It was pure nerves,” Wesolowski said of his sickness before the game. “It’s just the last, first game and there’s a lot on the line. I’ve been playing with these guys for the last 10 years.

Wesolowski finished with 23 carries for 188 yards and scored on runs of four, 14, 52, and 17 yards. His final two touchdowns came in the fourth quarter and gave Lockport (1-0) a two-touchdown cushion.

“Not since youth ball with the Homer Stallions,” Wesolowski said when asked if he’d ever scored four TDs in a game. “It was all the offensive line. They made the blocks, we just all worked our butts off and the coaches came up with a great game plan.”

The line consists of seniors Kaden Makhlouf, Michael Pew, and Keiland Vasvery, as well as junior Owen Wilczak, and sophomore Ethan Posey.

“It was good to see,” Lockport senior quarterback Conley Pfeiffer said. “Our offensive line and Johnny won the game. It was a big win. we talked about it before the game and looked at it as a must-win.”

Pfeiffer made his first start at quarterback. He was hot early but only attempted three second-half passes, completing one. He finished 13 of 19 for 93 yards.

The Porters led 14-7 at halftime. But Plainfield North senior quarterback Justus Byrd settled in late in the first half and finished with three touchdown passes. He completed 24 passes in 42 attempts. He had a 59-yard pass to senior Omar Coleman (6 receptions for 99 yards) with 3:54 left in the second quarter to get the Tigers on the board.

His 13-yard pass to senior Amiel Clark, with 7:40 left in the third quarter tied the game at 14-14. Then his final TD toss, a 6-yard TD pass to sophomore Darin Ashiru, with 2:23 to play in the game, drew Plainfield North within 28-21.

The Tigers got the ball back with 1:55 left to play and drove to the Lockport 43. But on fourth-and-10, Byrd was sacked by senior linebacker John Sherrod with 15.9 seconds to play.

“When the game is on the line at the end, big-time players make big-time plays, and I consider myself a big-time player,” Sherrod said. “To win the opener brings us energy. It was great.”

Wesolowski’s two first-half TDs came with 3:44 left in the first quarter and then 10:24 left in the second quarter to go ahead 14-0. His 52-yard scoring gallop to the right side with 8:59 to play put the Porters ahead to stay.

“That was Adam Gieser and Adam Kozak with downfield blocks,” Weslowski said of his wide receivers making key blocks. “That’s how that run became a 52-yard touchdown.

“Plainfield North is a great team and program that was 9-0 two years ago. So this is a big win.”

Junior free safety Colton Benaitis snared an interception with 7:30 to play to set up Wesolowski’s final touchdown, a 17-yard run with 5:52 remaining.

“He’s a football player and we can have him at five different positions,” Lockport coach George Czart said of Benaitis. “But at free safety, he can roam in the middle and he was able to get that interception. Their quarterback (Byrd) was good and made plays.”

So did Wesolowski.

“Coming into the season, I knew Johnny was a special running back,” Czart said. “So I’m happy he got to live up to the hype I had for him. Our line did a great job making the holes and he did a good job running through them.”

Plainfield North coach Anthony Imbordino was impressed too.

“Our guys played hard but Lockport was the better team tonight,” Imbordino said. “It was a good game and it’s good to play a disciplined team like Lockport. Their running back runs hard and he wanted it more than our defense.

“Omar Coleman is very fast. We just need the ball to bounce differently for us.”

It was the fourth meeting between the two schools. Both teams scored fourth-quarter touchdowns in the season opener last fall, but Lockport scored the final one and won 14-8.

They also played each other in the second week of the season in both 2011 and 2012. Each time the home team won and ended up making the playoffs. The Porters blocked a punt in the fourth quarter in 2011, leading to the winning touchdown in a 28-21 victory. In 2012, Plainfield North won 35-2.