Malik Jassim’s 3 TDs propel Plainfield North past Plainfield South to first win

PLAINFIELD – Entering Friday night’s game, Plainfield North was 0-2 and no doubt felt a sense of urgency, especially taking on 2-0 district rival Plainfield South.

North coach Anthony Imbordino channeled his inner Sean Payton and had his team onside kick on the game’s opening kickoff, which they recovered.

The Tigers then drove 43 yards on seven plays, capped by a 9-yard touchdown run by Malik Jassim, the first of three TDs on the night for the junior running back. He finished with 83 yards on 22 carries and helped propel his team to a 31-12 victory.

“It feels good to get that ‘0′ out of the win column,” Jassim said. “The offensive line did a great job tonight, especially when we were close to the end zone. That’s when it’s about who wants it more, and our guys seemed to just smell the end zone and I followed them.

“We had a pretty tough schedule the first two weeks [losses to Lockport and York], but we learned from them and fixed a lot of our mistakes tonight.”

The Tiger defense held South (2-1) to a three-and-out on its first possession and took over at their own 37. A nine-play drive, highlighted by 18-yard passes from Justus Byrd to Darin Ashiru and Omar Coleman led the march. Byrd capped it with a one-yard TD plunge, the first of two on the night for him. The kick sailed wide, though, and North took a 13-0 lead with 1:41 to play in the first quarter.

South’s offense was limited to another 3-and-out, and this time North’s Keith Cuyracus blocked the punt, which was recovered at the Cougars’ 6-yard line by Traycen Bownes. On North’s first play, Jassim scored from six yards out. A conversion pass failed, but North owned a 19-0 lead.

Neither team scored in the second quarter and the Tigers took a 19-0 lead into halftime.

North received the second-half kickoff and was forced to punt. Coleman’s kick was downed at the Plainfield South 2-yard line. The Tigers forced a punt, and the pressure from their rush caused a bad kick, allowing the Tigers to take over at the Cougar 18. On the sixth play of the drive, Byrd scored from two yards out for a 25-0 lead.

South, though, did not concede defeat.

It took all of two plays for the Cougars to score on their next drive. Quarterback Cody Hogan hit Brook Williams for a 24-yard gain, then connected with Chase Pierceall for a 32-yard touchdown. The conversion pass failed and the score was 25-6.

North threatened to put the game away on its next drive, moving to the South 10 before Cougar linebacker Mikey Ingram intercepted a pass at the 5 and returned it to the 38. The North defense stiffened and forced another punt, giving the offense the ball at the Cougars’ 31. Jassim put the cap on the win with an eight-yard TD run with 8:02 remaining for a 31-6 lead.

“It definitely feels good to get that first win,” Imbordino said. “Especially when it came against a good Plainfield South team that was 2-0 coming in. There’s always a lot of emotion in a game against another Plainfield school.

“We had some penalties that hurt us, and we threw the interception in the red zone, so there are some things to clean up, but we played well. The defense was outstanding. Keith Cyracus has been close to blocking some punts the last two weeks and it was nice to see him get one tonight.”

Plainfield South scored on the game’s final play. Hogan scrambled from the 8-yard line and fumbled into the end zone, where it was picked up by Artie Gamino for a touchdown.

“Our kids never gave up,” South coach Jake Brosman said. “We had a nice drive to score early in the second half, and we kept fighting to the final play and scored on that. We have let people know that our team is always going to keep fighting. Getting that touchdown on the last play will help them feel a little better at practice Monday.”