Jeremiah Cain, Oswego get the message, rally past Plainfield North in second half to move to 5-0

OSWEGO – Jeremiah Cain said Oswego’s halftime message Friday was much less about X’s and O’s and much more an attitude reset.

“Coaches said, ‘This isn’t you. This isn’t the team we know,’” Cain said. “The team we know was not playing the first half of football. We got back in the second half to what we needed to be.”

Message sent. Message indeed received.

Oswego, trailing by a touchdown at halftime, scored the game’s next 21 points. Cain had a forced fumble and a go-ahead touchdown catch in a three-play stretch in the fourth quarter, and the Panthers went on to a 21-13 win over visiting Plainfield North in the Southwest Prairie Conference West Division opener.

Oswego (5-0, 1-0 SPC West) is 5-0 for the first time since 2019, but to no surprise it was a grind against Plainfield North (2-3, 0-1). This was the teams’ fourth meeting since 2019 decided by one score, and the Tigers led 7-0 at halftime on Justus Byrd’s 8-yard TD pass to Omar Coleman in the final minute of the second quarter.

“Every game you learn something and we learned you can’t play two quarters and that’s exactly what we did. We came out complacent,” Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. “Every year with Plainfield North, I don’t care what it is, you can’t play like that. They’re too well coached, their kids are too fast and physical, and you can’t play from behind. Proud of our kids that they responded.”

The game swung for good about a minute midway through the fourth quarter, the teams tied 7-7.

Two plays after Plainfield North stuffed Oswego’s Carson Cooney on a fourth-and-short, Cain came on a corner blitz and sacked Byrd, and Jordan Sweiss recovered for Oswego at the Plainfield North 13. Two plays later, Oswego quarterback Brett Connolly (12 for 19, 135 yards) connected with Cain on a 13-yard TD pass on a quick slant and a 13-7 lead with 6:49 left.

Cain, a senior receiver/defensive back and Northern Iowa recruit, had five catches for the game, four in the second half. But his defensive play was what most excited him.

“My eyes lit up when he called my number,” Cain said. “He called corner blitz, I saw the quarterback turn, I said this is my chance to make a play.”

The plays kept coming for Oswego’s defense. On the third play of Plainfield North’s next possession, Oswego’s Donovan Williams picked off a tipped pass and returned it 34 yards for a TD to make it 21-7 with the Panthers’ second score in 20 seconds.

“That was a huge swing,” coach Cooney said.

Oswego wasted little time in the second half tying things up. Held to 115 total yards in the first half, hurt by five penalties, the Panthers took the first possession of the third quarter 64 yards in nine plays.

Carson Cooney, an Iowa recruit and senior linebacker, took in a 9-yard TD run out of a wildcat formation.

“That was definitely weird, first time I’ve had the ball in my hands in I can’t remember how long,” Cooney said. “It was a great experience for sure.”

Oswego’s defense took it from there. Plainfield North managed zero yards of offense and one first down over its four possessions of the second half, with the two turnovers.

“First half, we came out slow, we got yelled at, we locked in,” Carson Cooney said. “Everybody grabbed each other. We knew we could do better.”

Byrd completed 20 of 29 passes for 209 yards and two TDs, including an 81-yarder to Amiel Clark with 2:27 left in the game. Clark had five catches for 134 yards.

Ayden Villa had 96 yards on 19 carries for Oswego.

“We knew their run defense is really good so we wanted to see what they could do against the pass,” Plainfield North coach Anthony Imbordino said. “We started getting back on track using our speed. Offensively we had some good things happen. We’ll continue to get better. They’re a good football team.”