Jeremiah Jenkins’ 3 TDs help Plainfield East run past Joliet Central

PLAINFIELD — In the early going of Friday night’s game against Joliet Central, Plainfield East running back Jeremiah Jenkins ran around the right end and scooted 59 yards for a touchdown.

Running Jenkins around the right edge became a staple for the Bengals all night as they gained 299 yards on the ground, including 151 and three touchdowns from Jenkins, in a 34-10 Southwest Prairie East win over the Steelmen. After starting the season 0-4, Plainfield East has now won two straight and is tied for first in the SPC East at 2-0.

“This is a great win for us,” said Jenkins, who amassed his 151 yards on just 13 carries. “Our offensive line has stepped it up and so has our defense. Ever since we played Bolingbrook, the defense has taken care of things and gotten stops to give us a shorter field on offense.

“On the sweeps to the right, I just told my blocking back that I was going to cut off his blocks. That’s what I did, and the rest of the O-line got a real good push. I got some good looks at big holes and executed. With two wins in a row, we are feeling pretty confident and now we try to go on and win another one.”

It didn’t start out quite as well for the Bengals, however.

On the first drive of the game, Joliet Central’s Jonas Gregory intercepted a Plainfield East pass and returned it from his own 35 to the Bengals’ 27. Central quarterback Christian Smith, normally a receiver but forced into action behind center due to an injury, then ran seven times on the eight-play drive, finally scoring from a yard out. Gregory’s extra point kick put the Steelmen (0-6, 0-2) ahead 7-0.

East (2-4, 2-0) countered with Jenkins’ 59-yard burst around the right end to tie it at 7 with 3:09 left in the first.

Central then switched to Paul Slick at quarterback, and he hit Dimarius Matthews for a 35-yard gain on 3rd and 11 for a first down and connected with Smith for a 19-yard pass on 4th and 3. That set up a 35-yard field goal by Gregory to put the Steelmen ahead 10-7 with 9:49 to play in the half.

Joliet Central forced a Plainfield East punt, which went into the end zone. On 4th and 3, the Steelmen did not punt and Smith was stopped just short of a first down, giving East the ball at the 29. On the final play of the first half, Jenkins swept around the right end and scored from six yards out to make it 13-10 at the break.

“Our kids leave it all on the field,” Central coach Thomas Hart said. “This was as close to a full four quarters of good football as we have played. We were down a few guys due to injury, and both our quarterbacks tonight [Smith and Slick] play full-time on defense, so we had to rotate them in and out to get them at least a little bit of rest. Neither one of them came off the field much.

“We don’t have a lot of kids on our team, but they are tough. We aren’t looking at scores. We are looking at if we are getting better every day, and these kids are. The offensive line gets in there and just pounds and pounds. We’re getting closer to playing a full four quarters of good football.”

Smith finished with 88 rushing yards on 24 carries, while Slick threw for 84 yards.

In the second half, East forced a Central punt on the first drive and scored on a 13-yard run by Jenkins. The Bengals got the ball back with an interception by Ajonte Greer. The teams then traded punts and East got the ball at the Central 34. A play later, Harris (14 carries, 135 yards) broke loose for a 30-yard touchdown run. The Bengals capped the scoring on a five-yard TD pass from Hugh Callaghan to Jayden Cawthon.

“It has been a little while since we have had two runners go over 100 yards,” East coach Harvey Jackson said. “Jeremiah Jenkins is usually a wide receiver, but our starting quarterback has been hurt and we wanted to get Jeremiah the ball. We just decided to hand it to him and the offensive line did a great job.

“We have won two in a row at the right time. The goal is to get to five, so we’ll see if we can do that.”