‘Resilient’ Minooka shuts down Plainfield North

PLAINFIELD — After suffering its first loss of the season last week to Yorkville, Minooka was eager to bounce back.

The Indians did that and more Friday night in a 23-7 win over Southwest Prairie Conference West rival Plainfield North. Minooka (6-1, 2-1) dominated from the start and controlled the ball all night thanks to a punishing defense, a stout run game and an efficient performance from quarterback Zane Caves.

Caves completed 10-of-14 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns and ran the ball nine times for 33 yards and another score. His 54-yard touchdown pass on a screen to Brady Hairald in the first quarter kicked off the scoring as Hairald spun off a would-be tackler near the line of scrimmage and outran the North defense the rest of the way.

“I am not surprised with how well we played,” Caves said. “We talked all week about this being a week of resilience. We lost last week and needed to bounce back, so we just kind of forgot about last week and came to take care of business this week.

“It is great to be behind our offensive line. They gave me a great pocket all night and opened holes for our running backs. Our defense playing the way it did really helped out too.”

Minooka’s defense – spearheaded by junior linebacker Brady Kozlowski – limited Plainfield North to 82 passing yards and 29 rushing. The Tigers (3-4, 1-2) scored in the third quarter on a 49-yard pass from Justus Byrd to Omar Coleman, nearly half of North’s total yards for the entire game. As North was attempting to rally late, the Indians got interceptions from Kozlowski and Brock Larson to seal the win.

“Our front seven did an outstanding job tonight,” Minooka coach Matt Harding said. “Drew Kooi is in his first year as our defensive coordinator, and he has done a great job with the defense this year.

“Our word of the week this week in practice was ‘resilience’. We kind of got punched in the mouth last week, and we wanted to be resilient and bounce back. Our defense is kind of like a willow tree. It will bend quite a bit, but it won’t break.”

After the TD pass to Hairald, Minooka’s defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense took over at its own 38. The possession went into the second quarter, and Caves capped a 10-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown run with 9:19 to play until halftime. Sean Sample’s kick put them ahead 14-0.

Caves’ touchdown came on third down, making the Indians 5-for-5 on third-down conversions at that point. They converted two more third downs on their next drive, but North’s defense got a stop and forced Minooka’s first punt. The Tigers had to punt themselves, and Minooka took over at the North 28. Again, the North defense stiffened and forced a field-goal attempt, which sailed wide left and the score was 14-0 at halftime.

Minooka received the second-half kickoff and drove to the North 7, but the field-goal snap went over the holder’s head, and North took over at its own 47. A play later, Byrd connected with Coleman, who had gotten behind the Minooka defense, for a 49-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half.

Minooka’s Ty Couch returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards to the North 15 and, on third-and-4, Caves hit his 6-4, 235-pound tight end Jackson Miranda for a 9-yard touchdown.

“It’s really nice to have a big target like Jackson down near the end zone,” Caves said. “He’s like a baby Gronk.”

On the next drive, Minooka stopped North twice on short yardage to force a turnover on downs. After the teams traded punts, a Kozlowski interception was returned to the North 8, and Sample capped the scoring with a 23-yard field goal. Larson’s interception sealed the victory.

“We didn’t have to get out of our game plan, even though we were down early,” North coach Anthony Imbordino said. “We had opportunities, but we couldn’t get off the field on defense. Minooka is a good team. Their running game was on point, and their defense was very stout.

“We basically start our playoffs now with four losses. There’s a possibility that we can get in at 4-5 like we did last year, but we don’t want to count on that.”