Forty consecutive games. A week shy of five years to the day. That’s how long Joliet Central went without winning a football game, and that was only the second longest losing steak in program history. When the Steelmen finally snapped that streak against Plainfield Central on Friday night 37-17, it made sense that there were so many tears of joy on the sideline.

Including from coach Tom Hart, who was celebrating the first victory of his head coaching career.

“Our defense stepped up huge,” Hart said. “Our offense has been hammered with injuries week after week so a lot of kids had to step up in areas where they hadn’t before. [Paul] Slick’s been bouncing back like a pingpong ball from quarterback to linebacker to both with a broken pinky. [Running back Christian] Smith and our line have been beat up. We finally put that aside and went to play our game.”

The Steelmen will try to win consecutive games for the first time since 2018 this week against 2-5 Romeoville, which is coming off a 50-0 loss to Joliet West. While Joliet Central has been eliminated from the playoffs, consecutive wins would be a monumental building block for the future.

Although just by winning Friday, the future is already being built.

“We had a lot of our young kids out here tonight and they got to see history being made” Hart said. “[It was] my first win and our first win in a long time. Hopefully, we can just keep that spark and keep on building into a playoff team.”

PLAINFIELD CENTRAL SEEKING FIRST WIN

The Wildcats were on the losing end of history Friday night and at 0-7, they’re running out of chances to etch that first win of the season. They have 5-2 Plainfield South up next and 3-4 Joliet West to close out the season. The path will be difficult, but the opportunity is there.

OFFENSIVE BALANCE A KEY FOR MINOOKA

Minooka entered Friday night’s game against Southwest Prairie West rival Plainfield North with a 5-1 record and on the brink of clinching a playoff spot. However, the Indians were coming off of their first loss of the season, a 21-7 defeat against league foe Yorkville. The Indians stressed being resilient all week during practice and it paid off to the tune of a 23-7 win.

While the defense was spectacular, holding North to 111 total yards – 49 of those on one play – it was the ball-control offense that kept the ball away from Plainfield North. The running game kept the chains moving for the most part. When it didn’t, quarterback Zane Caves was ruthlessly efficient. Minooka went 8 of 15 on third-down conversions, scoring all three of its touchdowns on third down, and were 1 of 1 on fourth down.

Caves was 9 of 13 for 140 yards and two touchdowns, completing passes to six different receivers. Chase Nurzcyk ran 17 times for 52 yards, while Paris Spears gained 53 yards on 16 carries, and Caves carried nine times for 33 yards and a score.

“Offensively, [first-year coordinator] Kevin Cain is very good about letting the game play out and making adjustments where we need to,” Minooka coach Matt Harding said. “He knows that we have to be true to ourselves, and that means taking care of the ball and wearing teams down. I don’t know what our time of possession was tonight [Friday], but I would be surprised if we didn’t end up with close to 36 of the 48 minutes. It seemed like we had the ball the entire second half.”

WILMINGTON’S DYNAMIC DUO

While it was 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior running back Ryan Kettman who scored all three of Wilmington’s touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 21-14 Illinois Central Eight Conference home win over Coal City on Friday, fellow Wilmington RB Kyle Farrell – a 5-10, 187-pound senior – has just as large an impact for the Wildcats’ running game.

Farrell carried the ball 27 times for 127 yards to Kettman’s 20 carries for 135. Between them, Kettman and Farrell rushing attempts accounted for 47 of Wilmington’s 50 offensive plays out of the wing-T. Outside of those, there was one other ballcarrier, one 20-yard passing completion and a kneel-down to end the game.

”I did not,” Kettman said when asked if he expected to score three TDs. “No, I expected just to get yards, do our job. It was a great team win.”

Wilmington coach Jeff Reents said offensive coordinator Barry Southall, with input from the spotters up high, determine which of the two dynamic running backs have the best chance on any given play or drive. As for which one gets the handoff, Reents is happy either way.

”Kyle’s a third-year starter, and Kettman started for us last year as a sophomore.” Reents said. “Kyle’s probably a little more powerful, and Kettman’s probably a little more slashy. But why do we have that? Because our offensive line and our fullback and everybody’s doing their job.”

MORRIS SOPHOMORE STEPS UP

Morris quarterback Brady Varner was injured in last week’s 37-15 loss to Rochelle and had to sit out Friday night’s homecoming game against Ottawa as well.

The Morris (5-2) offense continued to be prolific in his absence, as sophomore RJ Kennedy stepped in to Varner’s spot and led Morris to its third 50-point outburst in the last four weeks (59-0). Kennedy completed 7 of 8 passes for 136 yards and four touchdowns and added a 13-yard rushing touchdown on his only carry of the game.

DISTRICT DOMINATION

To say that Lincoln-Way District 210 had a good week on the gridiron would just scratch the surface. The three Lincoln-Way teams – Central, East and West – combined to outscore opponents 160-14 and bring the district’s combined record to 15-6.

WEEK 7 SCORES

Dwight 29, St. Bede 27

Joliet Central 37, Plainfield Central 17

Joliet West 50, Romeoville 0

Lincoln-Way Central 49, Stagg 0

Lincoln-Way East 47, Lemont 14

Lincoln-Way West 64, Champaign Centennial 0

Loyola Academy 42, Providence Catholic 6

Manteno 27, Reed-Custer 19

Minooka 23, Plainfield North 7

Morris 59, Ottawa 0

Mt. Carmel 35, Joliet Catholic Academy 14

Oswego East 21, Bolingbrook 9

Peotone 52, Streator 14

Plainfield South 28, Plainfield East 0

Richards 21, Lemont 10

Seneca 1, Walther Christian 0 (forfeit)

Wilmington 21, Coal City 14