Plainfield Central grinds out victory over Plainfield East

PLAINFIELD – Locked in a defensive battle with Plainfield East on Saturday, Plainfield Central head coach Robert Keane and the Wildcats decided to go back to basics in the second half.

Leaning on its running game, Plainfield Central went full on smash-mouth football after the break, handing the ball time and time again to Aaron Larkins who fueled two scoring drives as the Wildcats claimed a 17-6 victory.

The win was Plainfield Central’s fifth of the season and made them playoff eligible.

The only score of the first half was a 36-yard field goal from Brendan Prah as neither team could engineer much offensively, but Plainfield Central’s game plan for seizing control wasn’t too hard to figure out.

“When things don’t go exactly to plan, sometimes we start to second guess ourselves a little bit,” Keane said. “We told the kids that’s there’s not a group that we’ve ever had more confidence in. We are going to continue to click, and Aaron comes out and grinds and our O-line put up yardage for him. The run game was there for us, and that’s tough to run the ball 24 minutes straight when people know you are doing it.”

After forcing a Plainfield East punt, the Wildcats (5-1) ran the ball 16 consecutive times, including 11 carries from Larkins on the drive which culminated on a 1-yard plunge from Ethan Obeng that finally gave Plainfield Central some breathing room.

The plan worked in the third quarter for Plainfield Central, so it didn’t deviate much from it. Larkins, who finished with a whopping 258 yards on 44 carries, got the ball eight consecutive times to allow Plainfield Central to score on a 3-yard touchdown run from Larkins with just less than two minutes to play.

“I did what the team needed me to,” Larkins said. “We really just needed to lock on and do what we were taught. When we did that plays started developing. It was a collective effort, all 11. Everyone was doing their job and we all were in sync.”

Plainfield Central was aiming for its second consecutive shutout and third of the season and was only denied that on the final play of the game as the Bengals got a 10-yard touchdown from Brandon Parades to David Afemikhe. Still, it was hard to be too disappointed when the unit forced five turnovers, including two interceptions from CJ Jones and another from Ethan Anderson at the goal line, while also limiting the Bengals (2-4) to very few big offensive gains.

“We talk all the time about how the best defenses are the ones that just focus in on your job,” Keane said. “And you have to make them plays on you.”

With three games remaining, Plainfield Central seems almost certain to sew up the school’s first playoff berth since 2012. One more win would also insure the school a winning season, something that also hasn’t happened since 2012. But Keane is confident his team is capable of focusing on not settling on the fact that the Wildcats have clearly broken through.

“We’re proud of what the kids have accomplished thus far. The fact that we’ve got five and have the potential to come away with a winning season is a very special feeling,” Keane said. “And we hope that they’ll be able to continue to put that focus and energy in as we head down the stretch.”