Hoosman, Plainfield North football spoil Plainfield Central’s homecoming

PLAINFIELD – Plainfield Central coach John Jackson was concerned about Plainfield North senior running back Quintin Hoosman.

Understandably so.

Hoosman managed 13 yards in his first seven carries of Saturday’s Southwest Prairie matchup. However, playing 21/2 quarters, he finished with 265 yards on 29 carries, including touchdown runs of 75, 7, 32, 3 and 3 yards, as North spoiled Central’s homecoming, 47-15.

“We were worried about him,” Jackson said. “You look at it on film, John [Darlington, North’s offensive coordinator] calls their plays, and it’s shades of his dad [Dan Darlington, the legendary Morris coach, now the offensive coordinator at Bolingbrook].

“The brilliance of what they do is that it is so simple. It works if you have a back with good vision like Hoosman. He was not reading his blocks the first few series the way we had seen him do, then he started doing it. He’s good. We’ve played against some good backs, but sometimes there is not an answer to talent.”

Hoosman said it is a matter of enduring the opposing defense’s initial surge and staying the course.

“Sometimes a defense backs off a little after they make a stop or two,” he said. “We make sure we keep going, every play.”

“Quintin sure did run tough,” North coach Tim Kane said. “He broke tackles, knocked a lot of people down. Central has a good defense.”

North quarterback JD Ekowa ran eight keepers after faking handoffs to Hoosman and totaled 87 more yards and a touchdown. That helped keep the middle open for Hoosman and Chris Dunning, who chipped in a 34-yard scoring run.

“JD did a good job running the edges and we blocked the edges well,” Kane said.

“JD’s keepers helped, and the middle also was open because of our linemen,” Hoosman said. “I read off their blocks and got to take my shots in the middle.”

Hoosman’s first three touchdown runs had North (4-2, 3-1) in a 20-7 halftime lead. The Tigers extended that to 47-7 with four touchdowns in the first 7:50 of the third quarter, and the running clock clicked on.

Sophomore quarterback Marcus Hayes engineered a 75-yard scoring drive on the first possession for Central (0-6, 0-4). He hit Matt Gurke, who caught six passes for 50 yards, with a 2-yard scoring strike.

The Wildcats were at midfield on their next possession, but North defensive end Cody Conway registered one of his three sacks and forced a Hayes fumble that defensive tackle Max Anderson recovered.

Although Hayes netted 92 rushing yards and hit 11 of 25 passes for 126, Central’s offense was not the same the rest of the way. The Wildcats’ other score came on Brian Pfingston’s 30-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“He [Hayes] ran really well,” Anderson said. “We keyed on him all week. We did a good job on him, and Cody’s sacks were really good.”

The second half was marred by a brawl after a kickoff return where players not in the game came onto the field. A Central player was ejected and two unsportsmanlike penalties were called.