Central’s varsity football team defeated Plainfield North 6-3 in the Redhawks’ home opener on Sept. 1, advancing to 2-0 on the season.
Plainfield North’s lone points came on a field goal 4 minutes into the game- Central held their opponents scoreless for the next 44 minutes.
“We stepped up today,” outside linebacker Aaron Nussbaum, a junior, said. “Our D-line made some huge plays and sacks. We were the better team.”
Central’s defensive effort was highlighted by a red-zone stop early in the fourth quarter. Plainfield North committed two penalties inside the 20 yard line before a 14 yard third down sack by defensive lineman Troy Kashul, a junior.
“In any football, but especially high school football, that momentum shifts so fast,” Head Coach Mike Ulreich said. “They get inside the five and it’s looking ugly. And then we flip it and we’re able to take [the] game.”
After a incomplete pass on fourth down by Plainfield North’s quarterback, senior Nicholas Darwish, the Redhawks regained possession of the ball.
After struggling to run the ball for most of the game, Central broke off an 8 yard run to start the drive, followed by a big gain on a jet sweep to wide receiver Christopher Bern, a senior.
“[Plainfield North] just did a really good job of closing down and taking away some of our inside runs and so felt like we could get to the perimeter, we could get some guys blocked,” Ulreich said.
The Redhawks picked up more yardage on a pass interference penalty before the drive stalled out with 7:48 minutes to go. Kicker Logan Ellison, a senior, hit his second field goal of the game to put the Redhawks up 6-3.
Instead, it was the defense that sealed the game: outside linebacker Christian Kuta, a senior, and defensive linemen Jason Figg, a junior, each sacked Plainfield North’s quarterback on the next drive, helping to force a three-and-out with 5:06 left on the clock.
After a three minute long Redhawks drive, the defense came up big again, forcing an incompletion on fourth down to end the game.
“They [on offense] know we have their backs,” Aaron Nussbaum said.
Central’s defense finished the game with four sacks.
“We got a championship quality defense,” Assistant coach Rick Magsamen told the team. “You will be a championship team with a defense like this.”
