Barrington jolts Plainfield South
The Barrington football team was ready from the start Saturday, jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and going on to defeat Plainfield South 41-12 in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs.
The defense forced 3 turnovers and held Plainfield South to 17 yards rushing, while Johnny Davidson led the offense with 4 passing touchdowns.
But even with all the success on Saturday, the Broncos are focused on keeping the season going. In the second round of the playoffs, Barrington will visit Marist, which defeated Notre Dame 17-14.
"We have a 24-hour rule," Barrington senior defensive lineman Cooper Van Kampen said. "That means we are allowed to enjoy the victory or deal with the loss for 24 hours - and as soon as that is over you have to move on to the next one. I am just excited for another week of practice and play."
Van Kampen helped spark the Broncos early with a sack and forced fumble in the first quarter. Grant Elliott recovered, setting up the first of two Damian Dembicki field goals.
The defense was solid throughout the first half, holding South Plainfield to 66 yards of total offense, 52 of which came on one play, and 1 first down.
"The defense played unreal today," Davidson said. "Not only were the turnovers great, but they got us great field position. We were able to capitalize on two of them. One of them we should have scored (a touchdown), but we ended up kicking a field goal so props to Damian for getting that. The defense was huge today at making stops and a lot of three-and-outs."
Jackson Perkins added 2 sacks, while Blake Holley recovered a fumble and Alec Andrea had an interception.
The defense set up all of Barrington's first-quarter scores. After turnovers on two of its first three drives, Plainfield South fumbled a snap on a punt attempt. The Cougars recovered, however, gave up the ball on their own 11-yard line.
On the other side of the ball, Davidson was consistently moving the chains through the air despite the wet conditions.
"We've got to be able to play in any weather," Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. "When we decided to make the shift to this offense several years ago, you know, knowing the state you live in, knowing if you are going to play in November, you got to do be able to do things you need to do to be successful in this kind of weather whether it is wet, cold, snowing, whatever."
Davidson completed 19 of 26 passes for 191 yards, finding Jake Zyzda, Logan Moews and Josh Babicz for touchdowns. Zyzda had 2 touchdowns, both for 13 yards, and finished with 6 catches for 63 yards.
"I trust my receivers," Davidson said. "I know if I put the ball up they are going to come down with it."
Barrington had one misstep in the first half. As the second quarter was nearing an end, Plainfield South's Jackson Howarth found Austin Deal for a 52-yard touchdown, which also marked the Cougars' first first down of the game.
Barrington padded its lead with 2 touchdowns in the second half, while the defense only gave up 1 touchdown, a 1-yard run by Howarth at the end of the fourth quarter.
Sanchez said Saturday's success started in practice.
"I was really proud of our kids," Sanchez said. "We had a great week of practice. You look back at what we did every day in terms of our preparation, and it paid off. We earned the right to do it again and we are really excited to do it again."