De'ja vu' all over again

De' ja vu - Psychological feeling that a present-day event has been experienced in the past.

"De' ja vu' all over again" - The late, great Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher and philosopher

Lawrence "Yogi" Berra (1925-2015)

Back on Saturday, September 28, 2019, Plainfield North, then junior quarterback Adam Smith and his Tigers lost a 14-13 heart-breaker at the hands of the Oswego Panthers.

The Southwest Prairie West showdown between the 4-0 Tigers and the 4-0 Panthers was originally scheduled for the night before on Friday, September 27. Mother Nature had other plans, however, unleashing a horrendous electrical storm on Kendall County and the game was postponed and rescheduled for one day later.

Rallying from a 14-0 deficit to Oswego with five minutes remaining, Plainfield North had pulled to within 14-13 with 36 seconds to go, on a 20-yard scoring strike from then-junior Tiger quarterback Smith, to senior wide receiver Jaylon Tilman.

After a timeout, the Tigers game-winning two-point conversion, a halfback-option pass to track star Marcellus Moore, was thwarted by four Oswego defenders in the end zone.

Fast forward to March 26, 2021.

In Friday night's Southwest Prairie West showdown between Oswego and Plainfield North, the strange psychological feelings were in the air.

With Oswego leading 14-7 in the third quarter things began to get weird.

Led by their 5-foot-6, 149-pound dynamic halfback Jared Gumila (25 carries,156 yards) the Tigers had taken over the game.

With 2:18 in the third quarter, Kanon Woodill nailed a 35-yard field goal, that would have been good from 50, to pull the Tigers within 14-10.

After Tiger senior Josh Hlavacek recovered a Panther fumble at the Oswego 15, they got even weirder.

On the third and goal from the three, Smith, now a senior, (5-for-19, 41 yards, TD, 2 INT) rolled out and fired an incomplete pass into the end zone.

On fourth and goal from the three, senior Danny Nuccio (three carries, 16 yards.) dropped a hand-off, picked it up and drove toward the goal line pylon.

It appeared that Nuccio, broke the plane of the goal at the pylon before his body touched the ground for the possible game-winning touchdown.

The linesman had a different opinion and called Nuccio down at the one yard line.

Oswego ball.

"De' ja' vu all over again."

The Panthers then drove 99 yards and took seven minutes off the clock to put the game away on a six-yard touchdown run by junior Mark Melton. The Panthers two-point conversion was thwarted by the Tigers defense.

The Tigers had a pair of possessions in the last four minutes but Smith was sacked four times by the Panther defense.

"They say that when you take over the ball inside your five-yard line you have just a five percent chance of scoring,"Plainfield North coach Anthony Imbordino said. "That's a credit to Brian Cooney's (Oswego head coach) teams over the years. We are getting better but we are not quite their yet. We will get there. Jared (Gumila) was fine."

After a three and out for Oswewgo (2-0), 1-0) on their opening drive in the first quarter, the Tigers went to work.

Smith's 17-yard scoring strike to junior wide receiver Dylan Rasmason (2 catches, 17 yards) capped off an eight-play, 68-yard Tigers scoring drive. On the drive, Gumila ran for 51 of the 68 yards. Woodill's PAT made it 7-0 Tigers,with 6:27 in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Woodill recovered his own onside kick at the 50 yard-line but the Tigers couldn't take advantage of the opportunity.

Oswego pulled ahead on a pair of senior Jake Sergen touchdowns (eight carries, 44 yards), from one and 23 yards out for a 14-7 Panther lead at halftime.

In the third quarter an interception of Oswego senior quarterback, Cole Pradel (11-18, 189 yards INT) by Tigers junior Dominic Muscarnero ignited the Tigers who took over the game.

"We played really well tonight and really took it to Oswego in the second half," Gumila said. "We have to clean up a couple of mental mistakes but we can still be a great team this season."

Up next for the Tigers is a trip to Minooka to play the undefeated Indians (2-0, 1-0) on Friday.