The Plainfield East Bengals had their first win of the season at last Friday’s homecoming game against the Plainfield Central Wildcats. In their first conference game of the season, they pushed their record to 1-4.

A large factor to their success is credited to their stout defense, led by seniors Chidu Bekee (safety) and Denym Sykes (linebacker). Defense forced three turnovers against PCHS, including two interceptions and a fumble, and returned for a touchdown enforced by Chidu Bekee.

The PEHS football team placed emphasis on preparing both mentally and physically for the homecoming game.

“The week was kind of hectic,” Sykes said, “I had my headphones on trying to block out all that extra noise.”

“I felt like it was a more important game than most other games,” Bekee said, “because of our record, every game is a must-win game now, so we just got to go into every game now with a chip on our shoulder.”

To kick off the year, the Bengals welcomed a new coach, Coach Harvey Jackson, who stresses the importance of hard work and preparation. 

“There’s a lot of individual training and meetings so that each position is getting trained during the course of practice, and then we normally come together in a group session and then a team session right after that,” said Jackson,  “Normally, it [practice] starts off with watching film. We’ll watch our film first, not just a game film but also a practice film. We’ll see what we can or can’t do physically on our side of the ball. We’ll then watch and see what the defense does. […] The way our offense works is we don’t allow the defense to dictate what we do. We do what we do best, and we force the defense to stop it.” 

Extensive efforts by the players and their coaches led to the 2023 homecoming game, marking the first time the Bengals beat the Wildcats in three years.

When asked what the win meant, Bekee said, “Everything. Because I’ve been playing varsity for three years, and we haven’t won a homecoming game.”

“It means a lot to me man, I really don’t like Central,” said Skyes, “So, like, beating them just felt good.”

After an eventful homecoming game, the Bengals are hopeful for their future. They look to continue their hard work and encourage others to come out and support the team.