Plainfield football mourns the death of teammate

Griswold had the football on the Plainfield 9-yard line, firstand-goal, with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter this past Thanksgiving. Plainfield had a 14-6 lead on the scoreboard, but good things almost never happen in this annual series.

A collective fear filled Plainfield fans. After the touchdown, exactly how would Griswold score the two-point conversion to force overtime?

Griswold was hit with a penalty, one sack, two sacks, three sacks and an unsportsmanlike penalty and, suddenly, the Wolverines were looking at fourthand-goal from the 50. Logic would say the game was over. History would say otherwise.

In 2008, the ball on the Plainfield 43 in the final seconds — Griswold down 29-28 — Sean Brackett dropped back and unleashed a 60-yard Hail Mary pass that someway, somehow deflected into the hands of Griswold’s Drew Gardner in the end zone.

This is how Thanksgiving has been ruined in our town for nearly two decades. This is how a rival beats another 16 of 17 times.

But not Thanksgiving 2021. Luke Cassidy’s Hail Mary landed in the hands of Plainfield linebacker Andrew Vincent with 61 seconds left. Two kneel-downs from the victory formation later, here was Vincent sneaking up behind coach Pat Smith to give him a Gatorade shower.

“Two things about Andrew,” Smith said Monday. “The first thing was his big, big smile. He was always happy. People gravitated toward him because of his personality.”

“He would walk in and his smile would light up a room,” said Bryce Carchidi, one of Vincent’s closest friends. “He was the nicest kid. Super happy-golucky.”

“The other thing was his toughness,” Smith said. “He had knee injuries throughout his career and even this senior year he blew out his ACL again. He was still a great teammate, and he got medical clearance to play on Thanksgiving. Not only did he play, he sealed the victory.”

Andrew Vincent talked football, he lifted for football, he loved football. It was a fitting reward that his interception — the last play of his career — would complete a precious Thanksgiving