With the game on the line Saturday, Ottawa senior running back Wes Weatherford had Plano’s number.
No matter what jersey he was wearing.
After the Ottawa defense made a stop in the closing minutes inside its own 10-yard line to preserve a seven-point lead, Weatherford took seven handoffs and turned them into 52 yards and three first downs. His last carry on a fourth-and-1 at midfield was a breakaway deep enough into Plano territory that it offset an illegal block downfield penalty and still gave the Pirates the win-sealing first down of their 21-14, season-opening victory over the Reapers at King Field.
“It was Week 1. We really needed to set the tone,” the 5-10, 210-pound Weatherford said. “We were 3-6 last year, but we wanted to come out today and show everyone we’re still a problem down here in La Salle County with a good win against a decent team so we could start our season off nice.”
Here’s @OttawaHigh ‘s Wes Weatherford icing the 21-14 win over Plano with a first-down run on 4th-and-1. Weatherford finished with 193 yards (would have been over 200 had a big chunk of this run not been called back by an illegal block penalty). pic.twitter.com/zTs0p5kYw9
— J.T. Pedelty (@jtpedelty) August 23, 2026
Weatherford finished with 26 carries for 193 yards and two of Ottawa’s three touchdowns. He did it wearing his customary No. 21 in the first half and a replacement No. 35 in the second half after his primary jersey was shredded by a would-be tackler.
“[No. 35] was my dad’s number in high school and college, so it was kind of an extra push for that last half,” Weatherford said. “But 21 is my number. Hopefully the next eight weeks – and more – I’ll be able to just wear 21.”
As a team, Ottawa outgained the Reapers 339-182 in yards from scrimmage – all 339 of those yards coming on the ground.
“Wes was an absolute workhorse today,” Ottawa coach Jared Mundt said after his first career varsity coaching victory. “He ran a lot of tough yardage, a lot of yards after contact. That’s Ottawa football. Incredible job by him tonight, and the line up front did their job. …
“There are still things we can improve upon, but we’ll take it, we’ll learn from the film and get better. Bring on the next opponent.”
That Ottawa (1-0) had that much success with its bread-and-butter running game and Plano (0-1) was in the game right to the end was a testament to the Reapers’ fight and ability to cash in on big plays.
After the Pirates drove 80 yards on 13 plays on the game’s opening drive, culminating in a Weatherford 1-yard TD plunge, Plano answered midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run from Cooper Beaty set up by QB Ryder Knapp’s 72-yard keeper.
Ottawa scored again right before halftime – Weatherford breaking through a stacked line on third-and-1, splitting the safeties and then hopping out of an attempted ankle tackle in the end zone for a 14-7 halftime lead.
Plano got even again on its second possession of the second half following a back-and-forth sequence that saw Reapers junior Jeremy Chavez recover a muffed punt deep in Ottawa territory, Ottawa senior Rylee Hogue recover a Plano fumble inside the 5-yard line, then Beaty blew up a Pirates keeper on fourth-and-1 to force a turnover on downs and set up a Braylon Schmidt 4-yard scoring run to tie things 14-14.
“We fumbled, and our defense knew we had to go get a stop,” Beaty said. “That was a big play, put us back in scoring position.”
Ottawa answered with a quick 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive punctuated by a 1-yard Jordan Gomez touchdown run to go ahead 21-14 early in the fourth.
Plano – led on the day by Knapp’s 105 yards rushing and 33 passing, Beaty’s 21 yards on nine carries and 45 yards from scrimmage by Ethan Taxis – had a chance to tie it again, driving from its own 35 down to the Ottawa 5. But a fourth-down pass fell incomplete, allowing Weatherford and the Pirates to run out the clock for the win.
“We’re a young team,” Plano coach Kyle Tutt said, “and this was a great learning moment for us. … We had some opportunities today. We have to make sure we capitalize on those opportunities.
“We’re going to get back in the lab and get those things fixed.”
In addition to Weatherford’s 193 yards, Gomez rushed for 73, Joseph Donahue for 47 and Jacoby Gooden for 21.
Ottawa’s Tucker Johnson recorded three tackles for loss, with Brayden Steicher adding 1½. The Pirates visit Streator (0-1) in Week 2.
Fin Winter had two TFLs for the Reapers, who next Friday host Manteno (1-0).
