Joliet West got touchdown passes from three different quarterbacks and held off a late Plainfield South rally to grab a 30-22 home win and earn its first victory of the season Friday night.

“I have been here for 15 years on all different levels, and I don’t think we have ever had three players throw touchdowns,” said Joliet West coach Dan Tito. “That just shows the resiliency we have as a team.”

The Tigers struck first when starting quarterback Landon Mars hit Jordan Bennet for an 8-yard scoring strike. A missed point-after gave West the 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

The Tigers got the ball right back when Enrique Lugueno recovered an onside kick, and West looked to be in the driver’s seat with 7:49 to go in the opening frame.

Just 47 seconds later, Mars carried the ball around the right side for 16 yards, but stayed on the ground on the home sideline with an apparent leg injury and never returned. He finished 1 of 4 passing for 8 yards and one touchdown and carried the ball twice for 24 yards.

After Mars’ injury, starting tight end Sean Hogan took over under center, and with 5:43 left in the opening quarter found James Koulis (two catches, 18 yards) for a 6-yard scoring strike. The Tristan Radeke point after gave West a 13-0 lead.

Neither team scored again until Radeke booted a 32-yard field goal with 27.6 seconds left to go in the first half, giving West a 16-7 advantage.

It was in the middle of the scoring drought that West sophomore Liam Nichtula entered the game at quarterback. After getting his first varsity experience in the first half, Nichtula tossed a pair of third -quarter touchdowns less than a minute apart.

“I was not expecting to get into the game at all today,” Nichtula said. “I was just getting ready for my JV game tomorrow, to be honest. I saw Landon go down, and there was a little bit of nerves, but after a few drives that all went away.”

For his first-ever varsity score, Nichtula hit Tyler Bishop from 41 yards out to put West ahead 23-7 with 5:41 left in the third.

After Jarell Thompson recovered a fumble with 4:54 to play, it took Nichtula just one play to find Aamir Shannon from 19 yards out to give the Tigers a 30-7 lead.

“Getting that first touchdown was amazing, but I could not have done any of this without my defense; they played amazing today. They gave us great opportunities. It was such a great feeling to get that second one after (they got the ball back),” Nichtula said.

Nichtula finished his varsity debut 4 of 14 for 86 yards and the two scores.

Having Nichtula step in allowed Hogan to remain a weapon at tight end for West.

“Sean is such a big body and is so good at hunting the middle, and he has sure hands and he blocks well,” Tito said.

Plainfield South (0-3) did not go away, as the Cougars scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

The first came with 2:51 left when Chase Pierceall (16 carries, 67 yards, two TDs) scored his second touchdown of the game from 4 yards out. With a successful two-point conversion, South cut the deficit to 30-15.

The Cougars scored again with 1:24 left when quarterback Jaleel Smith ran it in from 18 yards out. Smith finished with eight carries for 39 yards and was 16 of 37 passing for 149 yards and one interception.

“A big cornerstone of our program is never give up and always keep fighting for each other and for the family of football guys. It was really nice to see, we just wish we did it a little earlier,” Plainfield South coach Jake Brosman said. ““We have a group full of young and inexperienced players on our team, and we preach all the time that we try to play mistake-free football.

“They are learning what varsity football is, and when you make mistakes in our conference, the other teams will take advantage. West played a really gritty game, and they played hard.”