Plainfield North lived up to its nickname Friday night.

They ran like tigers over host Romeoville. Even the 49-0 final score doesn’t reflect the dominance of their play.

Try this: The Tigers’ first third-down situation came during the running-clock second half. It was 42-0 at the intermission, by which time Plainfield North had amassed 351 yards, all on the ground.

There was a reason for the emphasis on rushing. The Tigers’ first two quarterbacks (Vince Sefton and Easton Isaacson) are injured and unable to play. Their third-string quarterback isn’t a quarterback at all. It’s wide receiver Nick Wilson.

Boy, can he hand off.

With the offensive line a steamroller, the Tigers ran about the field like they owned it en route to their first victory in four outings, and against a team that came in 3-0 and left 3-1.

Tigers junior Julian Rodriguez ran for 146 yards and three touchdowns – the scores from 3, 68 and 24 yards – in the first half. Senior Mariell Macon piled up 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns, from 11 and 71 yards, in the opening 24 minutes.

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“Honestly, with all the odds against us, we had the talent to pursue though,” Macon said. “I’ve told them all season we can compete with anybody, no matter who’s in front of you. We all have the drive. And the O-line was hungry today.”

“This whole week, we’ve kept our heads high,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve never seen (the offensive line) work harder. We showed it the first play of the game, and carried it through every play.”

That first play was Rodriguez’s 12-yard jaunt off left end. In all, the Tigers had 476 yards and seven touchdowns on 30 carries.

“You’ve got to play the cards you’re dealt sometimes,” said Plainfield North coach Anthony Imbordino, who came up aces high with Wilson calling signals. “We wanted to catch them by surprise. I think we’ve improved every week.”

Records were deceiving on both sides. Plainfield North didn’t look like the 0-3 record it carried off the bus, and the host Spartans – beaten on both sides of the ball and on special teams – were undecidedly like the unbeaten team they had been the first three weeks of the season.

“We were out-physicalled from the start,” Romeoville coach Justin Trovato said. “We knew they weren’t going to have a quarterback and [we] would have to stop the run. We got outmanned up front all night.”

The Tigers drove 68, 58, 32, 53, 80, 81 and 80 yards. They also recovered an onside kick to set up their fourth score.

“Defensively, we’re small but quick,” Trovato said. “They kind of took us out of that the way they played.”

The Spartans were hoping to start 4-0 for the first time since 1994, when they opened 5-0 and finished 7-3. Last year, they opened 0-4 and finished 4-5, a point Trovato will emphasize in the coming days.

As for Plainfield North, it visits Minooka next, the fourth road game in five weeks.