For a Plano football player, few things are more special than ringing the victory bell at Reaper Stadium after a win.
“I think it’s something that everyone wants to do as you grow up as a kid and get to hear that sound,” Plano coach Kyle Tutt said. “That sound reverberates throughout town, and it just kind of shows the pride that we have in the community and what we’re trying to build here at Plano.”
The Reapers haven’t been able to do much ringing this season. Entering last week’s regular-season finale, Plano had just one win — a 47-0 trouncing of Harvard — and sat at 1-7.
Its playoff chances were looking bleak. Though not officially eliminated, the Reapers had a less than 5% chance of reaching the postseason, according to Steve Soucie, even with a win over Marengo.
But Plano defied those odds Friday night, beating the Indians 35-20 behind a dominant rushing performance that produced 418 yards and five touchdowns.
Ethan Taxis led the way with 188 yards and a TD, while QB Braylon Schmidt ran for 150 yards and three scores. Cooper Beaty added an 80-yard TD run.
“It felt amazing,” Taxis said. “Senior night win … everyone was there. We needed it to make the playoffs. It was a really great senior night to end it on Reaper field and ring the bell.”
It was a win worthy of celebration, but it didn’t guarantee the Reapers another game.
“We didn’t really have much,” Tutt said. “We talked about it Friday night, and we really celebrated our senior night win and took that to heart, and guys were really excited. We told them we’d reach out as soon as we knew.”
Tutt said he got the confirmation at 5:15 p.m. Saturday. The team gathered at Reaper Stadium soon after to watch the IHSA football pairing show on the stadium’s jumbotron and learn where they would be headed.
Plano drew the No. 23 seed in the Class 4A bracket and an opening-round matchup against the 10th-seeded Dixon Dukes, a heavyweight out of the Big Northern Conference. The Reapers will make the near-hour-long trek to Dixon on Friday.
For their seniors, the playoffs means at least one more week together.
“It’s exciting to have another week to play, especially that I’m a senior,” Taxis said. “I enjoy having another week with my boys, a chance to go prove that we’re meant to be there.”
The matchup also brings a familiar opponent. Plano’s last playoff appearance, in 2023, ended at Dixon, where the Dukes edged the Reapers 10-7.
Plano will look to avoid a repeat of that outcome this time around, and Tutt said it’ll start with containing Dixon senior QB Jagger Kemp.
“I think you’ve got to control Jagger, no matter what,” Tutt said. “I think the offense runs through him, the emotion runs through him being the senior leader, and they have some other great athletes on their team. But offensively, it all goes through him.
“Defensively, we feel like they’re one of the harder hitting teams we’ll see all year, and so we’re ready to match that physicality and be ready to show that we can compete in the playoffs.”
‘We know we can count on him:’ Quinten Jackson Jr. a steady presence for Oswego
During the second half of Friday night’s Crosstown Classic, Ammar Banire, still out with a foot injury, made a point to single out a teammate for kudos on the Oswego sideline.
He wanted to push the spotlight onto one of his fellow seniors: Quinten Jackson Jr.
When asked why Jackson, of all players on a Panthers squad jam-packed with talent, Banire raved about the cornerback’s ability to play above his frame and his football IQ.
He even compared Jackson to former Ohio State standout and Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Caleb Downs.
“Coming down and hitting, that’s a big role he’s good at,” Jackson said. “I can see why Ammar would say that.”
But Jackson, who stands at 5-foot-8 1/2 and 180 pounds, actually tries to model himself after a different Big Ten alum and 2026 draftee.
“As a short corner, I low-key look up to D’Angelo Ponds,” Jackson said. “I get all my play-styling from him and study him.”
Like Jackson, Ponds is considered undersized for the cornerback position. Listed at 5-foot-8 5/8 and 182 pounds coming out of Indiana, Ponds was selected in the second round of April’s NFL draft by the New York Jets.
“It’s just the way he doesn’t let any of that get to him,” Jackson said. “People say he’s short, he won’t make it, just because he’s short, and he just doesn’t let none of that get to him, because it’s his height.”
Despite his size, Jackson isn’t afraid to hit people, something Oswego coach Brian Cooney has taken notice of.
“He’s gotten some opportunities to get some hits in, and he does a pretty good job,” Cooney said. “He doesn’t shy away from contact too often, considering he’s a cornerback.
In addition to his physicality, Jackson brings a veteran presence to the Panther defense as a second-year starter. He started all 14 games during Oswego’s run to the Class 8A state title game last year, entrenching himself as a boundary corner after initially playing nickel.
And Jackson’s impact goes beyond his play on the field.
“He’s really respected by the team, always got a smile on his face,” Cooney said. “He’s an absolutely great kid, so it’s fun watching him have fun and seeing some success on the football field.”
As for where Jackson gets his leadership abilities, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The senior looks to his father, who played linebacker at Drake, for guidance in his football career.
“I really listen to what he has to say, because he was a leader back in his day,” Jackson said. “So I just go out there and do what is expected from him.”
The younger Jackson, known for his on-field smarts, also devotes much of his time watching film, whether it be at home or at school.
“I really do watch a lot of film with my dad, too,” Jackson said. “We go over what I do wrong in games, and with my coaches as well. And on my free time, I will watch a film and see where I mess up and fix that later on in practices.”
Though Jackson isn’t the flashiest player, he doesn’t need to be on a team rife with playmakers.
“I think he’s just been a consistent brand of football,” Cooney said. “He doesn’t spike too often. Not too high, not too low. He’s just pretty steady. We know we can count on him.”
Oswego East’s Tyson LeBlanc ready for rematch with former team Curie
Curie Metropolitan High School holds a special place in Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc’s football career.
It’s where LeBlanc landed his first head coaching job in 2007 and led the Condors to five consecutive Class 8A playoff appearances in five seasons before leaving for Oswego East in 2011.
Fifteen years later, LeBlanc is preparing to face his former team for the second time since his departure. But this reunion doesn’t carry nearly as much weight as the first one did a decade ago.
The teams’ last meeting came in first round of the Class 8A playoffs on Oct. 29, 2016, when the Wolves routed Curie 56-14 in Oswego.
“I’ve been gone from that place for 15 years, so it’s not as fresh as it was the last time we played,” LeBlanc said.
“Really, we’re just happy to have an opportunity to play in the postseason and getting ready. I don’t know anybody on their coaching staff. The connection’s not there like it was a few years back.”
The Condors, now led by Jarve Lewis-Bey, have undergone several coaching changes since LeBlanc’s tenure — and with them, plenty of scheme changes.
“They’re a little bit different than we were,” LeBlanc said. “We were a little bit more spread, a little more more multiple when I was there. I’d say they’re a little bit more run heavy than we were.”
For Oswego East, this week’s focus is less on LeBlanc’s history with its opponent and more on playing its best football as the Wolves seek their first playoff win since that 2016 game.
To do that, LeBlanc said the Wolves will count on the unit that’s anchored them all year.
“We’re going to continue to lean heavy on our defense,” LeBlanc said. “That’s where the bulk of our experience is … guys like Jack Ponto, Carson Fell, the English brothers (Jack and Frank), those guys are the guys we’re going to be counting on — our seniors.”
Oswego East will also have to adjust to a different rhythm, with this week’s matchup scheduled for a noon Saturday start in Chicago instead of the usual Friday night kickoff.
“Really, it’s the unfamiliar environment … making the adjustment to playing early on a Saturday as opposed to the Friday night,” LeBlanc said. “So just the adjustment in the schedule I think poses a bit of a threat to us.”
Though the Wolves finished winless in the SPC West for the first time this season, that’s hardly a testament against them — especially against some of the state’s strongest teams.
The division also includes Oswego and Bolingbrook, both 9-1 teams ranked among the top five in the Class 8A bracket. That competiton, LeBlanc believes, has prepared his team nicely for the postseason ahead.
“We’ve got two of the top six teams in the state in Class 8A in our conference,” LeBlanc said. “There’s not too many conferences out there that I think are as difficult and as competitive as ours is.”