{"id":423279,"date":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/423279\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:10:21","slug":"plano-sandwich-nearing-rivalry-pause-oswego-defense-licks-its-wounds-kendall-county-football-notebook-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/423279\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano, Sandwich nearing rivalry pause, Oswego defense licks its wounds: Kendall County football notebook \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plano<\/a> and Sandwich<\/a> have sparred on the gridiron longer than anyone from either side can remember.<\/p>\n

The schools sparked their feud in 1897, with Sandwich taking a 28-0 victory. Nearly 130 years later, they\u2019re preparing the hit pause on one of the oldest high school football rivalries in Illinois.<\/p>\n

The Reapers and Indians will meet Friday in Sandwich for the 115th edition of the iconic War on 34 rivalry. It will also be the last, at least for a while.<\/p>\n

Sandwich voted in the spring to leave the Kishwaukee River Conference for the Illinois Central Eight starting next school year. With the ICE expected to be a closed, 10-team league, 2027 will be the first year the rivals don\u2019t play each other in football in a season both have fielded varsity teams since 1939, according to records maintained by ReaperNation.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to break up the rivalry streak that we\u2019ve had,\u201d Sandwich coach Jason VanPelt said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the longest-running rivalries in Illinois, so that\u2019s not an easy decision by anybody. But our administration and school board felt like we were making the right decision for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Indians eeked out a 32-30 win in last year\u2019s meeting, powered by a sensational rushing performance of 359 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n

The Reapers, who have struggled to stop the run amid an 0-2 start, are looking to right their past wrongs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team knows where we\u2019re at,\u201d Plano coach Kyle Tutt said. \u201cWe are looking much more at the little, fine details than just the big pieces, and I think we\u2019ve been able to put the big pieces together. Now we\u2019re looking at those real fine details to put us on the right side of the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Sandwich has a win that Plano lacks in the young season, numbers like that hardly matter in a rivalry like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can always throw out the record when you play these games,\u201d VanPelt said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be about who gets momentum and who can respond well when things don\u2019t go your way, because they won\u2019t all go your way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the game is played between the lines, its significance to those within the neighboring towns goes back generations and beyond the boundaries on the football field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special,\u201d Tutt said. \u201cPeople come up, and they either have grandchildren or great-grandchildren or have played back in the day, and they\u2019re excited to support their town and the community. Being able to be a part of that is a big part of why high school football coaching is such a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no telling when, or if, Plano and Sandwich will meet again. But if this is last clash for the foreseeable future, there won\u2019t be any shortage of energy for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys will be fired up; they\u2019ll be fired up; the fans will be fired up, so it should be a great atmosphere,\u201d VanPelt said. \u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Geneva's<\/p>\n

Geneva’s Bennett Konkey runs the ball past Oswego’s Dontrell Young on Friday, Aug.28,2026 in Geneva. (Karen Naess for Shaw Local News Network\/Karen Naess )<\/p>\n

Oswego defense licking its wounds after back-to-back gashings<\/p>\n

Oswego<\/a> has hit the ground running this fall. The Panthers are off to a 2-0 start thanks to a pair of brilliant offensive performances that each produced 44 points, the latest being a barnburner at Geneva<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Drew Kleinhans passed for three touchdowns \u2014 all to tight end Ryan Wynn \u2014 and ran for another, while star running back Ammar Banire\u2019s 52-yard TD in the fourth quarter iced a 44-42 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a bit nerve-wracking for my ticker,\u201d Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. \u201cOne of the top games that I\u2019ll remember, whether you come out on top or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in neither of the first two games did the Oswego defense come out unscathed.<\/p>\n

Neuqua Valley\u2019s Will Kalish racked up 174 receiving yards and three touchdowns against the Panthers in Week 1, and Geneva\u2018s Benett Konkey dished out an even harsher punishment last week. On a night when the Wildcats had six touchdowns, the Illinois commit scored four of them as he caught 10 passes for 213 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were out of position,\u201d Cooney said. \u201cOur communication wasn\u2019t the best across the board, and that would include myself with the kids, so I take ownership of that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Oswego starting SPC West play this week against 2-0 Plainfield North, issues like that will need to be addressed, and fast.<\/p>\n

Cooney said the Panthers are going back to basics in practice this week: communication, finishing plays and understanding leverage and support. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have told our kids numerous times \u2014 not necessarily this year \u2014 but we try not to play video game football where everyone\u2019s just out there running around,\u201d Cooney said. \u201cWe try to have our eyes and hips in a certain place, and I think we\u2019ve just gotten away from that for some reason, so we\u2019re back to the drawing board on that this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, this is an unusual spot for Oswego, a program long reputed for its defensive prowess. But as long as the offense stays hot, Cooney is confident the other pieces will fall into place.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome good things are going to happen if we can continue to maintain the success on offense and continue to improve on special teams and then get the defense right,\u201d Cooney said.<\/p>\n

\"Oswego<\/p>\n

Football: Willowbrook at Oswego East Oswego East’s Carter Meindel (17) surveys the field during football game between Willowbrook at Oswego East. Friday, August 28, 2026 in Oswego. (Gary E Duncan Sr. for Shaw Local News Network)<\/p>\n

Carter Meindel is fearless. Oswego East wants to manage that, carefully<\/p>\n

There are mental traits teams look for in their starting quarterback: leadership, confidence and competitiveness, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another important one, and Oswego East<\/a> coach Tyson LeBlanc has already noticed it in sophomore Carter Meindel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fearless,\u201d LeBlanc said.<\/p>\n

LeBlanc also said Meindel probably gets that from his days playing defensive line in middle school. Now he\u2019s two games into his second season playing one of the most important positions in sports \u2014 his first at the varsity level. And that fearlessness didn\u2019t take long to reveal itself.<\/p>\n

In the third quarter of his varsity debut in Week 1 at Joliet West, Meindel stood tall against incoming pressure and delivered a 34-yard touchdown strike, moments before a defensive lineman slammed him into the turf.<\/p>\n

Of course, the quarterback was back on his feet seconds later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we were going to get that from him,\u201d LeBlanc said. \u201cThat\u2019s the type of kid he is. He\u2019s a kid that\u2019s going to stand in there and throw the ball and take hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plays like that are also the scary part of having a sophomore under center, according to LeBlanc. The Wolves need to make sure the 5-foot-10, 145-pound Meindel can hold up the rest of the regular season playing against larger players in a physical league, not to mention a potential playoff run. <\/p>\n

But they also don\u2019t want him to lose that edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to manage that and then help him be smart,\u201d LeBlanc said. \u201cBut you obviously don\u2019t want to take that piece away from a kid, because that\u2019s who he is and that\u2019s how he plays. He plays tough for an undersized guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plano and Sandwich have sparred on the gridiron longer than anyone from either side can remember. The schools…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[135877,586,147242,147241,160,162,161,41688,41690],"class_list":["post-423279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-fnd-kendall-county","tag-high-school-football","tag-oswego-east-preps","tag-oswego-preps","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-plano-preps","tag-sandwich-preps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}