{"id":429965,"date":"2026-09-08T21:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T21:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/429965\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T21:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T21:52:12","slug":"plano-still-fighting-after-0-3-start-yorkville-leans-on-front-seven-kendall-county-football-notebook-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/429965\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano still fighting after 0-3 start, Yorkville leans on front seven: Kendall County football notebook \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hardly been an easy three weeks for Plano<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Reapers sit winless at 0-3 after a 27-20 loss to Sandwich<\/a> in the 115th edition of the now-paused \u201cWar on 34\u2033 rivalry.<\/p>\n

Plano put together 249 yards of offense in another hard-fought effort, but the Indians\u2019 303-yard, four-touchdown performance on the ground proved too much to overcome. Getting flagged 10 times for 100 yards certainly didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

But losing close is hardly new for the Reapers. They\u2019ve been doing it since the young season began.<\/p>\n

Plano came within a score of Ottawa in its season-opening 21-14 loss before falling at home to Manteno, 26-16. Friday was just another close-but-no-cigar result.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re getting blown out of games,\u201d Plano coach Kyle Tutt said. \u201cWe\u2019re right there, and just finding those mistakes and trying to correct them before they happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The common denominator in those games? Poor run defense. <\/p>\n

The Reapers get gashed by Ottawa\u2019s Wes Weatherford in the opener, who ran for 181 yards and two touchdowns. A week later, Manteno\u2019s Nick Honkisz did the damage with 127 yards and a score. Friday, Wyatt Gregory\u2019s 165-yard night marked the third straight game in which Plano allowed a 100-yard rusher.<\/p>\n

That\u2019ll have to be a point of emphasis as Plano embarks on the rest of its Kishwaukee River Conference schedule. But even with their defensive struggles, the Reapers have shown flashes of promise.<\/p>\n

QB Braylon Schmidt, filling in for an injured Ryder Knapp, completed 5 of 11 passes for 102 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.<\/p>\n

Ethan Texas had three receptions for 89 yards, including a catch that set up the game-tying TD before halftime and another he took 64 yards for a catch-and-run score.<\/p>\n

And despite being held to 48 rushing yards on 14 carries, two-way star Cooper Beaty was a workhorse on defense, finishing with 17 tackles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids fight. They\u2019re great people. They do the little things right,\u201d Tutt said. \u201cThe game hasn\u2019t come on their side yet, and we\u2019re going to keep working to get that win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Football: Plano at Sandwich Plano’s Ethan Taxis runs with the ball during football game between Plano at Sandwich Friday, September 4th, 2026 in Sandwich. (Gary E Duncan Sr. for Shaw Local)<\/p>\n

Yorkville rides defensive front to strong start<\/p>\n

As the popular clich\u00e9 goes, \u201cDefense wins championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t always the case, however \u2014 especially in today\u2019s game. But good defense can certainly help a team get there. <\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s what Yorkville<\/a> will hope to achieve with its current unit.<\/p>\n

The Foxes rank second in the Southwest Prairie West in points allowed (41) through three games, behind only Oswego East (38). Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said his defense has been held together by standout performances from the defensive linemen and linebackers making up the front seven.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all play off each other extremely well,\u201d Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said. \u201cThey\u2019re tackling well; they\u2019re getting lined up correctly, doing things to make sacrifices to help the betterment of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yorkville sits at 2-1 after a 20-7 defeat by Bolingbrook in its SPC West opener. Despite allowing a season-high points, McGuire liked what he saw from the defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really only gave up two touchdowns defensively, so I thought the defense played great,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n

Dillon Viscogliosi, the Foxes\u2019 leading tackler last year, continues to lead the defense from his spot at middle linebacker. McGuire said the senior brings a lot to the table both athletically and mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can just go sideline to sideline,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cHe\u2019s extremely athletic and physical, but he\u2019s a returning linebacker for us and has some experience in terms of just making sure that we\u2019re in the right fronts, recognizing our opponent\u2019s formations and just making sure that our team is aligned properly to whatever we would like to do against our opponent that week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viscogliosi has 25 tackles through the first three games. The only Yorkville players with more or as many stops are the outside linebackers alongside him, Ben Wade (26) and Will Freeman (25).<\/p>\n

\u201cBen is definitely a vocal leader,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cHe\u2019s the one that kind of keeps us all in line … he\u2019s essentially a disciplined coach on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFreeman, he\u2019s just got a high motor … He doesn\u2019t say much, but he\u2019s extremely easy to coach, responsive but just flies around.\u201d<\/p>\n

In front of that trio, Bryce Baxa, James Sapp Jr. and Mark Smith III also have double-digit tackles. All three are returning starters after anchoring the Foxes\u2019 D-line last fall.<\/p>\n

Oswego East still can\u2019t shake Minooka<\/p>\n

After nine straight losses to the Indians, Oswego East<\/a> hoped to keep its 2-0 start intact and finally vanquish one of its most formidable SPC West rivals when it faced a winless Minooka squad on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Neither came to pass.<\/p>\n

The Wolves fell behind the eight-ball early after Quinn Schiffbauer took off for a 41-yard touchdown on the Indians\u2019 first possession. Oswego East never found an answer as Minooka pitched a 10-0 shutout to pick up its first win of the season.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Carter Meindel finished 18-of-28 passing for 156 yards and an interception. Notably, RB Obadiah Carlson didn\u2019t reach the end zone after scoring five touchdowns in his first two games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hardly been an easy three weeks for Plano. The Reapers sit winless at 0-3 after a 27-20…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[135877,619,586,147242,160,162,161,41688,149266],"class_list":["post-429965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-fnd-kendall-county","tag-friday-night-drive-front-headlines","tag-high-school-football","tag-oswego-east-preps","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-plano-preps","tag-yorkville-preps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429965","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=429965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}