Oswego Youth Tackle Football Wins Again!!

****4th Grade Panthers****

4th Grade continued its dominance with a 27-8 victory over Plainfield to run their record to 6-0. Oswego kicked off to open the game and Plainfield moved the ball down the field with consecutive first downs before the defense tightened up and forced a turnover on downs. Oswego marched down the field for a 70 yard drive capped off by a Mariano Velasco touchdown. The “Ace” offense continued their powerful blocking, with Anthony “Mini Fridge” Mullen, Hunter Novak, Tristan Thomas, Devin Mata, Teddy Manikas, Ben Braet, Nolan Hutchings, and Trent Epley leading the way. On the 2nd drive, the defense held firm again with some great stops by Connor Konken, Dylan “Hammer” Koebele, and Wyatt Harvey. The Oswego “Bulldog” offense took over and drove down the field for Mariano’s 2nd touchdown of the day. This was the 5th touchdown over the last 2 games for the star quarterback. Hunter Amelio followed it up by punching in the extra point. The “Bulldog” line of Jake Nebren, Jacob Pass, Edwin Marquez, Emmet Powell, and Max Behrens paved the way. The first half ended with Oswego up 13-0.

The 2nd half started with an electrifying kickoff return from Hunter Amelio to get the Panthers to the Plainfield 30 yard line. The “Bulldog” offense continued to work hard with their blocking and Ryan King scored his 2nd touchdown of the season with a brilliant cutback run to make it 19-0. On the ensuing onside kick, a hit by Connor Konken paved the way for a recovery by Ryan King. In a game filled with hard bruising runs by Hunter Amelio, it was the star running backs time to shine and he broke free for a 40 yard run for Oswegos final touchdown of the game. To continue the excitement, Anthony “Mini Fridge” Mullen came in to boot the 2-point kick and the crowd and players went crazy! Mullen’s great kick stretched the lead to 27-0. With the slaughter rule in effect, Plainfield scored a touchdown and 2 pointer to make it a 27-8 final score.

The defensive game ball was given to Brody Main for doing a great job in working through a position change. The offensive game ball was shared between Emmett Powell and Max Behrens for their blocking. Oswego looks to run its record to 7-0 against the Wildcats at Naperville next week.

****6th Grade Panthers****

OYTF 6th grade started off in a patriotic way this weekend, starting with the National Anthem, which had not been played at the start of one of their games in over 2 years.

The Panthers defended hard and read the visiting Huskies’ plays well. Abe Hansen & Grant Zegar knew the right place and right time to stop gains on several passes. Defensive End Ryan Pass excelled again this weekend, penetrating into the back field to shut down several run plays, while DE Bryce Woods shut down any QB keep play that came his way.

However, with a quick outside pass on one play, and with the long legs of the Huskies running back, the Panthers soon found themselves down 0-12. Huskies could not execute on their extra point running attempts as Brandon Becker and Finn Anderson broke up the Huskie offense with stellar rushing and tackling.

Undeterred the OYTF offense took to the field again. Due to unfortunate playground circumstances, running back Devin White was placed on injured reserve, giving some of the other running backs a chance to shine. And shine they did. But credit also goes to gaping holes that tight end Ben Pavlick and Offensive Tackle Marco Bellanca opened up. A series of plays with Will Bass running the sweeps, before he was injured, and with QB Andrew Karsten giving the ball to Colin O’Grady to do what he does best – bust through the defense like they’re not even there, set up Grant Zegar for a TD.

Back on defense, the Panther defense showed off their tackling skills, with Noah Vera, Taiden Thomas Carter Russell, Matthew Kinley, Mike Mellas, Julian Rivera, Peyton Hammond and Luke Montalto all making key tackles. Cayden Mast & Andrew Phillips punched through the line to stop plays, and a last ditch pass attempt on 4th and long was almost intercepted by William Mattson.

After Andy Karsten got a hard hit late in the 1st half, Owen Carlson stepped up to the QB role. Hand offs to Colin O’Grady and Johnny Cannvino who followed lead blocker Grif Brown through the holes made by the offensive line, including Aidan Mackniskas, Declan Auton, Dalton Platt, Chase Morgan and Joey Abdallah, resulted in another Panther touchdown. For the extra point attempt, Marco Bellanca lined up as tight end, and slipped into the end zone for short pass, narrowing the gap to 13-19.

The Panthers would get one more attempt at the win. The offense pushed long runs up the field, but with the end zone in sight, the Huskies Defensive Tackle forced a fumble, ending the game.

While it was a bitter loss, the Panthers are regrouping and setting their sights on Kaneland for next week’s away game, where the defense and offense will do all this, and more.

****8th Grade Orange and Blue****

On Saturday the 8th grade Orange Panthers took on the Blue Panthers. Orange wasted no time as they took the opening possession and struck first on a Julian Rodriguez 35 yard TD run. After a defensive stand, Orange struck again on a 59 yard TD run by Connor Deal and after the conversion was good took a 16-0 lead. Orange struck again on the next drive when AJ Lafan rumbled into the end zone behind the blocking of Carson Cathey, Nolan Muellner, Nate Perry, Moses Perez & Louis Martinez. Orange scored 2 more times in the half on a 70 yard TD pass from Julian Toma to Vince Andersen and Toma connected with Tristan August on a 60 yard pass to take a 36-0 halftime lead. The second half was very competitive as Blue struck first, but Orange answered quickly on another Deal TD run...final score Orange 43-7. Great defensive effort by the Orange led by Kyle Montalto, Nathan Perry & Max Castle.