Most of Oswego’s key players ended last season on a cold and snowy field in DeKalb. The Panthers watched Mount Carmel celebrate the 8A championship, but knew they had proven a lot to the state. The Caravan didn’t roll over Oswego; they had to fight for the title.
There is still a major gap in perception between the two programs. Mount Carmel played on ESPN Friday night, thrilling a national television audience with a 48-44 comeback win against St. Joseph Regional of New Jersey.
Oswego played a normal high school football game in Geneva. But the No. 6 Panthers’ 44-42 win over the No. 12 Vikings was another important building block towards a possible deep playoff run.
Geneva has one of the best passing games in the state. Eastern Michigan quarterback Ben Peterson was 19 of 30 passing for 443 yards and five touchdowns. Illinois recruit Bennett Konkey caught 10 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns.
But Oswego matched all those offensive fireworks. Senior quarterback Drew Kleinhans was 15 of 22 passing for 264 yards and three touchdowns, all to tight end Ryan Wynn.
Both defensive secondaries were shredded regularly, so the difference came down to effective running games. Geneva managed just 37 yards on 14 carries while Oswego featured junior Ammar Banire, one of the area’s best running backs.
Banire had 27 carries for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He broke loose for a 48-yard TD with 3:53 to play, putting the Panthers (2-0) ahead 44-35.
Oswego’s Ammar Benire (2) cuts back a run to pick up more yardage against Geneva.
Allen Cunningham/For the Sun Times
“I knew I had to keep pushing,” Banire said. “As soon as I saw that wide-open hole on the outside, that is my type of thing. I had to get going on that.”
Konkey and Peterson connected on a 38-yard TD less than a minute later to pull the Vikings within 44-42, but that was as close as it would get.
“Any smart defensive coordinator is going to do what they did and load the box,” Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. “But I told Ammar before the game that he would get his touches and it would be tough sledding, but eventually he was going to pop. We kept grinding, and you saw it in the third and fourth quarter. He started chewing up yards.”
Geneva scored on the first snap of the game on a 78-yard TD pass from Peterson to Luke Ignoffo. But that was the only lead of the game for the Vikings (1-1).
“That is definitely up there with one of my best games ever played,” Konkey said. “But stats don’t matter if you don’t win the game. That is a very good football team. This isn’t a loss; it is a lesson. We just competed with the second-best team in 8A last year. That shows something about us as a football team.”
Wynn, a 6-4 senior, was Oswego’s most improved player over the offseason and is now a true weapon. He had seven catches for 150 yards with touchdown grabs of 24, 17 and 52 yards.
“This is a great confidence boost to come in here and win,” Wynn said. “Coach talked about it all week, that it would be a challenge. It was, but we executed.”