Jack Beetham and Yorkville turned what could have been a frustrating night into a fantastic finish Friday.

The Foxes were whistled for eight penalties in their game against Minooka, several of them false starts that killed promising drives. A couple of high snaps thwarted a first-and-goal situation.

Beetham had a 50-yard touchdown run waved off because of an inadvertent whistle.

But he connected with TJ Harland for a 25-yard touchdown pass with just over a minute left, which proved to be the game-winner as Yorkville beat Minooka 14-13 to remain undefeated.

Yorkville’s defense had forced a Minooka three-and-out after the Foxes couldn’t convert a fourth down at the Indians’ 20-yard line to set the stage for the game-winning three-play drive that started at the Minooka 40. Beetham completed a pass to A.J. DiVito preceding the TD to Harland.

“We knew we had to score, this would be the last possession or game over, and I had to put it in my playmakers’ hands,” Beetham said. “We called plays that we knew would be successful.”

It was the second of two TD passes from Beetham to Harland.

“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Beetham said. “He’s a great playmaker. He can do everything. He has vision. His hands have gotten significantly better. We worked a lot together in the offseason. I trust him a lot.”

Yorkville coach Dan McGuire saluted the group effort on the final drive, including the guys up front.

“Last year I think our O-line took some blame on some of the things that happened; they were all juniors last year,” McGuire said. “They did a good job of giving Jack some time to see the field. They deserve credit for significant improvement from last year to this year. You still have to make plays, and credit to those guys for doing it.”

Credit, too, to the Yorkville defense for once again giving the Foxes’ offense a chance to win it in the second half against a big, physical Minooka team. Yorkville has been tied 7-7 at halftime in all three of its wins.

“We were 25-50 pounds smaller across the board,” McGuire said. “I give our coaches a lot of credit for adjustments as the game went on. First drive they ran against us, it was a very long drive. Long story short, give them credit for making adjustments, to not give up and battle.”

McGuire also praised the work of his kicker/punter Kyle Nadler, who made the game-winning extra point, booted all three of his kickoffs for touchbacks and had three punts downed at the 1, 3 and 8-yard lines.

“As a play-caller that impacts what you can do,” McGuire said. “Kyle did a good job of pinning them deep.”

Oswego East’s ‘belief’ translates to 3-0 start

Oswego East trailed by two points at halftime last Friday to a Plainfield North team it had dropped six consecutive meetings to.

Different Wolves’ team, apparently.

Niko Villacci threw a go-ahead, 45-yard TD pass to Jamari McKay, added a TD pass in the back of the end zone to Mason Davis, and Oswego East went on a 21-9 win.

Oswego East is 3-0 for the first time since 2021. What’s been the difference?

“Belief,” Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “Belief that we can win games like that. Last year I don’t know if we believed. Last year we would lose games like this, games that we were down at halftime or in a tight game.

“Defense was able to get stops when needed to get stops, offense was able to score points when we needed points. It’s just belief.”

Villacci threw for just 94 yards, but statistical numbers are the furthest from the third-year starter’s mind.

“No one on this team cares about stats,” Villacci said. “All I care about is the win. Last two years starting out 0-2 was rough. We haven’t beaten [Plainfield North] in a few years, so being 3-0 is just really great.”

Oswego’s defense still rock-solid

Entering the season, there were some questions as to whether Oswego could maintain its level of success defensively. The Panthers, after all, graduated their entire front seven, including a dominant linebacking corps.

It turns out, the defense is still just fine.

Oswego has given up a total of 28 points through three games to help fuel a 3-0 start. The Panthers shut out Bolingbrook Friday for the final three quarters after giving up the game’s first score.

“That was the big question coming in, losing not just a ton of starters but big, strong athletes – can you plug in?" Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. “The guys we have now have the same temperament and the same focus.”

They needed to remain focused against Bolingbrook, which Cooney called by far the fastest team the Panthers had seen so far, and maybe will see all season.

“Every time we coach against them it takes a quarter or two to get used to it,” Cooney said. “We did not want to get in another track meet with a team like that. They have some horses, our kids needed to anchor down when they had to and they did.”

Plano’s sophomore is one to watch

Cooper Beaty’s contributions to Plano this season jump off the stat page.

He’s hard to miss watching live, too.

Beaty, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound linebacker/tight end, does not look like a sophomore just starting his varsity career. He has the frame of an upperclassmen and hits people like one too.

Beaty has scored touchdowns in all three of Plano’s games. He also leads the Reapers in tackles with 29, 22 of them solo.

“Cooper is an excellent athlete, a great person and a great kid,” Plano coach Kyle Tutt said. “He takes football seriously and it shows. On top of that he’s super aggressive. He is one of the two sophomores that we brought up and he sets the tone defensively. He plays tight end for us and on top of the tackles and the blocking he does for us, when he gets an opportunity to make plays he makes great plays.”

Plano is 0-3 after a tough 32-30 loss to Sandwich Friday in a game that could have gone either way, but Tutt likes the energy he saw at practice Monday. The Reapers play Woodstock North Friday.

“It goes a lot to what we are trying to build,” Tutt said. “Our leadership group did a nice job of bringing the energy and still talking about what our goals are and how they are still attainable.”

• Hart Pisani and Alex Mielcarz contributed to this story.