Based purely on win–loss record, Dundee-Crown’s football team has not been a significant player in the Fox Valley Conference during the past decade.

In that span, the Chargers have amassed a record of 17-79 and – save for their 4-5 season in 2018 – have not won more than two games in any season.

Change may be on the horizon, however.

After its 28-0 victory over Crystal Lake South on Friday, which followed a 24-0 shutout of Hampshire in Week 4, D-C sits at 3-2 and in a four-way tie for third place with Huntley, Cary-Grove and Jacobs. The Chargers’ two losses came to McHenry (17-14) and Huntley (28-27). They led both games in the fourth quarter.

D-C has posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1998 (8-0 over Grayslake and 41-0 over Crystal Lake Central in Weeks 3 and 4).

To be fair, D-C’s three victories have come over teams with a combined 2-11 record while their remaining four games are against teams with a collective 15-5 slate.

All that aside, there is a palpable level of positivity at the Carpentersville school that might be the beginning of something special.

“We want to make the playoffs,” junior linebacker Tristan Gatenby said after his team’s win over South. “We feel we can beat any team, and that’s what’s great. We have a belief now in our program. The energy, the fire, it wasn’t always there, but now it’s there, and we’re seeing the hard work pay off. It feels great.”

Gatenby is one of three juniors along with one sophomore who anchor the linebacking crew. Meanwhile, the defensive line has two juniors and a freshman in its rotation. That defense held Crystal Lake South to 140 total yards and limited speedy receiver Noa Franch to three catches for seven yards. Franch had five receptions for 200 yards the week before against Crystal Lake Central.

“Credit to our line coach, Coach (Brad) Smeele, great guy,” Gatenby said. “He has those guys, playing hard, playing physical. We know [the remaining schedule is tough], but we want to prove everybody wrong.”

D-C coach Mike Steinhaus credits his team’s success to a strong “We, not me” mentality.

“What’s different about this group is they’re selfless,” said Steinhaus, whose team hosts Cary-Grove at 7 p.m. Friday. “On offense, they don’t care who eats. It’s going to be someone different every week. On defense, they play together, they fly to the ball. And they don’t care who gets the tackle as long as the tackle gets done.”

When one eats, everyone eats. And there are plenty of seats at the Chargers’ table.

Johnsburg seeking consistency: A year ago, Johnsburg was 2-3 and coming off a 26-21 loss to Woodstock North that dropped the Skyhawks to 1-2 in the Kishwaukee River Conference.

Johnsburg then won its last four regular-season games and qualified for the Class 4A playoffs with a 6-3 record, before losing in the first round to Coal City.

Johnsburg is 3-2 (1-2 KRC) this season but hasn’t played with consistency on offense. Senior quarterback Carter Block has completed 57 of 96 passes (59%) for 640 yards and 10 touchdowns (five interceptions). His top target, junior wide receiver Ryan Franze, has 28 receptions for 420 yards and five TDs.

Last year, Block completed 58% of his passes for 1,972 yards and 22 TDs (eight interceptions). Franze had 66 catches for 849 yards and 13 TDs.

While Block and Franze are posting similar numbers this season, the offense has averaged only 15.5 points in the Skyhawks’ past four games.

“We just haven’t been consistent enough,” Skyhawks coach Sam Lesniak said. “It’s a lot of the same group [from last season]. ... It’s frustrating, for sure. I wish it wasn’t the case. We got to figure it out. We got a lot of season left, so we got to make sure that we’re doing what we can to get back to taking what’s out there for us and what [defenses] are giving us, and just methodically move the ball downfield.”

Johnsburg visits undefeated Marengo (5-0, 3-0) on Friday.

Hurricanes bounce back: Marian Central earned a satisfying 43-0 shutout victory against Chicago Christian on Friday, giving the Hurricanes their first Chicagoland Christian Conference win of the year.

Marian (2-3, 1-2) started its conference slate with a 47-7 loss to Hope Academy and 42-28 loss to Wheaton Academy. In the loss to Wheaton Academy, Marian trailed 27-20 in the third quarter before the Warriors pulled away.

Against Chicago Christian, it was junior running back Eddie Kowalczyk who had the breakout performance, running 19 times for 202 yards and two TDs, while sophomore QB Colin Hernon ran for two scores and connected with junior WR Wilson Jakubowicz for a 78-yard TD right before the half.

Junior Mike Schmid added a 6-yard TD run late, and junior Izayah Rosado picked off two passes from quarterback Tyce Hamstra, including on Chicago Christian’s opening drive.

The junior class that shined Friday is one that coach Liam Kirwan has been excited about since a good amount of them made the jump to varsity in 2024.

“For me, this group of juniors, it’s exciting because six of them came up last year as sophomores, and now they’re juniors and making big impacts on the field,” said Kirwan, whose team is seeking its first winning season and playoff appearances since 2017. “You always hope they play like seniors, but they’re still 15-, 16-year old kids out there.”

Marian also had multiple sophomores make game-changing plays, including linemen Zak Smothers and Sam Sarfo and DB Colsten Monti.

“When you have that many young kids, there’s going to be some mental mistakes, but it’s rewarding when you see them play like they did today,” Kirwan said.

The Hurricanes also benefited from one of their best defensive performances of the season. Marian now has two shutouts (46-0 win over Clemente in Week 2).

Still, Kirwan would like to see things tighten up as the Hurricanes approach a big challenge at 1 p.m. Saturday against unbeaten Bishop McNamara (5-0, 3-0), coming off a 45-42 win over Aurora Christian in Week 4.

“I think we need to work on our tackling again, still not what I want,” said Kirwan, in his fourth year as head coach at Marian. “But ultimately I think the kids were taking the right angles, getting to the right spots and they were flying around.”

Week 5 scores

Fox Valley Conference

Jacobs 35, Huntley 27

Burlington Central 40, Hampshire 14

Dundee-Crown 28, Crystal Lake South 0

Cary-Grove 40, Crystal Lake Central 6

Prairie Ridge 43, McHenry 22

Kishwaukee River Conference

Richmond-Burton 42, Woodstock 7

Marengo 28, Plano 14

Woodstock North 27, Johnsburg 13

Sandwich 48, Harvard 7

Chicagoland Christian Conference

Marian Central 43, Chicago Christian 0

Illinois 8-Man Football Association

Alden-Hebron 51, Christian Life 18

• Northwest Herald sports editor Alex Kantecki and correspondent Sam Natrop contributed to this report.