Win or lose, this was bound to be a special football season in the Viscogliosi household.

Caleb Viscogliosi is a Yorkville senior outside linebacker and team captain. His younger brother, Dillon Viscogliosi, is a junior who plays middle linebacker.

The older Viscogliosi calls all of his teammates “brothers,” but this is the first season since 9U football that Caleb and his actual blood brother are teammates.

“It’s a surreal feeling, amazing. I tried to get him to play baseball, but he’s not all for that,” Caleb Viscogliosi said. “We never really realized how close and how lucky we were going to be until this year.”

The season just keeps on getting more special.

Yorkville is 5-0, off to its best start since 2019, and in large part can thank a defense that has allowed just 39 points.

“It feels great. Something we should have done last year, but it feels great,” Caleb Viscogliosi said. “All the hard work is paying off.”

Even more impressive is that Yorkville is doing it with a relatively young defensive unit, just five senior starters. Caleb Viscogliosi is one of those seniors. His leadership and intelligence on the field have not gone unnoticed by Yorkville’s coaching staff.

“We are doing some new wrinkles every week, and Caleb does a good job of recognizing whatever it is, where personnel are lined up, other weeks it might be a formation an opponent is in,” Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said.

“He does a good job of knowing what we want to do and how we want to line up on defense, making sure we’re on the same page. As the game goes on he does a good job where, if we get hurt on a play, usually we don’t get hurt two times in a row.”

McGuire estimated that Caleb Viscogliosi played close to 75% of varsity snaps as a junior last year. Voted a team captain for his senior year, he’s taken that role seriously.

“My thought process is try to make it as comfortable as possible for them, while still being hard on the younger guys,” Viscogliosi said. “I had to be held accountable, and I hold them accountable.”

Viscogliosi was always a linebacker/fullback type growing up, but was moved to cornerback as a freshman. He returned to his roots at linebacker his sophomore year.

“I love how I can be in control of the field and play the run and the pass,” he said. “Being a wrestler, it’s in my blood to tackle people.”

He does it well, leading the Foxes with 40 tackles through five games.

Caleb Viscogliosi had three solo tackles and two assists and Dillon Viscogliosi two solos, four assists and an interception in last Friday’s 16-6 win over Oswego.

“He learns on the fly, and the other thing, he is athletic,” McGuire said of Caleb Viscogliosi. “I’d say all of our defense is undersized compared to the last five or six years, but they make up for it with their athleticism. He’s one of those kids that can be physical, and he is very versatile.”

That allows Yorkville’s coaches to not have to sub personnel as much depending on down and distance with linebackers they are comfortable covering receivers and physical enough in short-yardage situations.

“They can take a block on and other times avoid it,” McGuire said. “That is tough for an offensive line trying to block in space.”

Sandwich’s two-way standout stars in win

Sandwich coach Jason VanPelt has been coaching football for a long time, so his words of praise carry a little weight.

He has heavy praise for Jeffrey Ashley.

“He’s really one of the hardest workers I have ever coached in all my time,” VanPelt said. “That is saying a lot, but it is a true statement at the same time. He is leading the way for us.”

Ashley, Sandwich’s senior middle linebacker and fullback, continues to do so on both sides of the ball.

The team’s leading tackler, Ashley had one of his best rushing games of the season last Friday. He ran for 148 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries and also had four tackles, four assists, a tackle for loss and a sack in Sandwich’s 48-7 win over Harvard.

Sandwich did so without starting quarterback Braden Behringer, who is in all likelihood out for the season with a broken collarbone.

“Jeffrey ran really hard, and the linemen opened up some holes for him,” VanPelt said. “Nick Michalek did his thing too, 83 yards and two touchdowns. Wyatt Gregory ran really hard. Great team win, really.”

Indeed, Sandwich’s defense that has struggled to stop teams had its best statistical game, allowing 117 yards in a game Sandwich led 34-0 at the half.

“I really liked how hard we played,” VanPelt said. “We were really hitting the other team really hard. We were in the right spots on defense. Everybody was doing their job.”

Plano, 0-5 but competitive

Plano remains winless on the season, but the Reapers are plenty competitive.

After one-score losses to Sandwich and Woodstock North, Plano was within a score until the final minute of last Friday’s 28-14 loss to unbeaten Marengo.

Plano outgained Marengo 239 yards to 234 and ran 52 plays to Marengo’s 44.

“Our guys have such big hearts,” Plano coach Kyle Tutt said. “They put a lot of time in, stick with fundamentals. We were able to show up and stop a run team for the most part. Offensively we did some nice things, made some big plays horizontally and vertically. One of those games that the ball didn’t bounce our way.”

Dylan Saunders threw for 139 yards and a touchdown to Cam Johnson, who had four catches for 86 yards. Braylon Schmidt rushed for 64 yards on just seven carries.

Next up for Plano is a homecoming home game with Woodstock. Tutt believes this group is playing better and better as the season progresses and feeling better about each other through a number of close games.

“Our guys are competitors; they want to be in those situations,” Tutt said. “It’s learning how to take that next step and be on the other side of the scoreboard. Our guys showed up and had a great week of practice. Excited to see what they can do.”