The football season didn’t start how Minooka had envisioned.

The Indians suffered one-point losses to St. Charles North and Yorkville, sandwiched around a two-point win over Neuqua Valley, and were sitting at 1-2 after three weeks. They lost returning starter Zane Caves at quarterback to an injury in the Neuqua Valley game.

Since the Yorkville game, however, Minooka has reeled off four straight wins and owns a 5-2 record. The Indians are one of four teams in the Southwest Prairie West with 2-1 league records, along with Oswego East, Yorkville and Bolingbrook.

Friday night’s 10-3 win over Oswego was the fifth time in seven games a Minooka game was decided by one possession.

The Indians are starting to get the hang of winning those games.

“These kids just don’t stop,” Minooka coach Matt Harding said. “We have been telling them that, just like in life, you have to push forward through adversity. If you don’t push forward, you’ll never get through it.

“These kids have kept working and pushing, and it has paid off. We have five wins, the conference race is wide-open, and we’re right in the middle of it. Not many would have thought that would happen a few weeks ago.”

Caves’ replacement, senior Andersen Klemme, wasn’t asked to throw often, but he was effective, completing 8-of-9 passes for 26 yards Friday. Tight end Jackson Miranda also completed a 14-yard pass.

Big-time confidence, big-time win for Providence

Providence’s thrilling 21-20, come-from-behind victory over defending Class 8A champion Loyola – the Celtics’ first win over the Ramblers since current Providence head coach Tyler Plantz was playing for the Celtics in 2009 – may have been a shocker to a lot of football fans across the state.

It wasn’t to the Celtics, though.

“We talk about executing, about running the ball. We responded. We never flinched,” Plantz said. ”We probably have half the kids on our roster compared to them, but we went, ‘OK, guys, we’re playing.’

“From Monday until now, there was no doubt in their minds. To see them come out and execute, it was really cool to see as a coach.”

Providence isn’t planning to stop there. Instead, the Celtics are eying a strong finish to the regular season to propel them into a – hopefully – deep playoff run.

“We told them the goal is seven [wins], not five,” Plantz said. ”[Five wins] is good enough to squeak by. The goal is to switch the standard to winning every single game we play.”

Bengals bounce back

The 3-0 start for the Plainfield East football team was its best mark through three weeks in 11 seasons. Spirits were high for Bengals faithful as new head coach Daniel Stekala seemed to right the ship.

The next three weeks were far more challenging. The three wins were followed by three losses, and those once soaring spirits began to fall. Stekala and company never stopped believing in themselves, however, and it showed this past Friday.

The Bengals went on the road against Joliet West on the Tigers’ homecoming night and played spoiler with a 27-7 win. Stekala was proud of the effort, especially after the three losses that preceded it.

“Our guys knew the importance of this game,” Stekala said. “Seeing our guys understand the magnitude of the assignment was not surprising. Since June, these guys have fought and fought. They always know the circumstances, and they’ve really embraced the challenge and the changes we’ve been bringing here.”

The Bengals are now 4-3. One more win, and they should make the postseason for the first time since 2021. The next two contests will both be at home. First up will be Romeoville, then Plainfield Central. It puts Plainfield East in a good position, but the Bengals know better than to start counting their chickens too early.

“We can’t treat these teams like they’re easy wins or anything like that,” senior Colin Dominiak said. “We have to go into practice with the mentality that they’re better than us and they’re going to try and come take it from us.

“We’re going to have to go out and work for it and earn a spot in the playoffs.”

Week 7 scores

Plainfield South 42, Plainfield Central 0

Lincoln-Way West 49, Lapeer, (MI) 7

Dwight 38, Walther Christian 0

Bolingbrook 28, Plainfield North 14

Morris 42, Ottawa 0

Minooka 10, Oswego 3

Herscher 19, Reed-Custer 13 (OT)

Seneca 48, St. Bede 16

Wilmington 45, Streator 0

Lincoln-Way Central 28, Andrew 21

Lincoln-Way East 42, Homewood-Flossmoor 14

Providence 21, Loyola 20

Mount Carmel 35, Joliet Catholic 7

Coal City 49, Peotone 7

Lockport 28, Sandburg 7

Plainfield East 27, Joliet West 7

Lemont 31, Hillcrest 24

Romeoville 48, Joliet Central 0