Tyler Hvorcik’s baptism to varsity football came during one of Glenbard North’s lowest moments.

Hvorcik, a senior linebacker and tight end, was one of five sophomores called up two years ago during a winless season. The Panthers won just two games last year, losing their last seven games.

Well, they’re back.

Hvorcik and the Panthers affirmed that in emphatic fashion Friday.

He had one of two Glenbard North interceptions in a dominant defensive effort. Donato Gatses went over 100 yards rushing for the ninth time this season and scored two touchdowns, and visiting Glenbard North beat Yorkville 17-0 in a Class 7A first-round game.

Glenbard North (7-3), winning its first playoff game in four years, will host the winner of Saturday’s Moline-Andrew game next week.

“Two wins the last two years before this, it feels amazing,” Hvorcik said. “It starts with the kids and the mentality. Everyone was with it this year. Last year, two years ago, I don’t think everyone was with the program. We turned it around.”

Hvorcik had a touchdown called back Friday, and even punts for the Panthers.

He’s known for his defense, though.

The DuKane Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Hvorcik and Glenbard North didn’t allow the Foxes to get much of anything started.

They forced three-and-outs on Yorkville’s first two possessions. The next two ended on interceptions by Kayden Smith and Hvorcik. The fifth, the Foxes’ first drive out of halftime, ended with a stop on fourth-and-goal.

Yorkville (7-3) finished with 116 total yards, 42 coming on two plays late in the first half.

“We were able to pretty much shut everything down,” Hvorcik said. “Solid defense all around. We were all over their receivers.”

“Outstanding,” Glenbard North coach Ryan Wilkens said. “A few pass plays but against that run really good. And that fourth down out of the half, it was unbelievable.”

Gatses, closing in on 2,000 yards for the season, rushed for 179 yards on 33 carries Friday.

His 2-yard TD run a minute into the second quarter gave Glenbard North a 7-0 lead. Smith’s interception on a pass that was tipped twice turned away a Yorkville drive past midfield in the final two minutes of the first half.

From there, Glenbard North quarterback Kyle Melody completed four straight passes, and Gatses ran in a 5-yard TD with 27.5 seconds left in the half for a huge swing in momentum.

“That’s been a big struggle all year was the two-minute drill. We’ve had trouble all year completing it,” Gatses said. “We did a perfect job executing it there.”

Joel Castillo returned the second half kickoff to near midfield for Yorkville, and the Foxes put together their best drive of the night.

Two Jack Beetham passes to Jayden Ruth put the Foxes inside the Glenbard North 10. But the Panthers held, stuffing a Beetham run up the gut on fourth-and-goal from the three.

“That touchdown, we needed it. It would have been a big touchdown,” Beetham said. “We got it to the five, we should have scored there. Unfortunately, we didn’t.”

Yorkville never established the run with 13 rushes for 42 yards.

“When you don’t have many possessions like we did tonight, it magnifies things,” Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said. “Not capitalizing, you have to come out and execute and we didn’t do that.

“Schematically, I didn’t do a good enough job figuring out ways to run it initially. We thought we could run it in certain sets and we weren’t able to. Credit to them. The things we came into the game thinking we would be able to, we weren’t able to.”

Anthony Gibson tacked on a 26-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for Glenbard North, which ran 25 plays in the second half to Yorkville’s 11.

The Foxes, like Glenbard North, enjoyed a strong bounce-back season after missing the playoffs in 2024. But they lost their last two games, and the manner in which they lost Friday stung.

“This wasn’t what we wanted to do. We didn’t just want to win seven games,” McGuire said. “We wanted to make some noise. We have some really good football players on this team. So I feel for them. They deserved to play another game.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/2025/11/01/glenbard-north-winless-two-years-ago-shuts-out-yorkville-in-class-7a-first-round-game-to-continue-resurgence/