Give Minooka credit for putting itself in the position it was in Friday night in the first place.

When star quarterback Zane Caves went down with an ankle injury early in the season, it would’ve been easy to pack it in.

That’s not what the Indians did, though. They pushed their way to a 6-3 record and the 18th seed in the Class 8A playoffs. That effort is worthy of commending.

Unfortunately for the Indians, the opening round of the playoffs is where their 2025 journey came to an end.

Playing at 15th-seeded Glenbrook South on a cold night, the Indian defense was unable to find an answer for the imposing Titan offense.

After a promising start, the Minooka offense was unable to find a groove, either.

The result was a season ending 27-14 loss for Minooka.

First and foremost, credit the performance of Glenbrook South (8-2). Quarterback Andrew Bonvechio was sensational from the onset, finishing 14 of 24 for 216 yards and one touchdown. Receiver Parker Ward put up a playoff performance worthy of mention as well, hauling in six passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.

The Titan rushing attack finished with 173 yards and three scores on 31 carries.

“They have a really good running back and they’re good on both sides of the line,” Glenbrook South coach David Schoenwetter said. “We knew they’ve had some QB changes throughout the season, but they’ve all been tough kids. They did a nice job at a lot of things, especially on defense in the second half.”

As for Minooka (6-4), when a team normally has to adjust its entire offensive approach following the loss of a signal caller, said team rarely finds success. Quarterback Andersen Klemme and running back Chase Nurczyk stepped up throughout the season to keep the Indians alive and ultimately push them to a magical playoff appearance.

The magic just ran out Friday night.

“Our kids have fought all year,” Minooka coach Matt Harding said. “Zane went down Week 3. We were down to our third string quarterback at times and we lost some other guys throughout the year. We found ways to win and you could fill a book with the amount of situations our kids have been in this year they’ve overcome.”

Glenbrook South got things started with a bang. A 44-yard completion from Bonvechio to Ward helped set up a 1-yard TD run by Josh Brinati a few plays later to make it 6-0.

Minooka responded as its second play of the night was a 52-yard completion from Klemme to Kooper Fisher. Three plays later, Nurczyk punched it in from two yards out to give Minooka a 7-6 lead.

However, it was all Titans from there.

Bonvechico connected with Ward for a 37-yard TD pass before the first quarter was over to put Glenbrook South back on top.

Jack Gonzalez scored on an 18-yard run early in the second to make it a two-possession game and JJ Crisp made it 27-7 with a 1-yard TD before the midway point.

Even down three possessions at halftime, the Indians never quit. They used a long, methodical drive in the third quarter to eventually get the ball in the end zone courtesy of a 1-yard run by Tyler Minda. That cut it to 27-14 with 1:08 left in the third.

Minooka had several opportunities in the fourth quarter, but it was unable to convert.

Glenbrook South will play Barrington in the second round while Minooka will prepare for next season. Barrington beat Elgin 72-13 on Friday.

“We saw Barrington early in the year and we lost,” Glenbrook South junior John Mavrianos said. “This is a get-back game for us. We’re really coming hard this week in practice.”