Friday night marked the end of the season for Minooka. Like all but eight teams in Illinois every year, it didn’t end how they wanted it to. The Indians were on the losing end of a 27-7 contest at Glenbrook South.

Make no mistake, however, 2025 was a vast success for Minooka football. Not just because they went 6-4 and made the Class 8A playoffs, but because of what they had to overcome to get there.

Quarterback Zane Caves, a Michigan State commit for baseball, was lost for the season in Week 3 following an ankle injury. A returning starter from last year, the team was counting on Caves to lead in his senior year.

The Indians were not deterred. At times, down to their third-string QB, they won four straight following Caves’ injury. They adjusted the offense and won five of six going into the playoffs. That type of effort is commendable, no matter the final result.

Coach Matt Harding expressed hope that his seniors handle their future the same way they handled 2025.

“They need to attack life just how they attacked this football season,” he said. “When adversity hit them hard, they never turned their back away. A wall hit them, and they fought through that wall. They need to go through the wall, over the wall, however they need to get past it.

“Whether it’s at home, wife, relationships, whatever down the road, never turn your back on adversity.”

As for what 2026 has in store, Harding expressed confidence. Friday, though, he just wanted to honor the group that left the field for the last time.

“We’re going to piece it together and put a product on the field that Minooka is going to be proud of,” Harding said. “We’ll handle all that when it hits, but right now it’s just about celebrating our seniors.”

Guess who’s back?

Lincoln-Way East entered the first round of the playoffs with question marks after losing back-to-back games for the first time since 2004. The Griffins answered those questions emphatically thanks to the return of No. 13.

Quarterback Jonas Williams, who missed the previous two games with an ankle injury, returned in the Griffins’ first-round romp over Stevenson. Williams tossed four touchdowns in the 45-0 win.

Next up, the ninth-seeded Griffins will visit 25th-seeded Palatine on Friday. Lincoln-Way East will be grateful to have Williams under center once again.

Return of Tailback High

In the past, under coaches Phil Acton and John Ivlow, Bolingbrook was known around the state as Tailback High. That will happen when players such as Dale Martin, Antoineo Harris, Robert Farmer, and Dana Day, among many others.

This season, the Raiders have gotten back to that identity, riding the powerful running style of junior TJ Lewis back into the playoffs after a two-year absence and winning their opening-round game 30-20 over Oswego East.

Lewis, listed at 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, is every bit as punishing as his size would suggest. But he also has the speed to break a run outside and take it to the end zone, as he did on his 45-yard TD run against the Wolves.

Where Lewis is best, though, is between the tackles, delivering hits instead of taking them. He carried 35 times Friday night and showed no signs of slowing down. He finished with 181 yards and two touchdowns, as well as a key two-point conversion that gave the Raiders the lead for good at 15-14 in the third quarter.

“We didn’t panic when we got behind,” Lewis said. “We just stayed with the game plan, which was to run the ball. The offensive line did a great job of giving me room to run, and the defense got us the ball in good positions to go and score.”

Scoring in bunches

Hard to believe, given the outcome, but Wilmington was presented with an early challenge in Saturday’s 70-8 win over West Hancock.

The Titans took the opening kickoff and drove to the Wilmington 1-yard line, taking nearly nine minutes off the clock in the process. The Wildcats’ defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs on their own 6 after a penalty. Three plays later, Ryan Kettman broke free for a 74-yard touchdown.

The scoring became much more rapid in the second quarter. On the second play of the quarter, the Wildcats’ Declan Moran returned an interception 30 yards for a TD with 11:47 until halftime.

It was the start of big things to come.

Kettman added two more touchdowns and Hunter Kaitschuk two TDs in Wilmington’s 42-point second quarter. Jay Nevels also added a score.

“Our offensive line has been getting better and better as the season has gone on,” Wilmington coach Jeff Reents said. “They opened some great holes today, and our backs did a great job of running hard and we had quite a few one, two or three-play drives.”

Round two playoff schedule

FRIDAY

8A: Lincoln-Way East at Palatine, 7 p.m.

4A: Coal City at Dixon, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

8A: Homewood-Flossmoor at Lockport, 6 p.m.

8A: Bolingbrook at Warren (O’Plaine Campus), 7 p.m.

7A: Lincoln-Way Central at St. Rita, 2 p.m.

7A: Kenwood at Lincoln-Way West, 2 p.m.

5A: Providence at Kankakee, 3 p.m.

4A: Metamora at Morris, 3 p.m.

2A: Wilmington at Seneca, 6 p.m.

1A: Clifton Central at Dwight, 4 p.m.