Gio Zeman experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows over the course of his final two games last season.

The Yorkville running back enjoyed a breakout game in the Foxes’ 48-26 Week 9 win over Oswego that clinched the program’s third straight playoff appearance. Zeman ran for 132 yards and an eye-popping five touchdowns.

But the euphoria of that moment was short-lived. The second play of Yorkville’s playoff opener with Plainfield Central, two kids landed on Zeman’s foot. He left with a high ankle sprain, and also missed Yorkville’s second-round home game with Brother Rice.

“It definitely kind of burst my bubble. I had all that excitement, and then I was shut down,” Zeman said. “I was still on the sidelines cheering my team on. I wish I could have done something to contribute but I couldn’t.”

Zeman, now a senior, is back. And it appears better than ever.

He ran for 147 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown last Thursday, as Yorkville (3-0) remained unbeaten with a 34-21 win at Plainfield South. It was a busy night for Zeman, but he showed that he could shoulder that load.

“It was a pretty busy night; my legs were definitely a little sore, but nothing too bad,” Zeman said. “The atmosphere was a little weird, being a Thursday. The crowd was a little quiet but other than it felt like a normal game. It didn’t feel like I had almost 30 carries.”

Zeman through three games has rushed for 303 yards on 47 carries with three touchdowns. Part of a backfield by committee as a junior, Zeman is clearly the lead back for a Yorkville offense that has rotated three quarterbacks and only returned two full-time starters, both on the line. Zeman has more than three times as many carries as Yorkville’s second-leading rusher.

“His experience has been very important, and his toughness,” Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said. “He’s a hard worker, he’s here every day. It’s tough to get him to say much at all, he’s a man of few words, but he doesn’t ask for anything special. Last year he didn’t say anything about rotating as a player, which is something we like to do to keep kids fresh. I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s a talented kid, humble, physical. He has the combination of physicality and the ability to break away.”

My favorite Martyn

Oswego East running backs Oshobi Odior and Tyler Bibbs missed their second consecutive game with injuries last Thursday against Plainfield East.

Their absence opened the door for Christian Martyn.

Martyn, a junior, ran for touchdowns of 42 and 7 yards in the Wolves’ 34-20 win. On the season Martyn has 115 yards rushing on 29 carries. Martyn also plays safety and linebacker defensively, but had not seen time at either of those positions or running back until Oswego East’s injuries hit.

“He has been the starting running back in his grade freshman and sophomore year, but coming into this season he was caught in a logjam at a couple positions,” Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “We started giving him reps a week ago, with the plan to rotate a couple guys. He stepped up and got the bulk of the work.”

And clearly made the most of it.

“He is very decisive,” LeBlanc said. “He’s not a big guy stature-wise in the way he runs, but he does a good job of breaking tackles and is fast enough to run away from people.”

Odior and Bibbs could be back this week, but it’s more likely that they’ll be given another week and be ready to go when Oswego East begins SPC West divisional play in Week 5.

Reapers take care of business, set for Week 4 showdown

Plano coach Rick Ponx had a businesslike approach to his Reapers’ Week 2 and Week 3 wins, 45-22 over Manteno and 54-0 over Westmont.

“We did what we should have done,” Ponx said. “Anything less than that I would have been disappointed. We should have beat those teams, and we did beat those teams. They weren’t close and now we get the teeth of our schedule against good teams.”

Regardless, Ponx was pleased that the Reapers measured up to their skill level in handling opponents that they could conceivably could have beaten with less than their best effort.

“The wins are great, but being able to play at our level and not go down and play at a lower team’s level, that’s what I take out of it. That takes a mature team,” Ponx said. “You see it all the time, teams play down to the other team and not to their standards. That’s what we preach to our kids, is that there is a standard here, there is a standard we have to hit no matter who we are playing. Don’t worry about the wins and losses, worry about whether your’e performing up to your capabilities.”

Ponx expects his team will have its hands full against La Salle-Peru (2-1) and its option attack. That will come down to playing disciplined football. The Reapers played the Cavaliers well in a spring 2021 game, a 14-7 L-P loss, and were competitive in a 2019 meeting before the game was postponed.

“We’re giving them reps, reps, reps, reps, running the option at them to the right and to the left,” Ponx said. “Guys have to get to their assignment – you have the dive, you have the quarterback, you have the pitch. Everyone has to get to that point. We’ve practiced with no balls, we’ve practiced when everybody has the ball. It doesn’t matter where the ball goes. You have to tackle your man, whether it’s the dive, the quarterback or the pitch man. That is their bread and butter, what they do. If we can make them go to their second or third choice of plays, we’ll be in good shape. If they can run option on us all day long we’ll have problems.”

Oswego gets back on track

Oswego, which suffered a tough Week 2 loss in the final minute at Andrew 33-28 to drop to 0-2 for the second straight season, got back on track last Thursday with a 42-0 win over Joliet Central in an SPC crossover.

“Week 2 was a tough one, team we had never played before, on the road for a while. We just didn’t finish,” Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. “Week 3, always good to get a win, regardless of the situation.”

The Panthers lost five starters to injury in its season-opening loss to Neuqua Valley, and of that group only Jeremiah Cain has returned. With starting running back Nick Scott still out, juniors Alex Magana (28 carries, 133 yards, 1 TD) and Noah Vera (13 carries, 124 yards, 2 TDs) have received the bulk of the carries along with senior Braedon Hellinger.

“Kind of a carousel there depending on what we’re trying to do,” Cooney said. “Dylan King is another kid, a sophomore, who has been getting carries. A sophomore and two juniors carrying a lot of the backfield. It’s football, it’s physical. Unfortunately injuries happen. No team is going to spot you points if you have injuries. People just have to step up. Some of those injuries could be more time but I don’t anyone is cashed in as done.”

This Thursday looks like another breeze with winless Romeoville, but the Panthers can’t take anything granted with two losses already in the books and the SPC West divisional play starting next week at Minooka.

“It’s going to turn into a grind real quick,” Cooney said.

Parkview Christian makes debut

Parkview Christian Academy in Yorkville, which has formed a co-op to play 8-man football with Families of Faith Christian Academy in Channahon, made its program debut last Friday.

Parkview Christian/FOFCA lost at Calumet Christian in northwest Indiana 42-12. Justin Morris scored the program’s first touchdown on a 49-yard pass from Noel Greene. Greene scored on a 20-yard run.

“I believe our stands had more people in the stands than theirs,” Parkview Christian coach Dennis Burgin said. “We traveled well.”

Burgin has 21 kids on his roster, of which half are freshmen. Only four Parkview Christian kids have ever played real full contact football before. Still, Burgin was pleased that his team amassed 301 yards of offense, scored a couple TDs and only committed two penalties.

“We have to focus on the basics,” he said. “These guys haven’t been playing football for long. It’s cool to see the progression starting from scratch. Every day we see improvement.”

Parkview Christian will host its home opener at 6:30 p.m. this Thursday, when the team plays Fellowship of Christian Athletes out of Elgin at Joliet’s Memorial Stadium. Burgin said the team has seven games on its schedule and is working on an eighth for the first weekend in November.

“Memorial Stadium, it will be the best field these kids play on all season with brand new turf. It’s going to be awesome,” Burgin said. “Right now we have two home games, and possibly a third.”