Oswego’s Jeremiah Cain, back on the field, has big night in big win over Andrew

OSWEGO – it seemed every time Oswego coach Brian Cooney was ready to address his team on Friday they had already left for the field.

That’s not a bad problem to have, especially when you finally get to speak to a joyous bunch as he did after a 31-7 nonconference win over visiting Andrew on Sept. 1 at Ken Pickerill Stadium.

“I couldn’t keep them off the field,” he said. “In that little thing in the corner of the field before the game, they got on the field early. And they left the practice field and got to the game field early. At halftime I didn’t get a chance to really talk. They just wanted to be on the field. They had the right mentality tonight.”

Junior wide receiver/cornerback Jeremiah Cain couldn’t stay on the field a year ago. Now, he doesn’t want to come off it. He caught a touchdown pass and intercepted a pass after missing most of last year with injuries.

“I put in so much work in this offseason for this,” he said. “With all the injuries I had and coming off a 3-6 season, I had to work and it showed today.”

Cain injured his collarbone against Neuqua Valley in the season opener last year and missed some time. After returning to action for a couple of games, the injury bug bit away at his sophomore season. His year ended after he ran a post and tore his MCL and meniscus against Minooka in Week 5.

“Arguably, he could be the best athlete in our entire program, and he’s playing on both sides of the ball,” Cooney said. “We spell him when we can with guys like Michael Kelly, who caught a big pass for us, and defensively Maddox Gerwig can spell him.”

After a 1-yard touchdown run from junior Dylan King and a 35-yard score from senior Noah Vera had given the Panthers a 14-0 lead, junior quarterback Brett Connolly aired it out to the speedy Cain. The duo connected for a 36-yard score with 5:26 left in the opening half for a 21-0 lead.

“A big shout out to Brett because that man took a hit to get me that ball,” Cain said. “We got some dogs in the backfield, Noah Vera and [junior] Ayden Villa. Our running core is just disgusting [good].”

Andrew (1-1) had to get creative to sneak one past the Oswego defense and did so with 3:28 left before halftime as junior back Alexander Pavelka fired a 38-yard touchdown pass to junior Dionte Thigpen to make it 21-7.

Oswego received a 24-yard field goal from Grant Zegar on its opening drive of the second quarter to make it 24-7. The Panthers then turned to their defense for another stop, ending a lengthy Thunderbolts drive thanks to Cain’s leaping interception at the goal line with 2:21 left in the third quarter.

The Panthers ate up some of the remaining game clock before Villa’s 8-yard touchdown run with 8:04 finished the scoring.

Junior linebacker Mikey Claycombe recovered a fumble to end Andrew’s second possession of the second half as the Thunderbolts only managed three possessions after halftime.

“Their offense is tricky, they’re well coached and they’re hard-nosed kids,” Cooney said. “There are not many negative plays with an offense like that, so it’s getting those little grinding 1- and 2-yard gains, and even 3- and 4-yard gains aren’t the end of the world. The defense did a phenomenal job.”