Kendall County notes: Iowa commit Carson Cooney gets the call on offense in Oswego win

Carson Cooney had conflicting thoughts about his first time carrying the football in three years.

On the one hand, it was “weird” for the Oswego senior linebacker, an Iowa recruit, to have the ball in his hands. It felt out of his comfort zone.

“The last time I probably had the ball in my hands, on offense, was freshman year at quarterback on the sophomore team,” Cooney said. “It’s been a long time for sure.”

Cooney, though, noted that he was “born” playing running back, and indeed did so in junior tackle growing up. He looked the part last Friday, taking in a 9-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation to get Oswego on the board early in the third quarter of an eventual 21-13 win over Plainfield North.

“I have the instincts, which helps a lot,” Cooney said. “First time touching the ball, it was surreal. First touchdown which we scored helped us. It was a big momentum gain and helped the team out, which made it more special.”

Oswego coach Brian Cooney, Carson’s dad, said that the team has practiced using a package with Cooney running out of the Wildcat formation. Oswego offensive coordinator Ben Kleinhans had dialed up that personnel package down at the goal line once, but it had never been used over the course of the team’s first four games.

“It’s something we didn’t want to have to show until we felt we needed it,” Brian Cooney said. “We definitely needed it there. Came at a good time.”

Carson Cooney indeed said they’ve been waiting for weeks to unveil the package, but it hasn’t been needed with the offense rolling. While Cooney presents as a strong run-first option at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, he did note they’ve practiced him throwing fade routes to Jeremiah Cain.

“I was ready Friday,” he said. “Before the game coaches told me I was only going to have a couple snaps off, so be ready and hydrate up. It wasn’t like I was coming in unprepared.”

Cooney had two subsequent runs later in the game that did not fare as well. He fumbled on a short yardage play, and midway through the fourth quarter was stuffed on a fourth-and-short.

“Looking at the blocking schemes, we weren’t true to what we needed to do,” Brian Cooney said. “That’s the thing. You’re not going to fool teams with that look over and over again.

“It’s another look. At this time of the season, teams in our conference, there is a lot to sift through. We’re not necessarily doing it to be cute. We’ll see where this one goes. Not sure if it’s the last time we’ll see it. We have to make a couple adjustments because we ran it three times and it only hit once. You’re looking for a higher success rate.”

Sandwich defense stepping up

Sandwich had to move some personnel around when it lost three key defensive starters to injury during the offseason. The Indians took some lumps on that side in the season’s first two weeks.

Safe to say, they’re coming together.

Sandwich held Harvard to 136 total yards and just eight first downs in last Friday’s 49-7 win, taking a shutout into the fourth quarter.

“They were aggressive and they were disciplined,” Sandwich coach Kris Cassie said. “Some of our guys are really stepping up.”

Cassie felt that junior Nick Michalek, moved from defensive back to outside linebacker this season, had his best game yet at that position. Linebacker Jeffrey Ashley was his usual sideline-to-sideline self with a team-high six tackles, and Kai Pon, previously a safety, recorded his first sack at outside linebacker.

Dom Rome, an all-conference basketball player who had not played football since his freshman year, is now starting at defensive end alongside twin brother Quinton.

“He’s been a huge addition for us,” Cassie said. “We have some new faces at new places and it’s coming together.

“It’s completely different moving from DB to outside linebacker, but I thought Nick had by far his best defensive game I have seen from him. He’s starting to understand the role and getting better every week. Very happy from what I saw from Kai Pon, and our stack linebackers’ Diego Gomez and Devon Blanchard and Ashley have been solid all year. Everything has jelled together well. Our tackling has improved every week. We have been stressing the fundaments.”

Big showdown in the KRC

For all that Sandwich accomplished last season, there was the humbling experience of a 49-7 loss to Richmond-Burton.

It hasn’t been forgotten.

“R-B, this is the one we want, and now it’s OK to talk about. We felt that the Harvard game was kind of a trap game,” Cassie said. “This is a game you are excited about. You want to play the best in the conference. R-B has been that for quite a while. We are confident going into the game.”

Richmond-Burton went four consecutive seasons between 2019-2022 without a loss in the Kishwaukee River Conference. The Rockets lost to Johnsburg in Week 3, a team that subsequently lost to Sandwich the next week, but Richmond-Burton is still a measuring stick game in the league.

“They were so big and so physical last year, it was a learning experience,” Cassie said. “As a coaching staff and all their players, they’re a good football program and have been for a long time. These are the type of games that get your juices flowing.”

Oswego East’s missed opportunities

Oswego East’s 17-7 loss to Minooka Friday dropped the Wolves to 2-3, and in all three losses they’ve failed to score double digits in points.

It’s a familiar refrain, too.

“We’ve been able to move the ball,” Wolves coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “It’s missed opportunities here, missed opportunities there.”

Case in point: Oswego East had two dropped passes on third downs that would have been conversions. The Wolves also had two bad snaps on third-and-four or less. They also had a 65-yard drive that ended in a missed field goal.

“It’s a similar situation to last year – as a staff we have to do a better job of getting guys in position to make plays,” LeBlanc said. “We have done a good job putting ourselves in third and manageable. We have to do a better job of converting third downs.”

A dropped third down pass on Oswego East’s first possession led to a blocked punt that set Minooka up for the only score of a 7-0 first half. Later, a short punt into the wind bounced off a Minooka player’s helmet and went 20 yards the wrong way for a net 3-yard punt.

“We have to do a better job of creating our own luck,” LeBlanc said.

Oswego East junior running back Jasiah Watson did return from mono to score the team’s lone TD, splitting time in the backfield with Zamarion Taylor.

Yorkville’s missed chance

Yorkville, similar to Oswego East, lamented missed opportunities in its 17-6 loss to Bolingbrook.

The Foxes took advantage of a short field on an errant Bolingbrook punt snap to go ahead 6-0 on Dyllan Malone’s 16-yard TD run.

Later, another poor Bolingbrook punt snap set up Yorkville at the Raiders’ 1-yard line with prime position to take the lead trailing 7-6.

But after two failed quarterback keepers and a handoff that went nowhere, Yorkville quarterback Jack Beetham was sacked on fourth down.

“If we were able to score there it changes the complexion of the game,” Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said. “We had our chances. We didn’t capitalize. It wasn’t just one mistake. Unfortunately what could go wrong did go wrong.”

Beetham was 16-for-30 passing for 161 yards, but Yorkville netted minus-11 yards rushing in the game. In five games, Yorkville has managed to go over 100 yards rushing as a team only twice, and twice has netted negative rushing yardage.

“Not to make excuses but personnel has changed some. We’re trying to accentuate our strengths,” McGuire said. “We do want to run the football, and it’s something we hope to continue to do.”