Sandwich buzzing about the return of varsity football: ‘This is big for this town’

SANDWICH – Parker Anderson did not need to wait for the Friday night lights to turn on to feel the electricity stemming from the return of varsity football to Sandwich.

He gets it just being around town.

“We went out and sold those fundraising cards, went to doors, and every single person was jacked up and hyped. Varsity football is back,” said Anderson, a Sandwich senior fullback and middle linebacker. “It feels good. This is big for this town.”

[ Photos: Sandwich football practice ]

After the 2022 varsity football season was canceled because of low participation numbers, Sandwich is back. The Indians have about 60 kids out for football, a JV team posted an 8-1 record last season and interest in football is sky high at the junior high level, so the future is indeed bright after last fall’s dark Fridays.

“I’m excited about the here and now and I’m excited about the potential for this team.”

—  Kris Cassie, Sandwich football coach

“Last year was truly unfortunate. It brings back a lot of negative feelings for me, but I can’t live in the past,” Sandwich coach Kris Cassie said. “I’m excited about the here and now, and I’m excited about the potential for this team. To have a varsity program back, it feels really good. I’m happy with the direction of the program.”

Junior running back Simeion Harris was one of the standouts on that JV team. The anchor of Sandwich’s state-qualifying 4x400-meter relay in track, Harris ran for more than 1,300 yards and more than 20 touchdowns last fall.

“He’s an exceptional football player,” Cassie said. “His nickname is ‘Flash,’ and he plays like one.”

“We put in the work in practice, and it showed on the games. We’re going to keep working to be successful,” Harris said. “We have a lot of talent. We’re a physical football team. We might be a small team, but we have heart. We have faced adversity, and we have overcome that.”

One of Sandwich’s biggest players is Peter Popp, a junior right guard/defensive end who didn’t play his freshman year and just started lifting two years ago, but now is, in Cassie’s words, “an absolute stud.”

Like Harris, Popp competed in track and field in the spring – but his heart and mind was clearly on the fall. He’s a regular in the weight room with his teammates, six days a week.

“I’m so happy to have varsity football back,” Popp said. “My track coach was getting upset at me because all I could talk about was missing football.”

Cassie and the rest of the Sandwich staff coached that JV team last year. While four juniors were on that team, only one played much – the rest were freshmen and sophomores. Cassie expects to bring three sophomores up to varsity this fall.

“These kids play fast, and they play physical,” Cassie said. “As coaches, we know what varsity football looks like. We have to bring them along.”

Anderson got to play football his junior year for the Illinois Crusaders club team based out of Hinckley-Big Rock but looks forward to being back with his school team in his hometown this fall. Cassie said Anderson is tough to bring down, and it shouldn’t surprise. He bench pressed 330 pounds at a national powerlifting tournament this year.

“Six days a week in the weight room, squat, deadlifting, during the summer three hours in the weight room and an hour conditioning afterward,” Anderson said. “Just an everyday grind. We come out here every single day, do multiple hours in the weight room. It’s what builds our program.”

It’s indeed been a busy summer for the Sandwich kids, what Cassie said is the most normal summer they’ve had since 2019, pre-pandemic.

For three weeks in June the team worked Monday through Thursday with an hour of lifting in a weight room that was refurbished this week, an hour of flexibility and speed conditioning and an hour of positional work. Sandwich competed in a 7-on-7 tournament Saturday in Princeton, with camp the last two weeks of July.

A youth camp Monday was maxed out at every level, 35 kids at five levels, and the last Friday in July the whole Sandwich community is invited out to watch a movie on a new high-definition scoreboard at the Sandwich High School stadium.

“It feels like the most normal summer in four years,” Cassie said. “Doing all that summer stuff is important to bring the team together. I have a lot of phenomenal people that are helping build this thing.”

It all leads toward the return of varsity football Aug. 24 at home against Manteno. Sandwich’s first two games, at home against Manteno and Peotone, will be on Thursdays because of an officials shortage.

Week 3 is circled on the calendar, as Plano comes to Sandwich for the first time since 2017.

“A lot of people are excited about the Plano-Sandwich game. We’re jacked about that,” Anderson said. “It’s good to get out there to play varsity football. We’re looking to have a good year.”