The IHSA high school football playoffs are here. In the playoff edition of Football Friday, only Naperville North remains in the hunt for the state title. The 6-3 Huskies enter the 8A bracket on the road as the 22 seed against the 7-2 Oswego Panthers. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Naperville North vs. Oswego
Our local teams have plenty of history against Oswego. The Panthers eliminated Waubonsie Valley in the opening round of the 2024 playoffs and defeated Naperville Central 31-15 to kick off the season back in Week One. Naperville North enters the playoffs riding a four-game winning streak in search of a playoff victory for the first time since 2010.
With starting quarterback Josiah Northacker still sidelined with an injury, the Huskies use the ground game with William Eloe to move the ball on their opening possession. From the Oswego 24-yard line, Dante Colasante rolls out and finds a wide-open Jack Zitko for the touchdown. North takes a 7-3 lead into halftime after Kaleb Stumpenhorst hits a 46-yard field goal for the Panthers, followed by a missed field goal from North as time expired in the second quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Huskies elect to go for it on their own 23-yard line on fourth and one. But the Panthers stuff Eloe for a loss of one and a turnover on downs.
On the first play for Oswego, Naperville North senior defensive end Gabe Hill absolutely wrecks the end around for a huge loss. The Panthers’ drive stalls and ends with a missed field goal as Noth holds on to the narrow 7-3 lead.
The Panthers get the ball back with just under six minutes to go in the game. Drew Kleinhans drops back to pass and finds Mariano Velasco wide open behind the defense. 61 yards later, and Oswego has a 10-7 lead after the big pass play.
On the next North possession, Colasante swings a pass to CJ Geist in the flat. He gets crushed by Velasco and linebacker Cam Loghmani, and the ball pops loose as he hits the ground. Hard to say if Loghmani’s knee is still on the ground as he gains possession, but he is off to the races for a scoop and score. That puts the game away as Oswego stuns the Huskies with a late 17-7 come-from-behind victory. A heartbreaking end to the season for Naperville North.
Oswego moves on to the second round to face Lane Tech on the road next Saturday.
That puts an end to the Naperville area football season. Despite a disappointing ending, it has been so much fun to bring you the highlights for the past two months. A huge thank you to all our players and coaches, our NCTV17 reporters, and our presenting sponsor, BMO, for making all of this possible. We hope to see you all again next August for another season of Football Friday. Thank you all very much for watching. I’m Justin Cornwell.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!