The biggest sophomore rivalry in Illinois football was Minooka versus Joliet West.

On Sept.2, the Minooka Indians played the Joliet West Tigers. Before the game started, coach Rob Wendlick was prepared for the game. He has played Joliet West in the past and had a good idea about what they were going to do.

At 5 p.m kick-off, the game was underway. The first drive Minooka drove down the field to the 39-yard line and kicked a field goal. 

Joliet West got the ball and struggled the whole first half, throwing an interception and fumbling.

Minooka also did not have the best first half, as after the field goal they didn’t score again.

Wendlick said they had a well-executed first half on defense. He wasn’t happy with the offense and felt like they needed much improvement.

“It was just the small mistakes killing us,” Wendlick said.

After half time, Joliet West got the ball. As the Minooka defense kept going and looked unstoppable, they got an interception at the 35-yard line.

Minooka wide receiver Ty Couch in the second half was a big key for this offense. As he got 8 targets in the second half.

After getting stopped on 4th and 2, Minooka kicked a field goal going up 6-0. It was looking like a very defensive game as going into the 4th quarter as no one had scored a touchdown.

“Ty is just that good, he is very teachable and is a big playmaker for our team,” Wendlick said.

In the 4th quarter West had the ball and had a big 42-yard reception down the sideline. As they were now on the 16-yard line, they ran a four vertical plays and hit their slot wide receiver up the seam for the touchdown. After this they had a very questionable play call about going for two. They ran out on the field and ran a play action, and then hit there tight end on the flat for the conversion.

After being down 8-6 with 7 minutes left, Minooka was going to get the ball. A small part of the team can make big plays — special teams. One of Minooka strongest parts of the team is they haven’t let up a lot of kickoff returns or punt returns and are good at causing turnovers.

“I am really proud of how our special team is performing. From freshman to JV they have made a big leap and I can see that in them,”Wendlick said.

West kicked off to Minooka and returned it to the opposing 42-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Minooka went in shotgun and the defensive linemen blocked it and it got intercepted. With such a short time left in the game they wanted to chew clock.With 4 minutes left  West punted the ball and Minooka got it on the 8 yard line.

Minooka had a game plan going for the last drive to Couch.  Couch got 4 receptions on that drive. With 1:20 on the clock, first and goal, Minooka ran the ball twice. On third and goal with 37 seconds left on the 6-yard line Minooka had Couch run an out route for the touchdown.

With this much time left they went for 2 points to go up 14-6, but they missed the 2-point conversion.

It was 12-6 with 28 seconds left. West had the ball and on first down. They threw an interception, which sealed the game for the Indians.

On the first home game of the year for the Indians, they came out with the win.