Oswego East sophomore Carter Meindel has been thinking about this moment for a long time.
“I dreamed of this as a kid, coming to OE games, [being] on the sideline, watching,” he said after quarterbacking the Wolves to a 49-8 win against Curie Saturday afternoon at Rockne Stadium in the Class 8A opening round.
“It’s been awesome to be a part of the [school’s] first playoff win in 10 years.”
Meindel completed 5 of 7 passes for 70 yards and one touchdown, a 32-yarder to Chase Lafin. Jeremiah Gbean ran for a score and the Wolves (5-5) had five more touchdowns on defense and special teams as they led 35-0 after one quarter and coasted home.
Jayden Andrews ran the second-half kickoff back 65 yards for a touchdown, Gavin Ortiz and Jack English ran punts back for scores, and Makane Tande recovered a fumble in the end zone.
Meindel and his teammates will get to play at least two postseason games this season thanks to the expansion of the playoff field from 256 to 384 teams. They play at Huntley (9-0) next week in the first round, and are glad to have the chance.
“I mean, it is what it is,” Meindel said. “… It’s a good opportunity for teams to show what they can do against good schools.”
Senior tight end/linebacker Jack Ponto, who returned an interception 30 yards for a TD, agreed.
“You can’t really control how the playoffs are,” he said. “But we got this opportunity to play, so we’re just taking full advantage of it.”
The Wolves play in the Southwest Prairie West, which qualified all six teams for the expanded playoff field. Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc led Curie to the IHSA playoffs under the old system in all of his five seasons there before moving to his current team.
“The old-school purist in me feels you’ve got to earn the playoffs,” he said. “But also, as a football coach and somebody who knows what the game of football can give to kids — one more opportunity to put the shoulder pads on isn’t a bad thing.”
It’s especially important for a team as young as the Wolves. Meindel, one of five sophomore starters on offense, is in just his second season as a quarterback.
“I was a defensive guy up until last year,” he said. “And one of our quarterbacks … got hurt and I stepped up.”
“[We’re] asking a lot from him as a sophomore,” Ponto said. “But every week he’s been improving.”
Still, Meindel knows there’s plenty of room for growth.
“I feel like I need to stop turning the ball over as much, be a little safer with the ball,” he said. “Otherwise I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job.”
Harper Edwards caught four passes for 59 yards and a touchdown for Curie (5-5).
“We thought we would end the season a little better than we [did] this year,” Condors coach Jarve Lewis-Bey said. “Even though we made the state playoffs and all that, it wasn’t what we expected. We expected to play better.”