Yorkville off to best start since 1999

Updated: September 14, 2011 7:31PM

In Karl Hoinkes’ world — and thus the world of his Yorkville Foxes — they are not 3-0. They have not won a game, nor can they even dream of their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade.

The legendary coach, who won 190 games and two state titles after rebuilding Oswego High School program in the early 1980s, lives the “one game at a time” mantra.

“We can’t even think about the future or anything. We’re just trying to get better,“ Hoinkes said. “We don’t even have the whole offense in or all of our defense in yet. We’re just playing to learn the game of football, have fun at it, and if the wins come they come. Fortunately for us we’ve got three wins.”

The 3-0 Foxes now head to Geneseo (2-1), their second straight crossover game with teams from the Northern Illinois Big 12 West. The Maple Leafs are coming off a 31-10 road loss at the hands of Rochelle.

This week it’s Yorkville taking the long road trip, and Hoinkes knows it’s not going to get any easier from here on out — the combined record of the remaining teams on the Foxes’ schedule is 16-2.

“It’s great to start 3-0, there’s no question about that, but we still have six games left and everyone we play is 3-0 (or 2-1). We’re not getting any breaks here,” he said.

This is the part of the schedule the Foxes have struggled with the last decade, regardless of what conference they’ve been in (see box). But the team has adopted Hoinkes tried-and-true credo.

“We don’t really think of it as a whole season,“ senior guard Matt Pansera said. “We think of it as one game at a time and however many wins we get, we get. We’re not trying to worry about winning three games. We’re trying to get that next win. It doesn’t matter if it’s the fourth or fifth or whatever. Just trying to get that next win.”

Added senior running back Neil O’Brien: “His motto has been take it one game at a time, and after every win I guess we have a little celebration but as soon as Monday practice hits, it’s out of our minds and we take it like Week 1.”

It‘s an impressive mindset to adopt for the Foxes, as it would be easy to get ahead of themselves.

The team has not started this well since 1999 when Bob Williams’ squad started 8-0 before losing to Evergreen Park in the old Suburban Prairie White regular season finale. Yorkville won two playoff games before being edged 22-21 by Montini in the Class 3A quarterfinals.

“I’m extremely proud of them,” Hoinkes said of his players. “But, we have to get back to work because everyone gets better every game during the year. We can’t be satisfied at all. We can’t be pounding our chest. We have no time to do that. We’re still learning. We don’t have time to talk about last week or yesterday. We have to talk about right now, practice, and getting better.”

One group that has exemplified that mantra is the offensive line of Pansera, Mitch Klossing, Tanner Cook, Kurtis Brummerstedt and Seth Gonzealez (though Gonzealez broke his foot last week, and will be replaced by Alex Marchewka).

The group has come together quickly to lead the way for O’Brien, who has rushed for 633 yards and five scores on 85 carries.

“They’ve been amazing this year,” O’Brien said simply. “I guess (the numbers) speak for themselves.”

Last week, O’Brien carried the ball 36 times for 204 yards, including the final four tough yards to beat Ottawa 43-42 in overtime last week.

“You can’t say enough about a kid who carries the ball 30-something times in a ballgame,” Hoinkes said. “The most I ever had was 44 (at Oswego) and this was close to the second most, and when a kid does that, he has heart. And when you have heart, I don’t think tiredness hits you until about two hours afterward.”

In its first year in the NIB12 East, Yorkville lost to DeKalb in overtime and held tough with Morris through the better part of the game while beating Rochelle.

All of those teams have improved, but that is also what Hoinkes expects his team to be doing as well. And what the coach does hope carries over from last week’s 14-point, fourth quarter comeback victory over Ottawa is that his players learned they are never out of any game — even if they are approaching it as their first.

Said Hoinkes: “Last week’s win, I hope, was a springboard to convince the kids that you’re never out of any game as long as you play defense and as long as you can run the football and make plays you have a chance of getting back in the game.”

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