The brotherhood that is high school football carried extra meaning to Yorkville’s Caleb Viscogliosi.
That’s because this season, the 6-foot-1, 183-pound senior played linebacker for the Foxes alongside his younger brother Dillon, a 6-1, 185-pound junior.
“He’s got those two pounds on me, but I’ll get there,” Caleb said. “We’re always in a competition.”
Finally being teammates, though, made this a special season for the siblings, who have no other brothers or sisters. Caleb, a second-year varsity starter, helped his brother adjust to varsity.
“We’d never played on the same team before,” Dillon said.
“It meant the world,” Caleb said. “It’s something I’ll always look back on — something I’m sure I’ll be able to tell my grandkids about.”
The Viscogliosi brothers did their part Friday night, having entered the Class 7A first-round playoff game at Yorkville’s Campbell Stadium as the Foxes’ top two tacklers.
Behind the strong running of Donato Gatses, Glenbard North grinded out a 17-0 victory.
Gatses ran 32 times for 179 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns during the second quarter as 21st-seeded Glenbard North (7-3) dominated the time of possession, holding onto the ball for 34:01 to only 13:59 for the 12th-seeded Foxes (7-3).
“We pride ourselves on being able to run the football and we did not do that,” Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said. “We laid an egg. Every possession in a game like this is magnified.
“We weren’t able to start the way we wanted and that was on me.”
Yorkville was held under 50 yards rushing and senior quarterback Jack Beetham threw for 78 yards but was intercepted twice, although the first came on a ball that was tipped two times and the second came on a last-ditch heave to cap a 20-second possession to end the first half.
“We were expecting them to come out with a strong run game,” Caleb Viscogliosi said of Gatses, who pushed his season rushing total above 1,900 yards. “We knew that running back was legit.”
It’s why the Foxes added a 4-4 defense during the week to go with their usual 4-3 featuring Dillon Viscogliosi at middle linebacker and Caleb on the outside.
Dillon said he struggled early in the season.
“I started out really slow,” he said. “I feel like I had no confidence. But starting a few games with my brother gave me the confidence. I started playing better, playing more like myself.”
It allowed him to overtake his older brother as the team’s leading tackler entering Friday night with 80 tackles to Caleb’s 74.
With the Viscogliosi brothers playing the inside spots in the 4-4, unofficial stats showed Dillon having a hand in on nine tackles. Caleb followed with six.
It also allowed the coaching staff to take advantage of junior linebacker Benjamin Wade, who was returning to action for the first time since suffering a broken ankle in Week 2.
“Glenbard North runs a lot of closed formation with double tight ends,” McGuire said. “Our goal was obviously to stop the run.”
The Panthers sealed the win by stopping the Foxes on fourth-and-goal at the 3 early in the third quarter on their best drive of the game. Beetham was stopped for no gain on a run-pass option.
Glenbard North then ran 20 plays and ate up 11:29 on a drive capped a 26-yard field goal from junior kicker Anthony Gibson.
“We didn’t take it lightly,” said Caleb Viscogliosi, who hopes to play in college and is exploring several options. “We made bad reads. The game was on us.
“But credit where it’s due. They had some good runs.”
Caleb is one of four senior starters who will graduate from Yorkville’s defense.
“We’re gonna miss him — he’s a good leader and heckuva player,” McGuire said. “We definitely have high expectations for Dillon.”
So does his big brother.
“Dillon is an amazing player,” Caleb said. “Our competition pushed me, but I want him to be better than me.”
