PLANO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL OF ALL-TIME*

1978 Football  /  1997 Football  /  2006 Football  /  2007 Football  /  2008 Football  /  2009 Football  / 2010 Football  /  2011 Football   / 2012 Football   /  2013 Football   /  2014 Football   /  2015 Football   /  2016 Football   /   2017 Football  /   2018 Football

Football has changed much since the turn of the century. Not only has the rules and scoring changed, but also the style of play.  Rough play and hard hitting characterized the game before slugging and piling on were illegalized. Formations such as the flying wedge inferred many ball players. The game became more civilized after the invention of the forward pass; and other rules were modified.  The players wore absolutely no padding or helmets in a sport which bruises and broken bones were common.  Gridders back then had to be tough since a player was in the game, he was there to stay. With only 11 players on the team there were no substitutes. Football resembled soccer and rugby in its early years.  More emphasis was put on kicking the ball, that was much rounder than it is today. A field goal was worth 5 points and a goal after touchdown was worth 2 points, while a touchdown was worth only 4 points in 1893.  Changed in 1912, the value for a touchdown became 6 points. That rule still applies, and now a field goal is worth 3 points, the PAT (Point after touchdown) kick a goal after a touchdown became 1 point, and carrying or catching the ball in the end zone after a touchdown is worth 2 points,

        The 1905 Team (6-4) had one of their own specially designed plays. When Plano pushed the ball down towards the line or were close to a first down, they called this play. After the ball was hiked to the quarterback, Toomey Burson, the backs would pick up light weighted Burson and throw him over the line. Many points were tolled by this unorthodox manner of scoring.(This play is illegal now).

         Game were not divided into quarters. They were played in halves.   Un timed, games ended or were called at predestinated time. In 1905 the Plano Football Team was beating Morris 52-6 in a game played at Plano. On the return trip to play Morris, which was a rough tumble coal mining town, as Plano began to rack up the score this time, the slightly intoxicated Morris fathers began to hassle the Plano Players, especially the Backs.  Soon the miners threaten the referees into giving Morris 5 downs to get a first down and other rule modifications.  When the game ended and Plano had won, the Plano Football Team made a bee line straight to their hayrack they rode down on and made it out of town in front of the angry coal miners.

        Plano has had five high school buildings,

Plano High School 1855-1892

Plano High School 1893-1925

When this school was Demolised in 1964, the Bell was taken and stored.

When the current High School Football Field was built, the Bell from this School

now serves as the Victory Bell they ring after winning a football game

Plano High School 1926-1957

Plano High School 1958-1976

Plano High School 1976-Present

         The First high school football field was Gifford's Pasteur, This was located where St. Mary's School now stands. Unitl the late 1920's this is where the purple and white Gridiron called it's home field.  When the high school moved in 1926 to the new high school where the administration office now sits, the area south of the school, adjacent to the baseball field, became the football field, this is where the Middle School sits now. During the war years Plano High School played their football games at the Yorkville Y.  Afterwards they moved back to their football field until 1958, when the new high school was built (Now the Middle School), they bulit a field directly behind the school. That field remained the Home of the Reapers even after the New High School was Built on Abe Street in 1976, until they erected one in 1980. The Football Team of 1980 (Now in the Hall of Fame) only lost one game that year to Morris in the quarter finals of state tournament.  In 2005 the Plano football team finished 4th in the state tournament again.  In 2006 and 2007 Plano High School went on the capture BACK TO BACK State Football Championships. Since the inception of "Reaper Nation" in 2005, only one team since then did not make the football playoffs.

       The Little Ten Conference was formed in 1919, it is one of the oldest in IHSA. Plano High School was a chartered member along with Earlville, Hinckley, Leland, Paw Paw, Rollo, Sandwich, Shabbona, Somonauk and Waterman.  The Little Ten Conference offered Baseball, Basketball, Track, and Softball in it's early years., Golf was added in the 60's.  Little Ten Conference did not offer football. Since there was no true conference competition, along with Plano, Sandwich, and Earlville. (Paw Paw, Waterman, and Hinckley did field teams in their early years.  So Plano Played in 2 Conference in the 1930's, so they could compete in football, all other sports were in the Little Ten Conference.

       Plano along with Sandwich joined the Fox Valley Conference which included Yorkville, Oswego. Lisle, Lemont and Plainfield. Because of enrollment differences between the rest of the Little Ten Schools and Plano and Sandwich, They left both the Little Ten and the Fox Valley Football Conference.  In the 1966-67 Season Plano High School moved to the Northeast Conference, which was a newly formed conference inlcuded these 5 schools, Plano, Sandwich, Yorkville, Lisle and Lemont from the Fox Valley Conference and New Schools from Dwight, Marseilles, and Wilmington.  The new conference called the Northeast Conference now including competion in baseball, basketball, golf, track and later cross country, bowling, soccer, volleyball, girl's track, girl's basketball, and wrestling.  But the new conference made mandatory to field a football team. 

         In 1976-77 season Sandwich made sports cut from it's program, meaning Sandwich had to leave the Northeast Conference.  New schools added to the Northeast Conference were Minooka, Coal City, Seneca and Westmont.  Problems with school enrollment difference with member schools and travel difference plaqued the Northeast Conference.  The last season of the Northeast Conference was the 1978-79 season. 

        For the season 1979-80, Plano would become a member of the newly formed conference the Interstate 8, which included charted member schools of Plano, Yorkville, Seneca, Marseilles, Coal City, Reed-Custer, Wilmington and Dwight.  Later Yorkville and Marseilles left the conference and Sandwich and Lisle were added. in 2006 the Interstate 8 added 4 schools to make it 12 in the conference. The New Schools were Peotone, Manteno, Herscher and Westmont. They still left the Conference name the Interstate 8 even though there are 12 teams,  In Football they divided up the conference into 2 divisions consisting of 6 small schools and 6 of the largest schools.  Conference Games would consist of games only played in the division, playing 5 division conference games and 4 against the other conference division.  In 2014-15 season Interstate 8 teams would not be required to play the other division, thus trying to help the small division make more playoff appearances.

In 2014-15 Dwight left the conference and Streator was added.

In 2018-19 Seneca will leave the conference.

In 2019-20 Reed-Custer, Manteno, Peotone, Herscher, Wilmington, Streator, Coal City, Westmont and Lisle will leave the conference. Plano and Sandwich will be adding to the Interstate 8 Conference with Morris, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, Rochelle, Sycamore and Kaneland.

The New Schools in the Interstate 8 conference for 2019-20 are Kaneland, LaSalle-Peru, Morris, Ottawa, Plano, Rochelle, Sandwich & Sycamore

2021-22 The Interstate 8 and the Kishwaukee River Conference announced a football-only partnership on Friday, combining the two conferences into groups to take effect in the 2021-22 school year. Group A will be comprised of Harvard, Johnsburg, Marengo, Plano, Richmond-Burton, Rochelle and Sandwich. Sycamore, Kaneland, LaSalle-Peru, Morris, Ottawa, Woodstock and Woodstock North will make up Group B.

Football Scores for Plano High School