Drew Kleinhans enjoys playing quarterback at Oswego for his dad Ben, the offensive coordinator. ‘A great joy.’

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Drew Kleinhans couldn’t imagine a better situation than being the starting quarterback at Oswego, especially since his father, Ben, is the offensive coordinator for the varsity.

Like father, like son?

Most of the time, that’s for sure. And dad would have to agree.

“It’s been the best thing in the world and the toughest thing in the world,” Ben said of coaching  Drew, who has been a junior leader for the Panthers. “A great joy with some tough times.

“But overall great.”

Even when there are first-half struggles? Maybe then most of all.

Drew Kleinhans had a difficult first half Saturday before bouncing back and sparking Oswego to a 45-10 win over Lane Tech in a Class 8A second-round playoff game at Lane Stadium in Chicago.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Kleinhans completed 3 of 10 passes for 22 yards in a 10-10 halftime tie, but he recovered to complete 5 of 6 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

Eleventh-seeded Oswego (9-2) complemented Kleinhans’ effort with a defense that also pitched a shutout in the second half. That followed a speech by Panthers coach Brian Cooney.

“We came out a little flat,” Kleinhans said. “Obviously, it wasn’t my best game, throwing a pick early. Coach Cooney talked to us, got us going and woke us up a little bit.

“I think it was more of us coming together at halftime.”

It allows Oswego (9-2) to advance to the quarterfinals and play next weekend at third-seeded Maine South (10-1), which rallied to beat Hinsdale Central 33-29 on Saturday.

Kleinhans, meanwhile, connected with senior receiver Teddy Manikas for a 56-yard bomb on the first drive of the third quarter and sophomore running back Ammar Banire capped it with a 9-yard TD run as the Panthers took the lead for good on Lane Tech (9-2).

“We were running a lot of stretch outside zones and I faked it to Ammar,” Kleinhans said. “They can’t stop him and Teddy, who put on a double move. All I had to do was put it up, knowing he would be open.”

Junior defensive end Ethan Pilip then partially blocked a punt on the next possession. It set up a 35-yard TD pass from Kleinhans to Manikas, running the same route on the other side of the field.

“We weren’t playing our best game as a team, but we got it together in the second half,” Manikas said. “We went out and did what we do.”

After that, Kleinhans threw an 18-yard TD pass to Mariano Velasco, Banire ran for 83 yards and added a second TD and Quinten Jackson returned an interception return 63 yards for a TD.

All under the watchful eye of Ben Kleinhans.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily been tough,” Drew said of playing for his dad. “The way we can come together and figure things out very quickly has been great. He has so much confidence in me, being able to audible on the field and work things out with the receivers.

“And I’ve got confidence in him and his play calling. If something goes bad, we talk on the sideline. It’s special. I think every quarterback would like to be in the same position.”

Brian Cooney understands the situation after having coached his son Carson, who is now playing for Iowa. Caden, Cooney’s middle son, is starting as a junior linebacker for Oswego.

“It can be challenging, especially when your kids are competitors,” Brian said. “There’s some hard conversations that happen in the kitchen. But they signed up knowing who the coach was when they wanted to play football.

“I’m proud of them. Drew played a great game. Ben called a great game. Drew’s doing a good job with his feet, too, picking up some hard yards for us last week. Not sure where that started, but maybe it’s because the season is on the line.”

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