When the Friday night lights come on, competitors have to flip a switch and put friendships aside until the game is over.
Such was the case Friday night for Oswego East’s Jared Badie.
When the Illinois recruit stepped onto the field at Waubonsie Valley’s Dick Kerner Stadium, Badie squared off against fellow senior Antonio Torres, a good friend and a running back for the host Warriors.
“We go back, way back,” Badie said. “I played with him back in eighth grade, but you have to put that behind you. We were talking some smack. He had some plays, so did I.
“You’re friends again when you get outside the white lines.”
Badie, a 6-foot-4, 222-pound linebacker, got the better of it.
His strip and steal of the ball from Torres late in the second half was the defensive play of the game, halting a drive by Waubonsie Valley during Oswego East’s 17-7 nonconference win in both teams’ season opener.
On the first play from scrimmage, Badie forced a fumble by Jabron Lee that led to Owen Valek’s 40-yard field goal for the Wolves (1-0).
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“I work every day to make myself come up big time,” Badie said. “I try to treat every play like it’s my last.”
Junior Tre Jones, playing in his first game for Oswego East since transferring from Montini, came up with a big play late in the second quarter.
The dual-threat quarterback delivered a 57-yard touchdown run, staking the Wolves to a 10-0 lead with 3:12 remaining in the first half.
Waubonsie answered with a march from its 35-yard line to the Wolves’ 25 when Torres caught a pass from quarterback Nathan Pappas and turned upfield, looking for even more yardage.
It was there that Badie met him and stole the ball.
“I was always taught to swing my arm down and come at the ball with violence,” Badie said.
It came loose and Badie had possession. Scoring threat averted.
“He’s a heckuva player,” Waubonsie coach Tom Baumgartner said. “That play at the end of the half was a game changer.
“Jared came up big. That’s why the kid is going (to college) where he’s going.”
Jones finished with a game-high 103 yards rushing on 13 carries. The aerial game didn’t go as well. He completed 5 of 10 passes for 45 yards.
One of them, though, went for 29 yards to Ty Carlson on the first drive of the second half, a sequence that was capped by a 35-yard TD run from Darquel Sanders.
That boosted the lead to 17-0 with 9:31 left in the third quarter.
“We have to do a better job as a coaching staff to enable Tre to be successful,” Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “We probably had too much inventory.
“Truth be told, we haven’t seen him run like that because every time he runs in practice, we blow the whistle.”
Torres, who ended up with 71 yards on 19 carries, scored on a 20-yard run with 8:00 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Carlson, though, came up with Oswego East’s third turnover of the game by intercepting Pappas’ pass with 2:12 left.
Waubonsie reached the Wolves’ 2 late in the third quarter, only to go backward to the 20 before turning it over on downs.
The Warriors finished with a 244-191 edge in yards.
“We had a lot of mistakes,” Baumgartner said.
And Badie and Co. had plenty of answers.
“Rumor has it Jared’s pretty good at football,” LeBlanc said. “Those are the type of plays we expect him to make.”