This time is different.
Senior linebacker/fullback Braedon Hellinger has been front and center all season long for Oswego. He also has watched and played in the Panthers’ series against Oswego East.
Hellinger is well aware that Oswego vs. Oswego East is always a big game on the schedule for the crosstown rivals. Pride and bragging rights are meaningful, but this one?
“We’re obviously 3-4 and have to win out to have a chance,” Hellinger said of his team’s overall record and playoff chances. “And they’re 4-3 and need another win.”
It’s why this year’s game — 7 p.m. Friday at Oswego East — carries far more meaning for the Southwest Prairie West rivals than any of the previous 17 staged in the series.
Both teams still need to reach five wins to become playoff eligible.
Oswego (3-4, 1-2) is in danger of missing the playoffs for just the fourth time in 38 years. The Panthers have made 11 straight appearances, the last 10 under coach Brian Cooney
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.Oswego East (4-3, 1-2), which is in its 18th season as a program, has emerged to make seven consecutive playoff appearances under coach Tyson LeBlanc.
Injuries have taken a toll on Oswego.
“It was like it wasn’t even real,” Hellinger said of his team’s start, which included losing five starters in the 28-3 season-opening loss to Neuqua Valley. “It definitely hurt.
“Next man up was very real, and we’ve had to adapt.”
It has been unprecedented for Cooney.
“I’ve never seen so many injuries, never seen anything like it,” Cooney said. “Five starters out after Week 1, and then going into Plainfield North (in Week 6), we had seven kids out.
“You have to move pieces around, and the kids have done a good job of stepping up. Nobody is going to spot you points. You have to play the games.”
Lost for the season were senior running back Nick Scott, pegged to be the team’s leading rusher, and senior outside linebacker Chase Oostman.
Scott had just six carries for five yards in the opener and Oostman had only one tackle before they were hurt.
Hellinger, who is being recruited by Aurora University and Augustana, has been a constant but it hasn’t been the final high school season he had anticipated.
He added 20 pounds of muscle in the weight room during the offseason under the tutelage of strength coach John Hugunin.
“He knows how to make you a better football player and person,” Hellinger said of Hugunin. “He knows what he’s doing and helped me get stronger, bigger and faster.”
The 6-foot Hellinger, who now weighs 200 pounds, was limited at fullback the previous season to what he termed the team’s score package.
“It was mostly in the red zone,” Hellinger said. “They’d give it to me if we needed a short-yardage gain. Going into this season, I thought I’d be just a regular fullback getting more carries.”
Hellinger, who had to move around a bunch on defense due to the injuries, was limited to 12 carries in the first six games.
Last week, however, he broke out with a 10-carry, 111-yard effort in a 45-22 win over West Aurora. That included a 4-yard touchdown run and a 53-yard run that set up another TD. He also blocked a punt.
On defense, he has one interception this season while averaging seven tackles a game.
“We’ve asked him to bounce around,” Cooney said of Hellinger. “We’re using two different defenses, with one kicking him back inside. The other, he moves outside.”
Hellinger said that defense needs to contain Oswego East quarterback Tre Jones, the Navy recruit who can run or pass. Hellinger believes there’s a good chance fullback Oshobi Odior
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will return for the Wolves from an ankle injury that has sidelined him since Week 1.“We’re going to have to play well both weeks,” Cooney said. “We’re aiming for that 5-4. The guys have known since Plainfield North, our backs are against the wall.”