Oswego East touts a veteran team this season with 11 seniors, but junior newcomer Vakaris Majus makes a difference every time that he’s in the game.
While he has bounced around from starter to reserve, playing everywhere from defense to midfield to forward, Majus doesn’t get cheated when he does get his chance for the Wolves.
“He gives us that energy,” Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski said. “He gives us so much. He’s not an 80-minute guy by any means, but every minute he’s out there, he makes it count.”
Majus had one of those performances Tuesday night for the Wolves in a 2-1 victory over crosstown rival Oswego in the Class 3A East Aurora Regional semifinals.
With 14:59 left in the second half of a 1-1 tie, Majus positioned himself near the Oswego net. Dylan Drendel worked the ball up toward him and sent in a pass from long range. Majus directed the pass off his chest for the game-winner.
Julian Nino scored the first goal for Oswego East (13-6-4). Lucas Ensign scored the lone goal for Oswego (11-6-6), who beat the Wolves 4-1 in the regular season.
It was the fourth goal of the year for Majus, who celebrated as he has all fall with a handstand.
“We won the ball in the back and we played around with it,” Majus said. “We played it up, but we lost it, but we worked really hard to win it back. We played it down the line.
“(Drendel) crossed it and I was already there, and I just used my chest and scored.”
Drendel, meanwhile, makes a living out of assists on set pieces. This time, it came in the run of play, but he had an idea of what he wanted to do since earlier in the afternoon.
“We were at the field because we had a long break after school,” Drendel said. “We wanted to get some reps in, so we kind of worked the same thing — me to him, him back out to me.
“The second I took the line I looked at the defenders first and knew I had some space to run. As I looked up, I saw him running in. I just hit it as hard as I could and hoped he could get a body on it.”
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Seven of the Wolves’ 11 seniors have been on varsity for three seasons, and this is the first time they have been a part of a playoff win. Majus helped provide that moment.
“He wasn’t on the team last year,” Szymanski said. “I knew who he was. He’s been a spark plug. One thing that’s really good about him is he’s got a great first touch, so he’s able to get the ball, turn and do some different things.
“Some of our other forwards use their speed or size. He’s a different option for us. He’s a fun kid. I’m glad he’s only a junior because we’re going to need guys like him and Julian.”
The reward for the Wolves is a 5 p.m. Friday date against Naperville North. The state’s top team beat East Aurora 3-0 in the other semifinal. On Oct. 12, the Huskies downed Oswego East 5-2.
Naperville North (19-1-1) is 18-0 against in-state opponents this season.
“Hopefully, we’re reaching our peak at the right time,” Szymanski said. “It stinks that we have to go against the No. 1 team in the state, but we welcome the challenge.”
Majus knows if the Wolves play like they did Tuesday, they have a chance Friday.
“We played well the last time we played them,” Majus said. “We got scored on and we gave up. Usually, when we get scored on, we stop. This time, we kept our heads up and kept fighting.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.