Luke Hernandez's big night showcases Oswego's depth in a second-round win against Naperville North

Luke Hernandez isn't the first or second option for Oswego's run game, but you couldn't tell that on Friday night.

The senior fullback rumbled for a pair of 49-yard runs that helped the Panthers hold off Naperville North 21-19 in a Class 8A second-round game.

Oswego (10-1) plays the winner of Saturday's game between Lyons and Bolingbrook next week in the quarterfinals.

Hernandez's first long run got the Panthers out of a hole on their own four-yard line. That second-quarter drive ended with a TD run by Drew Kleinhans.

"We were like, all right, we're kind of pinned back really far and we've just got to pound it," Hernandez said. "Then it just broke through. Great block by Graham Schwab, [he] just pummeled some kid, and I just broke free."

Did he think he might go all the way?

"No, I kind of ran out of go-go juice," Hernandez said with a smile.

But he didn't on his second and last carry of the game. That went for a touchdown on the third play from scrimmage in the third quarter, pushing Oswego's lead to 21-0

"I was just running and I thought I was going to get ankle-bit around the 20-yard line, so I kind of got close to [the Naperville North] defender," Hernandez said. "I thought I was going to get taken down [but] I just dragged him with me."

All in all, it was a much bigger statistical night than usual for the Kankakee Community College baseball commit.

"I'm usually just focused on blocking," Hernandez said. "I'll get a nice little fullback dive here and there."

His blocks are usually for junior Ammar Banire, who had 24 carries for 120 yards on Friday in his second game back after being sidelined by injury for more than a month.

"It was very hard in the beginning," Banire said of his layoff. "But then I started to adapt. I started to learn new stuff, teach the other guys something — just continue to make us better as a team."

Still, there's no question the Panthers — who were second in 8A last year — are at their best when Banire is on the field.

"He's a lot of everything," Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. "It's the talent, it's the emotion ... if he's on the field, you know where he's at. So it sets up other guys for success."

Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Two of those guys are Kleinhans and running back Graham Schwab. Both ran for touchdowns in the first half, and Kleinhans finished with 77 yards on 13 carries. He also threw for 54 yards.

The Panthers' defense had a big play from defensive back Quinten Jackson Jr., whose second-quarter interception produced the only turnover of the game. It came one play before Hernandez's first long run.

"I saw the receiver go for a go route and he came back for a stop-and-go," Jackson said. "The QB thought he was going for a go, I played it over the top and saw the ball and caught the ball."

Naperville North (8-3) had 197 rushing yards and two TDs on 18 carries by junior Jayke Collins, who missed five weeks earlier in the season with a broken collarbone. Dante Colasante's 17-yard TD pass to Aiden Trasatt with 6:50 remaining got the Huskies within 21-19, but their final possession ended with a turnover on downs at their own 42.

"We made another step," said Naperville North coach Sean Drendel, whose team earned its first playoff win in 16 years last week. "Since COVID, we keep making little steps and little steps. And one of these years we're going to kick the door in."