Christian Martyn walks onto the football field with a whatever-it-takes attitude for Oswego East. What that meant Friday night was powerball, and we’re not talking the lottery.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior running back/receiver/safety took on the role of saving the Wolves’ season, carrying the load out of the backfield. But he credited his teammates.

“I know this team was going to do whatever they could for me, so I had to do whatever I could for them,” Martyn said. “We have a big playoff push going right now.

“We have to win out, so our playoffs started (Friday). We wanted to come out strong.”

Oswego East found its strength by handing the ball 40 times to Martyn, who scored the winning touchdown with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter to give the Wolves a huge 14-13 Southwest Prairie West victory over host West Aurora.

Martyn ended up with an impressive 249 yards as the Wolves (3-4, 1-2) kept their playoff hopes alive. Niko Villacci produced Oswego East’s other TD with a 1-yard plunge.

West Aurora (5-2, 1-2) led the whole game until the end. Mason Atkins threw for 162 yards and two TDs, with a 64-yarder to Terrence Smith and a 29-yarder to Reece Powers. Smith had three catches for 91 yards.

Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said the Wolves noticed on film that the Blackhawks struggled against power runs up the middle, so they put that into the game plan.

“That probably isn’t our typical M.O. but we made it work for us,” LeBlanc said. “I’m so proud of the way the guys came out and competed. We’re banged up like everyone else.

“Nobody made excuses, and we came out here and competed.”

West Aurora jumped to a 7-0 lead on the 29-yard TD pass from Atkins to Powers with 26 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Blackhawks went ahead 13-0 on the next possession when Smith worked his magic for a 64-yard TD, but they couldn’t convert the point-after kick and didn’t score again.

Four turnovers contributed to that lack of scoring. The biggest happened after Martyn’s TD run. The Wolves hit one of West Aurora’s up backs on a squib kick and jumped on the ball.

Runs of 14 and 10 yards from Martyn helped Oswego East ice the game from there.

“We can’t turn the ball over four times,” West Aurora coach Nate Eimer said. “You’re not going to beat good teams when you do that. That was the message inside the locker room. We have to clean it up.

“We were hoping to chase the conference title, so it’s tough on the kids. We still have a chance to chase six (wins) and seven, but we have to stop turning the ball over.”

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Oswego East got on the board with an 80-yard scoring drive late in the second quarter. All 14 plays were on the ground, with Martyn running 10 times for 69 yards before Villacci punched it in.

On the winning drive, Martyn had his longest run of the night at 27 yards. That set up the TD on his 40th and final carry.

“I just had the mentality that this ball is going in the end zone no matter what,” Martyn said. “I don’t care who is in my way. I’m getting into this end zone because we have a big game on the line.

“I want us to make a playoff run. I want us to be the underdog story.”

After the win was secured, Martyn wanted to make sure he got his rest.

“I’ve been conditioning pretty hard since Week 1,” Martyn said. “Those carries don’t bother me. I think that adrenaline rush also gets to my head. I’m not too tired.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.