Go ahead and ask Cael DePolo about his junior football season at Lincoln-Way West.

You’re likely to get a furrowed brow and a response that’s short and to the point.

“Oh boy,” he said after practice Tuesday before breaking into a knowing smile.

DePolo tore an ACL in Week 3, sidelining him for much of last season, although he did fight back from the injury to get some playing time in Week 9 against Homewood-Flossmoor.

But by then, the Warriors had been eliminated from playoff contention.

To say things are going better this season for the 6-foot-3, 245-pound defensive end is an understatement. He has totaled 39 tackles, 10 sacks and 15 hurries.

Six of those sacks are solos. His sacks and tackles have led to losses of 109 yards. And he also occasionally plays on the offensive line, changing his mission into blocking.

More importantly, the Warriors (6-1, 3-0) have already clinched a playoff berth. They’re in position to win the Southwest Suburban Red going into Friday’s trip to, you guessed it, H-F.

In other words, both DePolo and the Warriors have come a long way in a year.

“I was excited, and it all shut down after three weeks,” DePolo recalled of last season. “I had an opportunity to come back and help out the team, and I’m happy that I did.”

His coach, Luke Lokanc, credited DePolo’s commitment to his team for the timely return.

“The surgery wasn’t scheduled until November,” Lokanc recalled. “He came to me and he said, ‘I feel good, my ACL is torn, it’s torn all the way. How can I help the team out?’

“By Week 9, we as a staff and he as a player felt strong enough to play on a torn ACL, and he did the last game of the year.”

DePolo then had surgery and came back, becoming 100% healthy by June. But that glosses over a laborious offseason, which included in his words “endless” rehabilitation and physical therapy.

In the end, though, it’s worked out well as DePolo is back to disrupting opposing backfields.

Regardless, it was a long stretch of working his way back through adversity. The result has been positive, with DePolo confirming he gained almost 30 pounds and in the process also got a lot stronger.

As far as future plans go, DePolo wants to play football in college while also studying engineering. He began playing the sport with the Manhattan Patriots youth program at age 10.

That team featured many of his current teammates at Lincoln-Way West. It has helped create a cohesiveness that’s paying off as seniors, with the playoffs on the horizon and the Warriors having punched their ticket.

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DePolo’s physical return has been a boon for the defensive line, and Lokanc pointed to senior leadership as an aspect that has stood out this year.

“Cael’s a leader by example,” Lokanc said of DePolo. “How hard he plays on the defensive line really sparks the entire defense.

“All aspects of his game have come together, from pass rushing to run blocks to his physical strength to controlling the offensive line. Cael is a leader by his actions.”

Senior safety Josh Howard related how that ends up leading to big-time sacks for DePolo.

“His work ethic is great — he’s always pushing his teammates,” said Howard, adding how that also translates to in-game action. “I’ll be dropping back and I’ll read the quarterback, and then I see him drop and I see Cael on top of him.

“It happens twice a game at least.”

Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.