When the Oswego High School football team plays at Yates Center for the regular season finale Thursday night, Oct. 30, the Indians’ eyes will be squarely focused on the Wildcats.
However, their minds might be wondering about another game some 30 miles away.
That’s because Sedan and West Elk will be locking horns in Howard, Kan., to decide the class 2A district 8 playoff championship (Oswego is the third team in that three-team playoff).
Regardless of what happens at Yates Center on Thursday, Oswego has to hope for a berth in the class 2A state playoffs with a Sedan triumph over West Elk.
A Sedan victory would give the Blue Devils a 2-0 standing in the district playoffs, thereby eliminating West Elk out of state playoff contention. Oswego would then be the district playoff runner-up and will travel to Pittsburg-Colgan for the start of the class 2A state playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Oswego entered last Friday’s game with a 20-14 win over West Elk on Oct. 17. The Indians could have had a chance to clinch the district playoff title outright last Friday with a win over Sedan, however the Blue Devils had other plans. The Blue Devils stunned the Indians, 31-14, in Oswego to put the Indians’ hopes for a district playoff on hold.
After Sedan had an 8-0 lead at halftime, Oswego got on the scoreboard when Damon Trotnic scored on a five-yard run. The Blue Devils would then score a pair of touchdowns to command 22-6 lead in the fourth quarter. Trotnic would find paydirt one last time by scoring on a seven-yard run in the final minutes. That touchdown would cut Oswego’s deficit to 28-14 — a two-possession, two-touchdown difference.
However, Sedan would expand its score when Brady McCoy knocked an 18-yard field goal through the uprights in the waning minutes to lift the Sedan team ahead by 17 points.
Oswego actually finished the game ahead of Sedan on the offensive charts. The Indians amassed 284 yards in offense (206 rushing, 78 passing) while Sedan had 269 total offensive yards (220 rushing, 49 passing).
Trotnic led the Indians with a game-high 142 rushing yards on 18 carries. Nick Billingsly logged 27 rushing yards on four totes.
Oswego quarterback Lane Martin hit six of 26 targets for 78 yards and threw two interceptions in the loss.
Head coach Andy Fewin’s Oswego team is now 5-3 overall. Regardless of a win or loss at Yates Center on Thursday, the Oswego team has now accumulated as many wins in one season as it has in the previous four seasons combined.
Oswego has not competed in the class 2A state playoffs since the 2004 season.