OSWEGO – Nathan Maul has only played in five varsity football games.

In his first Southwest Prairie Conference West matchup, the Minooka senior quarterback led his team to a commanding 36-14 victory at Oswego East.

Maul finished the night 15 of 16 for 175 yards and two touchdowns. He tacked on another 27 yards rushing.

Minooka (4-1, 1-0), unfazed by the homecoming atmosphere at Oswego East (2-3, 0-1), dominated in all three phases.

After a scoreless first quarter, Minooka got on the board early in the second, thanks to a well-disguised play action pass. Maul faked two handoffs and rolled to his right, finding Gabriel Kuzava for a 17-yard touchdown.

“This is the best [receiving] corps I’ve ever had in my high school career,” Maul said. “I think they can do really good things for me.”

Oswego East showed life in the second quarter, answering the first Minooka touchdown with a touchdown of its own. Quarterback Niko Villacci connected with Andre Cobige Jr. for a 36-yard pitch and catch. A few plays later, Villacci connected with Aiden Moriarty for a 6-yard score to tie it up at seven.

That is as close as Minooka would let the Wolves get.

After a Villacci interception, Minooka set up shop inside Wolves territory and scored on a 15-yard touchdown run by Joey Partridge, who finished with 70 yards rushing on 17 touches.

Minooka closed out the first half with four touchdowns in 1 minute and 22 seconds.

After the Partridge score, Oswego East immediately turned the ball over again, this time on a fumble by Villacci, and shot itself in the foot with a pass interference penalty to set up Minooka inside the 20. A few plays later, Efrein Ramirez plowed in from 3-yards out to make it 21-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, a squib kick took a weird hop and ended up in the hands of a Minooka player.

Maul wasted no time, finding Donovan Anderson for a wide open 32-yard touchdown and a 27-7 lead after a blocked extra point.

Minooka coach Matt Harding has stressed to his young quarterback the importance of spreading the ball around.

“He’s starting to get it with his reads,” Harding said. “Not falling in love with one person is the biggest thing. [He’s] got to go through his reads and his progressions and take what they give him.”

Maul took that challenge to heart, connecting with seven different receivers on his 15 completions.

OE tried to find a change of pace and get a score before the end of the first half. Armon Holmes entered the game but was immediately picked off by Adam Ghouleh who returned it 40 yards for a pick six.

In six plays, the Wolves turned the ball over four times. It turned into 26 Minooka points.

“When you play a good football team and you turn the ball over, they’re going to make you pay,” Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “We had some miscues and turned the ball over. We put ourselves in bad situations. That’s tough to overcome.”

Down 33-7 and its back against the wall, Oswego East answered the call. Holmes threw a deep ball that Ethan Svoboda caught in stride en route to a 43-yard touchdown to close out the first half. That is all the Oswego East offense could muster on the night.

Forcing those miscues was an emphasis for Minooka in practice this week.

“We stressed all week about getting the turnovers,” Harding said. “Our goal is to get three turnovers a game.”

Minooka indeed forced four turnovers.

Harding’s squad put the game away with two possessions over eight minutes in the second half, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth, commanding the trenches and the clock. The Wolves only had 13 plays from scrimmage in the second half.

“We’re going to put it behind our horses up front,” Harding said. “Slow torture is the greatest thing. You can’t get the ball back and we just keep getting first downs.”

LeBlanc takes responsibility for the result.

“Every week’s a battle,” LeBlanc. “I’m going to be the first one to take ownership for how our team played. We have to do a better job as coaches preparing our guys.”

Harding knows the West is up for grabs.

“I’m excited,” Harding said. “It’s going to be car collisions every single [week].”